Slow Down To Speed Up

As someone who loves the adrenaline rush and surge of endorphins that really high intensity cardio can give me, taking the time to slow down for 8 weeks to do PiYo was very much a mental challenge. It was out of my comfort zone - mentally and physically - and I was constantly wondering how my body would react and how things would be once I had finished the program. I knew that once I finished my initial round of PiYo, that I'd move on to doing a hybrid of TurboFire & the strength schedule of PiYo. Let me tell you...my first day back at TurboFire was extremely humbling.

I've done TurboFire for years. I remember the first time I put it in after I was cleared to exercise after having my boys. I'd done TurboJam for about 4 years, so I figured this would be similar. I remember the music coming on in Fire 30 and thinking "oh my gosh - why is this music so fast??? It's only the warmup!!!"

Last Wednesday, I was transported back to that moment. I've done Fire 30 a million times before and been fine. But that day, I felt like I was doing it for the first time again. The music - all I could think was "I don't remember the music being this fast. Why does it seem so fast????"

Chalene has said in many of her business programs that sometimes we have to slow down to speed up. That phrase also rang true for me this first week into my hybrid. For 8 weeks, I'd slowed down with PiYo. Slowed down in a good way. I was working on the thing that I needed to work on most. Flexibility training. I needed to restore my body and give balance back to it.

Turbo has always been my favorite cardio - purely because it's so fun and I get the biggest adrenaline rush from it. But, let me tell you, doing Turbo with zero back pain is a million times more fun. While yes, the music seemed crazy fast at first, muscle memory kicked in and I was back in my groove. I was stronger in a different way. I was kicking higher. I was jumping higher. I was pushing myself harder than I ever had and I felt ALIVE. I was more flexible - giving me a greater range of motion and greater strength potential - which, when I looked down at my heart rate monitor - enabled me to workout at a much higher intensity and gave me a calorie burn that I'd never come close to before. I've also continued to follow the PiYo nutrition plan & my body continues to respond well to it. I'm not hungry - but the weight still is coming off at a healthy rate. I'm down another 2 pounds this week - for a grand total of 17 pounds in 9 weeks.

Moral of the story - stretching those muscles & giving balance to your body - while it may not be our favorite thing to do - is absolutely necessary.

Take time to take care of your body and it will take care of you. Take the time to slow down so that you can speed up.