Workout transition points
Hi friends! How are you? Hope you had a very happy Saturday! What’s going on this holiday weekend? We have 3 glorious days of grilling parties. I’m a fan 🙂
This morning, while I was making the crispies (which the girls loved!), I munched some chia pudding.
This bowl kept me FULL.. I had to remind myself to eat my morning snack, so I’d have steady teaching fuel throughout the day.
-1/2 scoop Sun Warrior
-2 T Chia Goodness
-1 C almond milk
-1/4 C gluten-free oats
-organic frozen blueberries, heated up to defrost
Packed lunch included a Sunshine burger on Udi’s gluten-free bread and a kale salad: 
+ organic cherries and a plum 🙂
Work today went well- I love Saturday because I teach the most classes, including a really challenging one and get to Zumba my little heart out. During the week, I take Zumba at a local studio, but always enjoy it more teaching 🙂 I also love the fact that I get a hardcore, nice and sweaty workout.
I’ve written about how my workouts have changed in the past 3 months, and it’s certainly been challenging to adjust my workouts to how I’m feeling and the physical limitations that I now have. No more HIIT or Bodyrock (which I was doing consistently before, but feel like it would be too much) has definitely forced me to shift my focus to other types of exercise.
I went through a similar thing last spring when I injured my knee and am sure that many of you are going through similar situations right now. 
Here are some of my favorite tips for getting through a workout transition point:
–Focus on a type of workout you can do and enjoy. When I was injured last year, I turned my focus to two things: yoga and rest. It was hard to quell the cardio monster, but I knew that I could either rest and heal in the short term, or push myself too hard and be injured for the long term. Some other types of workouts that are usually ok with an injury (depending on what it is, of course) include strength training (while resting the injured body part—if your knee is hurt, you can still weight train upper body and vise versa), swimming (zero impact!), Pilates, yoga, and spinning (again, depending on the injury). If you’re not sure, ask your trainer or doctor what type of movement you can still do.
–Write down a goal for when you CAN do your favorite activity again. Are you a runner on temporary hiatus? Think about when your next future race will be when you’re healed. The Pilot and I plan on doing the Insanity Asylum DVDs when the gluten-free bun is freshly baked and out of the oven 🙂 Even better: make an inspiration board!
(My January 2010 un-blurred inspiration board)
–Take this time to assess your eats and experiment with health recipes. I have many friends who were injured athletes who maintained their weight the entire time they were injured by focusing on clean eats. When they were healed, it was easier for them to jump back into their favorite activity. This was a challenge for me when I had my knee injury, because my stomach was used to that Friday night pre-long run fuel festival. If you focus on eating whole foods, it shouldn’t be a big deal.
–Enjoy the break! So often we forget to take down time, that an injury or unique situation can remind us that we were running on empty and could use a “refresher” anyway. Relish the fact that you’ll get some extra down time and when you’re ready to go again, you’ll feel mentally rested and ready to tackle your thang, even stronger than before.
Hope this helps a little!
I’m off to a family party 🙂
See ya in the morning,
xoxo
G
Any tips you would add to my list? Please share 🙂
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what an amazing post!!! i loved this! what a great reminder to chill out sometimes 🙂
How much do you love Udi’s GF bread! It seriously tastes just like my grandpa’s homemade 🙂
Jason is injured right now — he strained something in his foot a few months ago and it is still healing — he’s been focusing on what he can do (walk and strength train but no running) and that helps a little, but I can tell he is super anxious to start running again.
Omigahhhh I am looking forward to every single BBQ this weekend. So excited. That picture of salmon with sweet tater made me even MORE excited!
These are great tips. I think we all find ourselves sometimes in situations where we can’t do what we normally do. I love that you focus on what you CAN do, rather than on what you CAN’T.
Your posts are so positive! This blog is always a good, calming, and reassuring reality check when I’m battling the “cardio monster.” Thanks for being so awesome. (And…now I’m off to have a sweet potato because that picture made it look AMAZING.)
