,

I am currently sitting in the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, getting ready to board my flight back to North Carolina after spending the last 2 months in Europe. As I’ve shared with you, it was 3 weeks in Paris with my girlfriends, and then the 2-week 160-mile #tetatrek hike through Portugal and Spain, a week on the French Riviera and then 17 days through Italy.

To call it epic would be an understatement.

I stumbled across this amazing quote recently, and it sums up how I feel about these past couple months: “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” ~Seneca

Sure, the #tetatrek was physically demanding, walking 7-17 miles a day, but more than anything, this trip put me directly, fully and completely into my #discomfortzone. In all realms: food-wise (basically Italy is just where you go to eat cheese, tomatoes and bread in varying combinations); emotionally (hello, traveling for 6 weeks with 5 other people all up in yo space – even though I love them) and mentally (waaaah, I want my #BAS and my Vitamix and Whole Foods and the largest coffee on earth!).

You get the picture.

I have loved every second of it – the amazing adventures, experiences and places, as well as the challenges. I have learned so much about myself and I know that it’s brought me closer to my family too.

But I have to admit something to you.

Last week, I did workout #8 (in 8 weeks). Like I posted on Instagram, that’s not an awesome training record. But it’s also not nothing. Every little bit counts. And the idea that I should wait until I get home to “have a clean slate” before I can do anything worthwhile is just frankly absurd. But the all-or-nothing approach is irresistible, so sometimes we just say eff it and decide what’s one lousy workout gonna do? Might as well wait until we get home. Well, I don’t like that. That mentality keeps me struggling, and so … I exercised on this trip, kind of.

But here’s the thing with averaging one workout a week: you get sore! Lol. It’s juuuuust enough time between workouts to get really sore again, and I did. Every time. Sometimes I ran stairs, sometimes, I did bodyweight workouts, sometimes I used weights if we were in a hotel that had a gym.

Last week, workout #8, was a Metabolic Effect Spark Workout. Still one of the freaking hardest workouts out there. So simply and yet devastatingly tough. I used 8 kg dumbbells (so around 17.5 lbs in each hand) and did the following:

I circuited those 4 exercises for 20 minutes, resting as much as I needed and counted how many rounds I completed. I got 5.5 rounds. As a general rule for Spark Workouts, you want to get between 4 and 6 rounds. If you get less than 4, your weight is too heavy. And if you get more than 6 rounds, your weight is too light. Simple adjust next time you do the workout. Record your completed rounds.

It was a full-body workout, emphasis on shoulders and legs – but honestly, the way I felt for the days afterward, it just worked every damn muscle in my body. So sore. AGAIN. P.S. I attached the workout PDF to this email for you if you want to print it for the gym.

So, back to now.

Heading home, and ready to jump back into training again. I have to admit, I haven’t been this excited about training in years actually. Not because I feel like I need to do any penance for the weeks I took off or because I am upset with the way my body looks (in fact, I maintained my weight the entire time, though I am a little softer, which is fine and normal and to be expected), but because I AM CRAVING MOVEMENT.

That hasn’t happened in a long time, and I am excited.

But I am also nervous.

You know why. Getting started again with exercise can be scary. There’s soreness and discomfort and sometimes nausea (!!!) and uncertainty about how much we can handle. So even though my trainer partner just texted me all like, “Ready to train tomorrow?” (love you, T!), honestly, I’m not ready to jump back in to the workouts I was doing 2 months ago. I am not ready. I need a few days, a week or two, to slowly wade back into the movement patterns, endure the soreness, see how my body does, eat a shitload of fruit, vegetables and water, start supplementing again and work back to my old intensity once more. I need some time to get my insides back to health.

So I told Tara I’d meet her on Monday, ha! At least give myself a few days to feel everything out. And even still, wade slowly back in, monitoring and assessing each workout.

So how do you increase intensity when you are scared to? Or when you are coming back from an injury? Or you are, ahem, starting back up after eating pasta and pizza for weeks? 

The thing you don’t do is pretend you’re where you used to be. Your body no likey. And you are more likely to end up on the couch with an injury or such intense soreness that the thought of training tomorrow is inconceivable. No, you want to slowly ramp up your intensity over time by doing less than you think you can or should.

This is hard, right? And it’s going to be hard for me, too because I just wanna be there! I want to be as fit and strong and cardiovascularly capable as I was a few month ago! But the only way to get “there” is by starting with a little bit at a time today. I am going to move every day. I am going to do a little something every day. Start with some bodyweight movements. Shorter workouts, 10-15 minutes. I’ll head out to the track and do some 50% speed/intensity track sprints. I am going to leisure walk and pay attention to recovery. I am going to get my sleep and take my supplements.

I am going to vary up my workouts so that I am a) hitting all muscle groups and b) staying engaged in the process, excited.

I don’t want to go balls to the wall. Besides, in all things, “go hard or go home” always ends up going home. I won’t punish myself for the choices I’ve made over the last 2 months – good grief, how lucky am I to have had this opportunity! – even though I have that all-or-nothing pull. Instead, I am going to stay mindful, tread carefully and listen to my body (and mind!) as I ramp up my training again.

If all goes well, within a month of consistent training, I’ll be feeling like my old self again! I’ll keep you in the loop ;)

For all those who purchase through my link (above), I will be sending out a free downloadable full-length video for the ‘Delt Domination’ workout that I programmed for LWF. I train you through the vid, it’s fun!

Let me know if you have any questions! And let me know how you do with the Spark workout, Delt Domination and if you try any of Jen’s LWF workouts! I always love hearing where you are on your journey and how you’re doing.

Ox,

Jill

P.S. If you are wondering about my plans for Friday (first day home), on the agenda: hitting Whole Foods, epic #BAS (perhaps multiple), enormous coffee with half & half and stevia, leisure walk, workout and GETTING MY EYEBROWS WAXED, ha! Hello, Bert! ;)