Fitness plateaus....We all have them. We all hate them. They are like a brick wall standing there, unmoveable, between you and success. And it is up to you to find the means necessary to break through the wall, go around it, over it, whatever.
Most of the time, fitness plateaus come in the form of a physical obstacle. Those last 5 stubborn pounds that refuse to whittle away from your thighs, that muffin top you can't seem to shrink, or (ladies, can you hear me?) that tricep "waving goodbye" after you've stopped actually waving goodbye. But what if you find yourself in the trenches of a plateau that seems more MENTAL? Where your mind is blocking your progress and actually halting the physical progress for you?
I am finding myself stuck in some mental trenches of my own these days when it comes to my own fitness journey, and it has been going on for about a year and a half now. I have come to realize that I am dealing with a personal obstacle that I NEVER thought I'd be going up against....
Trying to make exercise a habit again, post-surgery.
Anyone that knows me well knows my passion for good nutrition, and exercise is right up there next to it with all the things I believe in to keep your physical self in top condition from the inside out. Making exercise a habit was never an issue in my life, and I never understood why it was never an issue....until it all of a sudden was one.
If someone has never had a joint surgery before, they don't realize how it can affect your life after the fact, not to mention your mental state. Nowadays, I have some sort of pain and discomfort, albeit minor, on most days of my life. I have never lived with pain/stiffness as a part of daily life before now. For me to not have pain or stiffness from my osteoarthritis basically all the weather systems in the universe have to be perfectly aligned, (i.e. humidity levels, rain/no rain, temperature, etc.) and believe me, I RELISH those days. They are few and far between! This reality has forced me into changing the way I approach fitness and my own body.
All this change since the surgery has really made me realize how much I used to treat fitness strictly as a form of vanity. In my twenties it was all about achieving the perfect body...perfect muscle tone, perfect abs, perfect cardio levels, you name it. And not to toot my own horn, but I achieved all that and more! In my twenties I also had no limitations. I could do Tae Bo one day, go running the next, do a heavy leg day. What girl would get bored when you're always "shaking things up" and keeping fitness fun?!
Now that I'm in my mid-thirties however, I'm facing different challenges that were not there a decade ago. My body doesn't react to the same fitness regime of my twenties. I get incredibly sore more often, my thighs have a little less tone and a few more dimples than in the past, and my knees have very little shock absorption. Therefore I have had to lower the intensity of my workouts quite a bit from the past. And for a Type A-girl like me, that equates to feeling like I'm not really getting anything out of it. And when I feel that way I get on the inevitable quit/start rollercoaster. If you're not sweatin', you're not really workin', right? LOL!
These days I am learning how to train my mind not to work out for the perfect body anymore, but to workout like I need to in THIS stage of my life....for basic everyday mobility. And I know that it takes time to train your mind to approach something differently than you have for the past 3 decades. Old habits die hard. But I am wise enough to know that any level of fitness starts in the mind, and transcends itself into how you physically feel. I know I will get there. I have climbed over fitness mountains before. I know how it feels at the top, because I've been there. Now it's about conquering a different type of mountain. I'll keep you posted....
