The holiday season is often a time where the normal day-to-day schedule is disrupted. Time usually devoted to working out can easily give way to family, friends, parties, shopping, and the like. Even more so than the food, this “lost time” used to be my biggest fear. What would happen if I didn’t get my time in the gym in? Could I imagine a world where I could not workout and wake up the next day anything less than a hideous monster? I would imagine the shape of my body spilling over my predetermined boundaries and wrecking havoc with the world I had so carefully constructed. It was easier to deny myself the pleasures of the holidays and spend them alone. As mentioned this past Thanksgiving was the first in many years that I didn’t spend alone.
In prior years I rarely took a day off from working out. Maybe 14 days on, than maybe one off, only succumbing to it out of sheer exhaustion. Perhaps that “day off” still included a long walk with a friend or dog, so it wasn’t really a day of rest. If I knew that I was going somewhere and wasn’t going to have the chance to be active, such a visiting family or a long day of travel I would work out ahead of time to make up for it; I bring you the preemptive workout.
Preemptive working out means working out ahead of time for what I was going to be missing. Often this meant quite a few hours that needed to made up for and I would try to spread it out over a few days. Maybe this meant adding a few miles to a run, 10 miles instead of 5 miles, adding on a workout that normally would be done on its own to another workout that I was doing that day. I’m not sure of the logic behind it all, as working out on top of a workout doesn’t really work as our bodies need rest and recovery in between our attempts at getting stronger. These crazy sweat sessions were more attempts at calming an anxious and racing mind about whatever was coming up. Exhaustion is the perfect tool for being able to ignore anxiety. If you are too tired you are unable to really care about what is going on around you. It allowed me to further detach from myself and the exhaustion and also served to shut off any hunger signals that may have been showing up.
Preemptive working out. A practice of the past, something that no longer serves a purpose. I happily take rest days now from both yoga and working out. While mentally I may struggle at times with doing this I know that my body loves it. I come back stronger, more flexible, and refreshed, ready to take on the practices from a new perspective. It isn’t about working myself into the ground, but instead allows for a lightness and strength to flow through my body. If I can feel anxiety coming up around a “rest day” I have some tools that I carry for dealing with this mental game:
8 Things to Do Instead of Working Out
1. Plan a fun outing outside of the place you live. Visit a small town, a park, a museum, or look up what is going on in your area on the internet or in the newspaper.
2. Work with someone who is in need. I find that really stepping outside of myself takes away the guilt of not working out. Volunteer or see if you can help an elder or ill loved one or friend.
3. Self-care. Take a trip to get a massage, a facial, a manicure or pedicure, or engage in self-care at home. A bubble bath, oil massage, or perhaps a face or hair mask (need a do it yourself hair mask? E-mail me!).
4. Bargain or antique shopping. Go on the hunt! Bring along a friend and laugh at your crazy finds.
5. Clean house! I think this is fun and nothing is better than feeling good about your habitat. Gettng rid of the dust and clutter helps to calm the mind and body.
6. Art projects. Is there something full of life and color that you have wanted to be doing? Need an idea? Check out Pinterest. Do you need an invite? Let me know and it is yours!
7. Journaling. Write down what you are feeling. Anger, anxiety, frustration. Let you hand flow from your brain. Wrtie whatever comes out.
8. Gratitude. Fill this space with what you are thankful for, both internally and externally. Write it out and put it up where you can read it.
Photos: Pinterest.com
Love this post! Although I could feel my chest tightening while reading your description of preemptive workouts (serious flashbacks), I LOVE your suggestions for things to do instead of work out. Maybe one more: Go shopping! Buy yourself something frivolous and fun to celebrate how awesome you are!
I love this as well! I think so often I read posts from people that say things like, ‘ways to sneak a workout,’ i.e. how to workout when you are not really working out, like when you are at work or whatever. and I often think of how in treatment we often called this behavior, an eating disorder game. I so appreciate the re-phrasing of this concept, and stating that working out IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. There are so many other things to do.