I train my clients in various ways. Some are virtual over zoom, some are in group settings, and some are in person. I’m fortunate to have a room with some gym equipment in it so I’m able to spend one on one time with my clients there. A few years ago, one of my clients arrived. I met her at the door like I always do and started in the usual chit chat as we made our way back to the gym. Just as she was responding “fine” to my question of “how are you doing?” I turned around.

She was not fine. Her forced smile and rapid blinking to keep the tears from falling gave her away. After I gently asked a few questions, she shared some struggles going on in her personal life that caused her stress levels to skyrocket.

I took one look at the HIIT workout I’d planned and chunked it aside. “With your permission,” I offered, “I’d like to do something different. Can we take it down a notch?”

I cued up some relaxing music and began guiding her through breathing, range-of-motion movements, and holding movements long enough to feel a stretch and for those muscles to melt. She still worked, and found herself more sweaty than she expected, but when we finished she looked at me with a little less tension in her face and said, “thanks. I needed that.”

If I’m honest, I consider that experience one of my biggest training wins. As a personal trainer, women ask me to help them get stronger and more conditioned. Frequently they say things like “I just want to take care of myself.” On that day, I helped my client take care of herself by pivoting the workout and pausing. She didn’t leave with a personal best workout, but she left feeling the best she could at that time. We checked in with what her body was telling her, we breathed deeply, and we acknowledged the emotional turmoil that absolutely impacts our bodies. We paused.

If you’ve been following this season, you know I am going through some of the areas we need to focus on after forty but don’t always take the time.

Pausing is one of those.  

What do I mean by pause? 

I’ll start by sharing the opposite of pause, which is also from tales of a fitness professional vault. Only this time, I’m not as proud. 

I used to teach a fabulous format of metabolic conditioning. My students and I loved it: it was intense, effective, and only thirty minutes. I embodied a more aggressive-style of coaching for that class because it fit the vibe of the workout. I would point to the door, tell my participants to leave their problems on the outside, and don’t even think about what is waiting for them.

This seems like good advice; after all, how can we get a good workout if we are burdened by the weight of our challenges? But it doesn’t take into consideration that our body is feeling those emotions even if we ignore them. 

I used to think I could separate the mind and the body. Whatever went on outside the gym I could leave there and not be bothered by it until I got out. As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know and quite frankly I didn’t know. I didn’t know how integrated it was and how our body is our very best communication system with what is going on with us mentally and emotionally. I thought that an intense sweat session was the answer to those challenging days. It can be. But it may also be the opposite of what we need.

It may be that we need to pause, and I now recognize the value in this. 

Before we get into the various ways we can pause, though, I want to explore a few things that can happen if we don’t pause and listen and respond to our body. 

What happens if you don’t pause?

Perhaps nothing initially. But your body feels the effects of stress regardless if you want it to or not. Stress can manifest itself in your body in a number of ways, including:

• Tight hip flexors (tune into my conversation with Elisabeth Kristof in season 13 to learn more, but this is basically a safety mechanism our brain uses to decrease the space we can cover to protect ourselves).
• Increases inflammation, which makes us more prone to injury. 
• Decreases absorption of food (Elise Museles taught us about that in Season 13 in Rewriting our Food Story).
• Being more prone to develop autoimmune diseases according to a study done on mice with high anxiety.

If you’re thinking, “But Amy, I can’t just not workout every time I get stressed,” I get it. I promise I’m not asking you to do that. What I am suggesting is you tune in and listen to your body and respond (I know that can be the hardest part!)

Actionable ways to pause:

• Take three slow breaths before your workout, especially if you’re coming in hot, or rushed, or about to snap. Breathe with your belly and exhale slowly.
• Take the intensity down in whatever workout you’re doing. Not every workout has to be a personal best! 
• Practice yoga. You can find a plethora of videos on YouTube, or if you have the Apple Fitness + app you can choose practices based on time. 
• Do a mobility workout. If you purchased my book, Your Worthy Body, you have a free 30-minute mobility framework in the book and have a QR code in the book that will take you to the online resource library. In that library I have demo videos, strength workouts, HIIT workouts, and yes, a mobility. I also offered a 5-minute mobility warm up and cool down
• Swap a workout for productive coping skills (executing healthy boundaries, getting professional support, meditation, volunteer, get outside)
• Recognize we have different seasons. It’s ok to adjust your workouts for a while. There’s a formal term for this called periodization
• Meditation/breath work. My friend and you
• My new online, on-demand class incorporates several of these concepts. It’s also a great alternative to those days that you’re physically tired but still want to get some movement in because you know it helps you feel and sleep better.

B.COMPLETE is an acronym for the six areas we cover in my new online on-demand class that launches July 26, 2022. So far we’ve covered B for balance, CO for core, M for mini muscles, and of course this week is P for pause. This 40-minute class covers all the things we want to be focusing on as we age, including feeling balanced, centered, strong and limber. This class is offered at $20, which is quite a deal since you can do it as many times as you want and when you want, but you can receive presale pricing by going here before July 19 to receive half off the $20 rate, so you’ll get an on demand class for $10 to do as many times as you want.

Join the community!

If you’re not already a member of the Graced Health Community on Facebook (formerly the Podcast Group), consider this your invitation.

My hope is community members receive recipe inspiration, pride in their accomplishments, and more educated in their movement. Come join us!

Have a graced day,

Amy