Rest days

In a word ... suck. They are just no fun. When you train and train and train your body craves the burn, craves the pump from lifting. When you are forced to take some rest days you go through withdrawals. It has been hard to be down these last 3 days. I have missed the gym. Missed working out and getting sweaty and pushing hard.

Lately I have struggled in the gym. My husband and I have been going through some rough times. We have spent a lot of time beating ourselves up and tearing each other down. We are trying to quit and work out what we need to. I have been in my head a lot. Its affecting my lifts. The other day with my trainer Jolene, I just broke down right in the middle of my workout. I am standing there doing my clean and press and bawling. I felt like such an idiot. She finally made me quit and just talk. I felt like one of those people you see on biggest loser who are running on the treadmill sobbing their eyes out.  I always thought it was just part of the show, something they created, not something that people really felt. (Now the puking on the other hand...I can see that. I have been there before).  It felt good to get it out. But how does this relate to rest days....I hadn't been taking one. I was working out every day. My body was spent.

Rest days give you the chance to recover.  You body needs time to heal itself.  When we apply stress to our bodies..and trust me lifting is stress...it makes minor damages to our muscles. Small tears and weak points. Your body repairs these and tells your brain "hey, we seem to be fixing this a lot, send more stuff here so the damage can be minimized. " this is what makes us stronger. This makes it so we can lift heavier next time.  We have literally built more muscle as a response to working the muscle out. This can only happen when we rest.

So I am being good. Taking my meds, drinking my shakes, working out my head, and rebuilding my muscles. When I go back to the gym (tomorrow is the plan) I should be stronger for it.