Light movement makes a big difference
Learning to find the ‘rhythm’
There’s a funny thing that happens when you power your exercise from the power of your heart. Eventually you get that ‘itch’ to go for something BIG.
I often find myself thinking about what the next ‘big effort’ in my training will look like. Sometimes it’s a formal race, but most often it’s just a bigger than normal effort that requires all of my training to pull off effectively.
The last one I truly ‘aimed’ for was the Pirate King of the Suburbs Marathon I took down a little over a month ago (read about it HERE).
This past weekend I took down 20 trail miles, climbing 2600ft, at a great pace. It was Father’s Day and I simply decided to tack on 4 extra miles and hit a nice round number instead of the 16 I initially wanted to cover.
But here’s the thing, my legs didn’t appreciate the extra effort and they certainly let me know.
After doing this a few times now, having a relatively impromptu longer session, I’m keenly aware of how to keep moving forward and not allowing a tough effort get in the way of consistent progress. I want to share a few tips on finding a rhythm between hard and light efforts and how to pick and choose your spots to go hard and pull back by letting the spirit lead the body and then the mind.
Afterall, when fitness is powered by the heart it’s always a type of expression, not simply movement JUST for the sake of movement.
The Importance of Momentum
The first thing I want to highlight is the value of consistency in creating more opportunities to ‘go big’ in the first place.
I wasn’t training specifically to take down a 20 miler last weekend, the meaning and goal of the session emerged out of the previous weeks of training. I didn’t even make the final decision until I was about 2-3 miles into the run on Sunday until finally resolving myself to the ‘20 mile’ distance.
Because I have a consistent process, I’m able to know my capabilities intimately. The flow I feel crafting my weekly training, adapting day to day, and recognizing pockets of time in my schedule afford me the luxury of creating ‘hard efforts’ at the right time.
The second thing I want to highlight is the importance of self knowing through the training. Specifically, knowing the body, how it feels, what it requires, and how to properly maintain it to keep going.
After finishing the 20 miles my legs were SORE, but I knew I couldn’t give into feeling like I could ‘take the rest of the day off.’ That’s a surefire way to halt momentum and stall consistency. I needed to keep moving, offering to walk with my kids to the playground in the afternoon instead of lying on the couch.
I did this so I could run again today, Tuesday, two days after this big effort. I also knew I wanted to exercise on Monday, to help bridge the gap and keep momentum moving forward.
So light movement became the most important type over the past two days to set me back up into my normal routine. This after I deviated and went a bit too hard (but it was fun!).
Yesterday morning I grabbed my 15lb steel mace, and did 15 minutes of carries while walking barefoot in the grass in my backyard. I also did some OH press into Lat pulldowns and some shoulder swings in between switching up grips.
It was barely enough to get me sweating, but the 25 minutes of effort created a consistent link between emptying the tank on Sunday and filling it back up for Tuesday.
36 hours of NO MOVEMENT after that big run and I would be dreading today’s training. But since I stayed in motion, my legs came around, and yesterday afternoon I felt their life fully return.
Big mo’ is always on your side if you keep putting one foot in front of the other!
Keep Moving Forward
When it comes to your fitness, it’s important to learn how to move in between heavy and light. When to PUSH and when to COAST on momentum.
Going hard when all the stars align gives you a push into the next week but only if you keep moving on the fumes barely left in your tank.
Going hard is a celebration of your consistency. The disciple of showing up for weeks, months, and years at a time stack into your ability to go big, strike when the opportunity arises, and conduct your own symphony of physical excellence.
But without that day to day discipline, you lose the momentum and often times one or two off days turn into a week or month faster than you can imagine.
So the days of light movement, the 20 minute emergency workouts, the pushups in the hotel room, matter most in building up to those big efforts that make our spirits CRY FOR MORE!
This is always why I advise my coaching clients to start easy and build consistency FIRST before even dreaming of what big effort they could take down in the future. And when things aren’t going their way, to check down and find something that can both push them but also not too far, too fast.
A good example is one client who wanted to go hard on endurance style training but has some current physical limitations preventing him from pushing. And that’s a pattern he requires in fitness, to feel the edge of effort and to go past it from time to time HARD.
So we discussed trying an activity like Tai Chi, where light movement is at the base, but intensity of practice emerges over time and it can grow into a larger effort in ‘intention’ while still being kind to his body. Then in due time, we can train for endurance when it’s appropriate. But not moving, that’s NOT AN OPTION.
So no matter your current fitness level, learn to sway between lighter efforts that keep you showing up the next day and big efforts that help you aim towards excellence and achievement.
It doesn’t need to be balanced, but it must be in harmony!
Tomorrow, I’ll go into greater detail about finding that harmony when you are just getting started back into the gym and with exercise.
Happy Training Team!