{"id":25571,"date":"2011-11-09T09:13:56","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T17:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=25571"},"modified":"2011-11-09T09:13:56","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T17:13:56","slug":"mental-and-physical-break-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=25571","title":{"rendered":"Mental and Physical Break Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/bouguereau-007.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25833\" title=\"bouguereau-007\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/bouguereau-007-300x192.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/bouguereau-007-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/bouguereau-007.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After noticing some weird body aches on my Rest Days I realized it might be time for a &#8220;reset.&#8221; I have a steady workout routine that doesn&#8217;t change much (the activities change but the amount doesn&#8217;t change) but sometimes <a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=13982\">you just need a break<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I take 2 Rest Days a week but I split them up. Lately my workouts were feeling uninspired. That in combination with body aches makes me think I might be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=2470\">over-training<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Signs You May Need a Break<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"abm\">\n<div id=\"abc\">\n<div id=\"articlebody\">\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Fatigue or physical exhaustion<\/li>\n<li>Soreness that won&#8217;t go away<\/li>\n<li>Dreading your workouts<\/li>\n<li>Poor performance<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;re not able to progress in your workouts<\/li>\n<li>You feel unmotivated or bored<\/li>\n<li>Injury or illness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t say yes to most of those. I do have some soreness and boredom. Either way, a mini break can&#8217;t hurt anything. \u00a0I need to break out of this plateau. Change my routine. Change things up. Reset my body.<\/p>\n<p>Most athletes regularly schedule a week off from activities every 8-12 weeks.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">&#8220;One major factor that is often forgotten is\u00a0<strong>RECOVERY!<\/strong>\u00a0Recovery is vital for the body to continue making progress, whether it is muscle gain, fat loss, or both. Not only do we have to recover physically from one work out to the next, but also mentally. Even though we take days off from the gym a couple times a week, after weeks and weeks of pounding our bodies, we may require more than one or two days. That is why the training technique, or should I say &#8220;non&#8221; training technique, of taking a week off can be what your body needs to break your\u00a0plateaus\u00a0and spark your body into better gains and faster progress.&#8221; (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bodybuilding.com\/fun\/zaino4.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">source<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So for three days I did a Detox of sorts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, I didn&#8217;t go to the gym. The only activity was walking.<\/li>\n<li>Second, might as well do my sugar detox that I planned on doing for November!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\">DAY ONE<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Day One was easy. Day One was basically a rest day. It feels no different than a normal rest day. It was a good reset for my brain and body. The challenge will be the rest of the days. I never take more than 2 days off in a row unless I&#8217;m sick. So the third day will be weird.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How I Did:<\/strong> I was fine. After 4 days of working out a day off was needed anyway. Like I said, Day One would be easy. I did <strong>not<\/strong>\u00a0eat any candy! I made it through the day without being tempted, either. I did chew on some gum at work but when the urge to snack hit me Monday afternoon I drank some peppermint tea instead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How I Felt Physically:<\/strong> I felt tired and run-down.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t know if that was due to it being a Monday, Daylight Savings time, or it being a rest day but I was just <em>tired<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How I Felt Mentally:<\/strong> Mentally I was really glad I was taking a break. Mentally I felt drained and wasn&#8217;t looking forward to the gym, so that was a good sign to me that I needed the break.<\/p>\n<p>It was nice to have a night off. I had a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=25740\">good evening out with a friend<\/a> too!<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><strong>DAY TWO<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>How I Did:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u00a0most definitely needed day two. At first I was starting to feel guilty for taking time off and &#8220;slacking&#8221; from my schedule but my body <em>hurt<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How I Feel Physically:<\/strong> My body hurt. I don&#8217;t know if they were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=21929\">phantom pains<\/a> or if my body is actually <a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=22181\">worn down<\/a>. Who knows? All I know is that I had body aches I couldn&#8217;t explain and I was glad I didn&#8217;t have to work out. I was also famished. The hunger levels were high all day long and I never really felt satisfied.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How I Feel Mentally:<\/strong>\u00a0I felt relieved to have another rest day. The idea of going to the gym did not appeal to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What I Did:<\/strong> I read a book. In my free time I read this book:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Cleaving-Story-Marriage-Meat-Obsession\/dp\/0316003360\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25734\" title=\"cleaving-book-cover-julie-powell\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/cleaving-book-cover-julie-powell-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/cleaving-book-cover-julie-powell-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/cleaving-book-cover-julie-powell.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Cleaving-Story-Marriage-Meat-Obsession\/dp\/0316003360\">Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession<\/a> by Julie Powell. She&#8217;s the author of &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Julie-Julia-Year-Cooking-Dangerously\/dp\/B000Y8SDZW\/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b\">Julie and Julia<\/a>&#8220;&#8211;which I LOVED. I loved her first book, it inspired me to want to try more adventurous dishes in the kitchen and I really enjoyed the movie. It was charming and romantic. Cleaving? Not so much. I did not like the book at all, honestly. It was lacking all of the charm and romance of the first book. Her story was about infidelity and butchering meat. Great topics, right? I kept trying and trying to get into it but she made herself SO\u00a0unlikable\u00a0to me I didn&#8217;t really care what her story was about. Bummer.<\/p>\n<p>I also started a new book: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Starvation-Heights-Murder-Pacific-Northwest\/dp\/1400097460\">Starvation Heights<\/a>: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest. Creepy!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25774\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.starvationheights.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25774\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-25774\" title=\"Starvation Heights\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Starvation-Heights-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Starvation-Heights-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Starvation-Heights-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Starvation-Heights.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-25774\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(source)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I also did some accessorizing. I have a ton of jewelry but rarely wear them anymore because I&#8217;m usually heading to the gym after work (or biking to work). It&#8217;s just not something I think about doing anymore. Well, not having to go to the gym for a few days I started rotating through my necklaces and earrings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/necklace.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25776\" title=\"necklace\" src=\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/necklace-e1320774619766-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/necklace-e1320774619766-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/necklace-e1320774619766.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Michael commented that he liked my &#8220;accessorizing&#8221; lately&#8211;that it was feminine and romantic. I guess I&#8217;ve been doing the <strong>&#8220;gym rat chic&#8221;<\/strong> a little too much lately, huh? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Next challenge: Day three&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>QUESTION: Do you ever take a break like this? What did you notice?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After noticing some weird body aches on my Rest Days I realized it might be time for a &#8220;reset.&#8221; I have a steady workout routine that doesn&#8217;t change much (the activities change but the amount doesn&#8217;t change) but sometimes you just need a break. I take 2 Rest Days a week but I split them [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,26,29,43,418,45,3522,55,2754,4302,2624,101,123,4283,134,2945,138,152,154,175,3523,2625,215,250,4277,258,3180,276,298,4528],"tags":[4954,4956,8590,8592,1499,4259,4952,852,4118,4953,938,954,4955],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/bouguereau-007.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25571"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25842,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25571\/revisions\/25842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}