Learning to Listen to My Body

The last time I went to trapeze school two years ago I was sore in muscles that I didn't even know I had. Even my fingers and toes were sore. It took days and days to feel human again. So here I was two years older and 15-20 pounds heavier, but in the best shape of my life. I knew that I would be sore, but I was not sure what to expect.

I went to trapeze school on a Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday afternoon I was still feeling pretty good. The bruises were blooming but the muscles were still holding steady. Unfortunately Sunday night I ate something that didn't agree with me and I spent the night with very little sleep and a whole lot of vomiting. Neither of which helped my poor sore abs.

I took the next day off from work to rest and did very little all day except lay on my couch. BIG mistake. While I got some much needed rest, my muscles felt like they were in a rigor mortis state by Monday afternoon. It hurt to breathe, cough, sneeze, sit up, lay down - you name it, if I moved then I hurt. Silly me. I knew better than to lay around doing nothing but I did it anyway.

On Tuesday I woke up considerably less sore and slightly more black and blue and I went off to work and then two hours of dance class. Silly me. I should have known better than to jump right back in to my routine so soon. Instead of re-energizing me, it knocked me back into soreness and tiredness for two full days. I am kind of hooked on exercise and now here I was completely unable to do anything.

By Friday, I was chomping at the bit with all kinds of extra energy. I had to force myself to stay away from the gym at lunch time so that I wouldn't be too sore for my planned bike ride that evening. I was glad I listened to my body (3rd time is the charm!). I was able to have a great ride on Friday night with my friend Cori.

So I learned two things. (1) rest does not mean to do absolutely nothing, it just means to take it easy and listen to your body and (2) when your body is too sore to dance, stay home and stretch instead. Listen to your body; it will let you know when it is ready to start having you push it to knew heights and distances again, but never ever give up!!