Thursday, July 12, 2012

Pushing past exhaustion

The Mr and I have both noticed since we've gotten our power back this week that we are exhausted.  I mean like jet lag exhausted even though our bed times were actually an hour earlier during the outage and we got up at the same time.

My laziness and lack of motivation have lopped over into household chores.  I finally did dishes yesterday because I had no choice.  I've been itching to vacuum but can't bring myself to do it.  I've had a recipe I've wanted to put together and photograph all week and just can't seem to summon the energy to stand.  Ugh.

I really thought there was no way to power through last night's workout of HIIT 25 and Turbo Fire Sculpt 30.  It took everything in me to 'bring the intensity' for cardio and by the time we got to the band strength workout, I thought my arms were going to fall off.  If I could've gotten a free pass on the floor exercises to just lay on floor mat and sleep, I would've taken it.  Tonight is Tae Bo and I'm praying that come go time we don't have the same feeling of exhaustion we have all week because I just want to feel like I have energy to go full force tonight.  Actually we'll need to walk Friday to burn about 300 calories I need to hit my burn goal for the week.

How have you powered through your workouts when your energy/intensity level is in the toilet?  

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19 comments:

  1. Are you still in recovery from all you went through last week? I'm wondering if your body is not yet fully adjusted to a more normal life.

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    1. I really think so. We don't know why it took so much out of us but it did. It's almost like having AC has made us feel more lethargic. It's WEIRD and I don't like it! Hmmph!

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  2. It's tough to power through, but I know you guys will make it.

    It's like that let down after you finish a major task. You guys were over worked, over heated, over stress, over everythinged last week, and you got through it. You just did what needed doing. Now that things are basically back to normal you don't have that "have to" energy and your bodies are trying to catch up. Give yourselves a few more days and I bet you'll be back to normal.

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    1. So true! It's a weird thing. I got some night time snacks (push pops) made, does that count? :)

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  3. I hate powering through. You spent an entire week powering through. Your bodies kept you going because it was a survival situation. Now that life is normal again your body is finally relaxing and recovering from a week of high alert. I often make slight adjustments if my energy is really low. I'll go into saying "cardio will get all I have, but strength will be one level down" or "I'll do everything except jumping jacks, those will become jog in place." Then I'll usually still do what I normally would or only slightly less. Having an "out" is usually all I need to get into the "groove". It's like my body has to prove my mind wrong-lol. Hope that you have a great day and the workout goes super well!!

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    1. I feel like that was our mantra last week "powering through without power" and now feeling like I have lead in my ass! LOL

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  4. Similar morning this morning for me. I deadlifted and then did a conditioning workout of good mornings, squats, weighted step ups for 4 rounds. I just kept telling myself, just one more round. You can stop at XX. And then when that round was done, I would say, okay, one more round. And I ended up doing all of it!

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    1. Rock it girl! Sometimes we need to play those mind games with ourselves to get the job done!

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  5. Ugh...I *hate* those days!!! Where you have so, so, so much to do but absolutely NO motivation to do it! Ugh...that is seriously the worst. If you find the answer on how to overcome it, please share!

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  6. I recently realized how much of a physical toll emotions play on our body. I was under EXTREME stress and was just pushing forward and then the stress lifted and I swear my body just turned off completely!! I would have expected the opposite. I'm finally back to where I feel "normal". The only way I ever power through is just by doing that exactly...powering through. Modifying as needed along the way. Before long you'll be back to where you want to be, but you definitely need to recognize and acknowledge that you were under a lot of stress and the body needs time to recover from it! :-)

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    1. You are SO right! Having to deal with extra drama on top of our power drama was like ridiculous x100. I'm hoping we can summon the strength to kick butt tonight!

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  7. It'a completely understandable with all you went thru last week. I'm sure it was so much more emotionally draining than anything. You'll get your mojo back = )

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  8. All the physical and emotional stress of the power outage (and family drama) undoubtedly took a much bigger toll on you than you'd expect. I imagine with the heat even though you slept more hours, it wasn't restful sleep--huge difference there! Sometimes we just have to gut it out to do the best we can when the motivation and energy isn't there; I usually find if I can get myself dressed to workout and just start, I can do more than I expect. I play a lot of mind games with myself, too; just five more minutes, one more block, etc., and then keep doing it until it's all done. Hang in there!

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  9. Rather than trying to resist exhaustion, I accept it and modify as needed. Sometimes modification means skipping a workout so I can check in with my body and see what it really needs.

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  10. Your post is so timely for me! I overdid it with exercise last weekend and I've been struggling EVERY SINGLE DAY to complete my scheduled workouts (my husband and I are doing Insanity). I wonder...is going through the motions and doing my best (even though it's not stellar) better than taking the day off? Should I cop a rest day and hit it hard after the break? Personally, I don't want to set a precedent for taking the day off. And, even if I suck at the workout, I figure it is still training my body in a more endurance-type mode.

    Keep it going! You guys are an inspiration!

    --Emily

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  11. One thing I've learned is to listen to my body. It tells me when it's truly exhausted and in need of a rest, or sometimes just an adjustment. And it never fails that after that rest day, I come back fully charged and actually have a better workout. Honestly, I never thought I'd be this in tune with how the thing operates. :)

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  12. I've been feeling blah and run down lately too and I can't figure out why? I've been eating (fairly) well and exercising....not super crazy workout, but just MORE THAN (which is my goal right now).

    So...maybe it's just something in the air???

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  13. HI THERE! I JUST STARTED FOLLOWING YOUR BLOG! :) U ARE TRULY A PHENOMENAL WOMAN!!!!! I FOUND U THRU JEN'S JOURNEY'S BLOG. U R BOTH VERY INSPIRING TO ME AS I HAVE YET AGAIN JUMPED BACK ON MY WEIGHT LOSS BAND WAGON. THIS TIME FOR GOOD I HOPE. I'M THANKFUL I FOUND YOUR BLOG AS I'VE RECENTLY STARTED MY OWN. I LIKE YOUR STYLE! CONGRATS ON YOUR INCREDIBLE WEIGHT LOSS ACHEIVMENTS THUS FAR & I KNOW YOU WILL REACH UR GOAL VERY SOON! EVER HOW U DO IT, IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING JUST FINE FOR YOU. I DON'T DO IT BY THE BOOK EITHER, JUST WHAT WORKS FOR ME AND I ALSO TAKE TIPS FROM OTHER PPL LIKE YOURSELF AND TRY TO INCORPORATE INTO MY REGIMEN TO SEE HOW IT WORKS FOR ME. IF IT DOES, I KEEP IT, IF NOT I STICK WITH WHAT IS WORKIN. ANYWAY, JUST WANTED TO SAY HI & THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR TRULY AMAZIN JOURNEY WITH US FOLKS OUT HERE IN INTERNET LAND AND BEING SO INSPIRATIONAL!! OH, AND I POWERED THRU THE LAST HALF OF MY WALK/RUN ON THE "DREAD"MILL LAST NITE USING MY POWERSONGS AND THROWIN A LITTLE HIP ACTION INTO MY WALK, LOL! KINDA LIKE I DO WHEN I'M AT A BAR AND AN AMAZING SONG COMES ON, I DANCE/WALK TO WHERE EVER I'M HEADED, BAR, BOOTH, DANCE FLOOR, ETC. SO, I MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE A LUNATIC TO THEY OTHER GYM RATS, BUT I WAS HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE :) LOL! HAVE A HAPPY DAY!!!!
    :)
    JOJO

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