for those times when pushing forward is tripping you up….

Have you ever jumped back into something headfirst and then found that you needed to take a step back? 

That is exactly what happened to me last week. I was so happy to go back to cross-fit (if you are curious why I do cross-fit… that will be the subject for another time). I thought I had missed about 6 weeks of training, and while I did lower reps on all the movements the truth was that I had been away closer to 10 weeks and in the next few days my muscles made it ABUNDANTLY clear that I had gone TOO FAR TOO FAST.

In the weeks I wasn’t going to cross-fit I realized hadn’t been doing ANY of my other movement practices either. No swimming, No strength and mobility, No HIIT even less of my own somatic practices. So, what in my head had been a break from cross-fit had actually been a total absence of any structured movement practices.  

Needless to say I had very, VERY sore muscles for 4 VERY LONG days.

Have you ever heard the expression “SLOW IS FAST”?  In my case the wisdom of those words became abundantly clear. 

Now I am taking it slow, I am progressively integrating my other movement practices. And once they are all back on their regular rotation and my body is better conditioned, I will go back to cross-fit. It is a bit frustrating not to just be able to pick up where I left off, but my attempt at doing that proved to be both humbling and a stumbling block. I was prevented from being able to move forward with my goal of maintaining a balanced and happy mind and healthy body.  I was forced to stop, it actually felt like I was moving backwards. 

Whatever you are trying to achieve check your temptation to rush things to get race to the finish. You may find, much like the tortoise and the hare, that going fast is not the fastest way to where you are going, and when it comes to body and mid there is no finish line, just the joy of staying in the game.

Slow IS fast.

You’ve got this!