Professional athletes know that recovering, reenergizing, rest, and changing the intensity of training depending on the current goals and requirements is key for achieving the best performance.
However, there is currently a huge trend in the world of fitness in which intensive and sometimes exhausting exercises are promoted. Power exercises, boot camps, survival workouts are some of these exhausting training routines that are a real hit among people of different ages.
On the other hand, techniques that will support rest and recovering are neglected and they are only advised in cases of complete exhaustion. Many experts suggest that these Spartan exercises and workout routines are promoted due to the increased violence and militarization of our society.
Violence seems to become part of our lives at least when we watch the news, TV shows, movies, and music videos. All that violence and aggressiveness are obviously reflected in the exercises.
In addition, even from our youngest age we are prepared and taught that in order to become successful persons we must neglect our health, socialization, and even our health. This is the only way to become somebody in this world. But is it true? Being exhausted and tensed is certainly not the path to success, but more a path to developing diseases. We are all aware that people in the 21st century are suffering from some conditions that were never experienced before or at least not so frequently. All these diseases are related to stress, lack of physical activity, and poor diet.
The sad part is that the vast majority of people know that and they still practice this kind of lifestyle. They say that they will think about their health when something goes wrong. They compensate for their physical inactivity with rigorous exercises that take place three times a week and actually do more harm to their body. They may even appear attractive on the outside, by their health is deteriorated.
Now let’s get back to aggression and militarization of fitness routines. If you are part of this type of routine, you may not be aware that these exercises affect your mood, health, and your path to reach the goals. You need to understand that exercising is not an activity that has to be painful, boring, and intense, and even if you miss a training session the world won’t fall apart. Remember that this is something that is quite natural and it is usually just a phase that each of us should go through. It’s only bad if you stay in this phase for a longer period of time.
There is more than one option that can serve as an alternative to this type of thinking. By learning more about your body and how you need to take care of it, strengthen and heal it, you will view this process as an exploration, quest, and opportunity, not as an obligation, task, or some kind of operation. It is important to understand that you don’t need to suffer in order to achieve your goals.
For example, there are many people who enjoy dancing and they take classes to engage in this activity and improve their overall appearance. Some people love martial arts and they join Muay Thai, Kung Fu, or other combat sports to practice their favorite sport. Some people enjoy yoga or Pilates. There is no physical activity better than the other is. They all bring some benefits, and it’s better to join a class that’s offering the activity you truly like, and you are interested in it.
It is good to mention that no matter what type of activity you choose you will always feel discomfort at some point and there is nothing wrong with that. Through these activities, we test the limits of our body, but there is a huge difference between the levels of discomfort we feel. You should not give up if you feel discomfort, but you should not continue exercising if you feel that you can collapse.
So, try to find a compromise between these two extreme positions and most importantly find out what your body is trying to tell you. Once you feel the signals that come from your body, you will know when to intensify your efforts and when to be moderately active.
Don’t be fooled by all those programs promising amazing results in just 30 days. The price you will pay later will be much higher. Work on your body continuously, but don’t exhaust yourself.
Your fitness and health objectives should be viewed as a quest and adventure, not as some kind of obligation.
Source: Train Deep
