How to know when to take it easy....

Workout:

60 Minutes Elliptical-Read an awesome book and the time flew by.

30 Minutes Stairclimber- Love people watching, plus I feel cool being above everyone.....power goes to my head.

School rocked today.

A student brought me an oatmeal raisin cookie this morning.  I was too impatient to wait until lunch to eat it.

I crumbled it onto my oatmeal and it was the best decision I have ever made.

Hey at least I wasn't eating this for breakfast.....Dang it, now I am craving a huge donut.

Onto the title of this post.....

We have all been there.  You know what I am talking about.

Your head says yes.

Your body says no.

Your pants say yes.

Your joints say no.

So how do you know when to take a day (or more) off of exercise.

**** Remember this is what works for me, but my Mom tells me everyday that I am the smartest girl she knows, so I probably am right.

Basically I am just sharing the conversations I have with myself when I am trying to figure out if I need a break or if I am just being lazy.

When to take a break:

1. You haven't taken a rest day for a while?  I recommend a rest day once a week.  The times I have gotten injured (2 foot fractures and a knee injury) I was not taking ANY rest days.  Correlation...yep but I learned from it:)

2. You are injured.  You know the difference between being sore and actually injured.  Listen to your body.

3. You are sick and exercise would make you worse.  Colds=I still workout.  Anything below the neck= time to take a break.

4. Your family/friends need you.  We are all a little crazy about our workouts but relationships should come first.  You can always exercise tomorrow but today A HUMAN needs you.

5. You just did a race/long run etc. where you gave every thing you had.  I mean you really pushed yourself.  Let your body heal.

When to tell yourself you are being a lame-o and to just get out there and workout.

1.  "I ate so much junk last night/this weekend....its not even going to make a difference whether I work out or not."  Who cares.  That was yesterday.  If anything, do it for your mental health, your heart health and stop thinking about calories.

2.  You are bloated, hormonal and cramping because of aunt flo.  Exercise makes it better.  Millions of women have ran marathons, done triathlons and gotten a killer workout in while on their period.

3.  But my muscles are sore.  Great, that is awesome, you must have worked hard yesterday.  Today you should workout different muscle groups and try something different than whatever made you sore.

4.

Fill in 4 for me:)  What is something that tries to keep you from working out.....what do you tell yourself to get out the door???

-"I am so cold, I have so much to do today, but I have cramps.....blah blah blah."

Any morning cookie eaters out there?

-Probably once a week.  I cannot tell a lie.