You HAVE to listen...

Greetings and salutations my friends! Hope this blog post finds each and every one of you happy, healthy, and working hard to meet your goals.

I know that you all truly challenge yourselves every day in order to transform yourself into the person that you know you can be. I'm on that journey right alongside you, however, it's important that no matter what your goals may be that you LISTEN to your body. Yep, you heard me...you HAVE to listen to the clues your body is giving you, and you must heed those warnings or else you may find yourself in the situation that I was in, with an injury forcing you to take time off.

As many of you know, during my 2nd round of P90X, I challenged myself by committing to a doubles rotation. I was up at 4:30 a.m. four days each week for my first workout of the day, and also worked out in the afternoon each day. Right around week number seven my body started talking to me...and sadly, I ignored it.

In week number nine, two weeks after my left hamstring told me I better rest, I had to stop doing my leg workout each week. I simply replaced it with something else that I felt didn't nag the hammy. Of course, that little tweak was still there, it just wasn't screaming at me as loud. Thus, since I was so focused on that goal of finishing 90 days of doubles that, once again, I pushed through and ignored the pain that was there nagging me in the back of my left thigh. In week twelve, I was in the middle of a cardio workout, reached down to touch the floor prior to leaping into the air, and a sharp, stabbing pain shot up my leg, through my butt, and into my lower back, where is stayed. I was done. Ignoring a hamstring is one thing, but I know better than to ignore my back. I stopped right where I was, and made myself take a full week off. I visited my chiropractor, stretched my legs multiple times each day, and I did nothing more than walk my dogs. It was agony for me to not push play every day.

The week turned into 8, then 9, and finally 10 days. I started back with a few days of easier workouts, and now I'm back into the P90X groove again, but I assure you I will now LISTEN to my body. I also make sure that I do a LOT of preventative things to insure that the hamstring is truly warmed up and stretched prior to putting any stress on it. Fortunately for me, I received my September installment of the Tony Horton One-on-One program during my forced rest, and it has become a lifesaver. September's One-on-One is called, "Patience," and it is a 30 minute yoga/stretch workout. It's perfect for my tweaky little hamstring, it's now my daily warm-up prior to any workout that will stress my hamstring, and it's also a great day starter at 4:30 a.m.

So, lesson learned. I knew that my hamstring wasn't just sore from working out. I knew there was something going on, but I ignored it. By ignoring those warning signs, my body had to say something that I would listen to. Had I ignored those red flags flying in the air, the results could have been far more detrimental to my goals that a mere 10 days off. So listen...when your body tells you something, it's important that you pay attention, back off, rest, recoup, and then when your body says it's ready, get back into the groove.

Now I'm feeling strong and am ready to start round #3. Ding, ding, ding...P90X+ starts in five days. If you'd like to join me in the journey, send me a message.

If you're feeling 100%, go push that play button and BRING IT! If you're not, be patient and crush it another day.