I think you hit ’em all 🙂 Have a wonderful time at the party! 🙂
My boyfriend is doing p90x on his own for the last three months of my pregnancy and I’m maintaining strength through my own weights routine, including your summer shape up. I’m looking forward to him being more into workingout and I really want to try a program together afterour sweeet baby boy comes in october 🙂 I think I’m going totry too get him too do insanity with me then. I’ll def be rereading your insanity posts around that time 🙂
I think your tips are great and basically just focusing on the fact that for most people, it’s not a permanent situation, i.e. this too shall pass.
And to look for the silver lining the challenge is presenting, i.e. helps the person branch out into different workouts such as yoga, swimming, cycling, things that are lower impact, etc.
Great tips and happy 4th Gina!
I guess I would add on to the “enjoy your break” tip: listen to your body. After I ran my first half marathon, I was not only burned out on running, but my knee and hip had started to hurt—like couldn’t stand from a sitting position kind of hurt. I pushed and pushed and kept running, and I know that was a mistake—not only because my mind needed a running break, but because my body so clearly did, too! Bodies are intelligent machines, and we need to listen to what they’re saying!
Great tips, Gina.
This is a great post, Gina. It’s reminded me that today was a much needed rest day, based on the stuff I’ve been through the past couple of days. It really is best to listen to your body…and not push. Too hard. 🙂 Have a great 4th!!
would you say that tabata training (in 4-minute intervals) would be good for you right now?
i’m not sure- i’ve never tried tabata, so i’ll look it up 🙂
All of these are great! I think for me the clean eating would be the most important to make up for the lack of exercise during an injury. Thanks for posting!
Great tips! Such a good outlook – seeing it as an opportunity and doing what you can to make the best of it is ideal!
Thanks so much for this post! I’m a runner and have been dealing with a situation where I am unable to work out for awhile. being so active it’s hard for me to remember that it’s ok to just relax and take it easy. It’s nice to know that others have been in the same boat! 🙂
hehe, yesterady I was asking about it and here it is…
thanks for showing us your vision board again.
I’m doing one today as well, I mean, why not start in the middle of the year?! 🙂
enjoy the weekend of bbq’s, gina!
if you’re a creature of habit with your workout time, schedule another activity/outing in its place. don’t just sit around and watch tv – do something outside of the house, whether it’s wandering around a bookstore or the mall, having coffee with a friend, accomplishing a To Do you’ve been procrastinating on…just make sure it’s a time-filler you enjoy and that gets you out and about.
thanks for the tips its always frustrating when you are limited but thinking about this way helps~
I so needed this post – after a month off of any cardio whatsoever due to a hamstring injury, I’ve found that I’m constantly feeling sorry for myself. I need to focus on what I CAN do, i.e. upper body strength training and maybe trying some yoga. Thanks Gina! Hope you have a great weekend.
Such a great post! I went through a time of exercise transition recently with the injury of my knee and I’ll admit….it was TOUGH! But these tips are really helpful and definitely things I strove for during that time!
Hi Gina, I’ve seen Chia seeds on a lot of blogs lately…have you done a post about the benefits of them? I couldn’t find one and am really curious! Thanks!
here ya go 🙂
http://fitnessista.com/2010/01/readers-request-pantry-essentials/
thank you!!
I love the motivation board, Gina!
Chias are seriously my favorite superfood. They make me have amazing energy and I always have better workouts. crazy!
I love this post! It’s so easy to get down on yourself when something gets in the way of your normal routine. If you can think of it as an opportunity to try something new, it’s so much easier to keep a good attitude.
This was a great post, thank you! I always try to remember, when I am in a position where I can’t exercise for any reason at all, that your body beautiful is 80% defined by your eats, and only 10% your workout. What you said about treating your body right by eating clean and eating healthy is so true! 🙂 And I love your inspiration boards…they are, well, inspiring, lol! 😉 Your packed lunch and breakfast look so delicious! I add frozen berries to my oats and really struggle to get a picturesque shot of them cause they go all smeared purple, but yours look delish! And they always taste uh-mayzing which is what counts 😛 xyx
Yes this is such a good topic. Sometimes I can be too rigid.
Thanks for this post! I have to remind myself to slow down sometimes. I’m kind of proud of the fact that the most strenuous thing I did today was take a stroll to go get an iced coffee.