Exercise as a form of self-care?

Posted In: Coaching May 12th, 2017 divider No Comments »

I’m writing this as I get back home from my first foam roller class (Thanks Kim!) and a quick walk around the ‘hood. It wasn’t easy, especially when you roll out the tight muscles, but it got me thinking about the importance of self-care. It’s not something I “had” time for before.

A lot of folks go hard a lot. Or all the time. As I’m getting older (maybe wiser?), I find those sessions can be quite taxing to the body. As much as you need to get the blood flowing on a daily basis, it’s very easy to overdo it.

We look at a lot of pro athletes that go hard but theyalso have a lot of time to recover. They recover like champs too. Like it’s their job. It can come in many forms including sauna, ice baths, cryotherapy, massage, a nap or simply a recovery workout.

Keep that in mind when you’re planning your training schedule. Some time to recuperate on the physical and mental sides is quite important. For me that includes a lot of walks, a run in the woods or even a bath.

It was funny but one of the athletes I coach mentioned really noticing he now needed the short yoga session I put in his schedule every week to balance it out. He said he used to do yoga on occasion before but now that it’s in his schedule, he notices a big difference in his week.

I have a busy schedule but it’s pretty flexible so I’m fairly lucky. This concept is especially important for folks who have many other obligations such as children or 3 jobs. Especially those folks. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

I try to start my day with a bit of self-care as well, usually a short session of 10-30 minutes. It usually some form of yoga, HIIT, meditation or Wim Hoffing. It’s become my “me” time and huge part of my day.