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Rules to Live By: Part 1
The # 1 rule: Your Body Knows Best
Listen to your body. You are the only person who can hear what your body is trying to tell you. Whether you are exercising under the direction of a personal trainer, a group exercise instructor, with a home video, or walking around the block with a neighbor, pay attention to your inner voice. So, how does your body talk to you? Well, it might say things like the following:
"Hey, this kind of hurts."
If your inner voice is saying, “You know, this kind of hurts my _________ (insert back, knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle, hip, whatever).” STOP what you are doing and look for a different way to exercise that area. God gave us pain receptors for a reason, and it wasn’t to make us suffer. Feeling pain is the warning that suffering could immediately follow.
"Hey, I feel something popping (or clicking)."
If you hear, or feel, a scrapping, popping, or clicking sound, stop and find another way to exercise that area. If you don’t, eventually your body is going to say “Hey, this kind of hurts!”
"I feel completely drained of energy."
If 2 or 3 hours after your workout you feel wiped-out, you probably overtrained. You should have MORE energy 3 hours after you exercise, not LESS. Back-off a little during your next session. This means if you were strength training, use less weight, or do fewer repetitions. If you were aerobic training, shorten the duration of your exercise, or the intensity, or both.
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