3 fitness phrases we need to quit saying
You’ve seen these phrases on memes. You’ve heard them from fitness trainers. You’ve probably even said them to yourself. Have you ever noticed how much of the fitness rhetoric is negative? We often focus on what’ll happen if you don’t workout, instead of the benefits of when you do workout. When has humiliation and shame actually motivated you to do anything though? We’ve got to shift the narrative and our mindsets to something more positive.
Here are 3 phrases we’ve got to stop saying, and what we should be saying instead:
WHAT NOT TO SAY:
No days off.
WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD:
My body is calling for rest today and I’m going to honor that.
I’m not impressed by people who brag about working out 7 days a week. Research has shown that rest days not only help your body recover, but they also help improve your overall fitness performance. When you take a day off, you’re giving your muscles time to recover from fatigue, ultimately reducing your risk for injury. Once your body has had time to recover, you’ll be able to go harder and deeper in your next workout. I know we get caught up in trying to meet our daily goals and closing our rings, but you can’t let that control your life. You may need to adjust some settings on your fitness tracker to make the goals more realistic or less overwhelming. And rest days don’t always have to mean zero movement. Take those opportunities to go on a walk with your family or do some light stretching.
WHAT NOT TO SAY:
No pain, no gain.
WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD:
All forms of movement, no matter the intensity, are great.
People wrongly assume that in order for a workout to be effective, it has to be intense and pain-inducing. Low impact exercises like yoga, pilates or swimming are great and can absolutely help you reach your goals. Besides, the amount of soreness you feel after a workout isn’t the best way to measure effectiveness. While soreness can sometimes mean you had a great workout, it can also be a sign that you injured yourself or pushed yourself too hard. There’s a difference between intensity and pain; and pushing through pain is never a good idea. This is why modifications are so important, and you should never feel bad for modifying a move to meet you where you’re at. Let’s stop discounting lower impact workouts and start counting all movement as a gain.
WHAT NOT TO SAY:
No excuses.
WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD:
If I can’t workout today, that’s ok. I’ll pick back up tomorrow.
There are tons of reasons why you might not be able to workout today. Maybe you’re tired or sick, maybe your body is sore, maybe something with work or family came up. Guess what. That’s not an excuse, that’s life! You’ve got to give yourself grace when those moments happen. Instead of dwelling on it and feeling like a failure, take the day off and hop back into your routine tomorrow. Don’t do a double workout or restrict food as a result though. That doesn’t change what happened the day before. Just keep moving forward.
