One of Body Firm’s expert trainers, Aaron Odell is a bike aficionado. A good one! He leads many private cycling sessions, does bike fittings and helps lead our Saturday group rides just to give you a glimpse of his expertise. Weekly, Aaron writes a blog about cycling. This week’s I thought was particularly good. Even if you aren’t a cyclist, I believe the general theme here can apply to all of us. Read on and thanks for sharing Aaron!
How do we improve? What are the requirements? I don’t have all the answers but I’ll give you some insight that could help. Some of you might be Type AAA–go get ’em people. Others might be happily watching saying, ” I’ll just go my pace, thank you”. Which is a better approach? Do you tackle our goal of better endurance and speed or do we just say, “Whatever, I’ll take what comes” ?? If your thinking may be both, then you might be reading my mind! If we never push our limits, we will never know where they are. If we never slow down and accept where we currently are, we don’t get to enjoy much or recover from our pushing our limits. So the key to improving is a lot like the rest of life–it’s a paradox filled with seemingly opposing ideas.
One idea everyone has heard is “No pain no gain.” This is both true and false. Change is uncomfortable. Pushing yourself means going to a place your body hasn’t been before, feeling new sensations, usually painful. Without this pain from reaching for a new limit, our body has no reason to grow. Your body, its muscles and cardiovascular systems, are well equipped to handle the situations it already knows. So a challenge is just what the doctor ordered. But, and a big BUT, is that it is possible to push without feeling “pain.” The more prepared your body is for the task at hand, the less or no pain you feel. A huge factor in the pain intensity is attitude. I’m not saying, “Hey, have a good attitude and the burning in your legs will vanish!” But think back to a different time when you were a kid. Remember how hard you could push your body if you were PLAYING. Pain disappears in the presence of something more important to your mind. Playing is just one of those options that can transform both your mental and physical experience.
What’s the other side of pushing our limits? Rest, of course. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You don’t improve from workouts you don’t recover from. It’s the other side of the coin. They are opposites but part of the same thing. Workouts without good recovery is like only filling your gas tank in your car half way. You’ll never make it as far on half a tank! Good recovery has just as many parts as good training. The Cliff notes, however, are: Eat well, sleep well, eliminate stress as much as possible, get massage and stretch. Simple right? Not really, I know. We can spend a lifetime giving those five things proper priority in our lives and still not find a balance. They are important and your mission is to find ways to make them a permanent part of your life.
The road to improvement is the constant flipping of this coin. One side reads CHALLENGE, the other side reads NURTURE. Day to day ask yourself if you’re getting both, and in the correct quantities. Since all of you live in the Bay Area, I’m betting the nurture side is less indulged. Our culture may reward those who give more priority to the challenge side of the coin, however YOUR BODY does not. Be good to yourselves. See you soon.
Aaron