Don't punish yourself with exercise. Also, dress like Wonder Woman sometimes. Because Wonder Woman. OMG ONLY THREE DAYS UNTIL THE MOVIE COMES OUT

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about working out your emotions. When I get all cranked up about something, which doesn’t happen often, I put on my headphones, angry music, and beat the ever-loving crap out of my body.

It’s a nasty habit and I’m working on it.

I am a work in progress (in so many ways really), but especially when it comes to working out from a place of love for my body, and not hate or disgust. I know I’m not alone in this struggle, but coming off of a holiday weekend, now seemed like a good time to remind everyone, myself included, to workout because it's good self-care; not self-flagellation. 

Last weekend was the kickoff for summer. I mean you wouldn’t know it given the rain and chilly temperatures, but now, as we speak, it’s officially summer. 

Also tourist season.

And summer.

I hope that you enjoyed yourself. I hope you put work to the side and family and friends to the forefront. I hope that you enjoyed community, laughter, and kinship. Perhaps you took time out, as we always did growing up, to visit the graves of those who have passed, plant flowers, and took a moment to give thanks to those who served. 

But I really hope you don’t come into the gym feeling like you need to suffer for any choices you made over the weekend. 

“Make me work hard, I ate more than I should.”

No.

Work hard because you are rested and recovered and ready to get after it. Not because you had cheesecake. We all work out (or don’t work out) for different reasons. Motivation comes in all shapes and sizes, but whatever you do, I implore you to work out because you love your body, not because you had a double-fudge brownie.

I am guilty of feeling like I have to earn my food or a treat. Last week I ordered a drink from Starbucks and caught myself saying to a friend, “good thing I worked out today.”

No, just no. 

I don’t have kids, but I have an adorable six-year-old niece, and I don’t want to catch myself making these kinds of statements around her. (It’s bad enough, although somewhat adorable, that she picked up the phrase ‘you’re killing me smalls.’) 

Work out because you love your body and love yourself.  

As the only member of our coaching staff who has even sniffed 30 years old, let alone 40, I can get a little defensive about my age. I promise you that casual conversations around the office have become a bit more challenging for Josh, our very knowledgeable and mild-mannered director of training since I’ve come on board. 

Josh: “Generally we won’t have a 40 something-year-old…” 

Me: What?? What won’t you have a 40 something-year-old do? Hmm???

Josh: “Back squat 400 pounds.”

Me (Slathering Icy Hot all over my body): Why because you think they can’t? Hmmmm??? You think because I’m old I can’t back squat a small car??” (Storming out of the room in my knee wraps and elbow brace).

These days, I find myself digging my heels in about age the way I did about being a girl playing with the boys.

“Are you saying I can’t do that because I’m a girl?? I’ll show you!”

And I did.

Eventually, I climb out of Josh's throat and take my creaky knees into the gym for a workout. I’m getting older. And I’m grateful for the privilege of aging, I truly am. But I’m learning, at every twist and turn, to embrace the changes in my body. Each day is a new lesson in training myself to look forward and not backward. It is so easy, as we get older, to become hyper-focused on what we used to do.

I used to read a menu without playing trombone.

I used to walk up and down stairs without a crunching noise in my knees. 

I used to be able to skip my warm up without pulling a muscle. 

Currently, I'm training for a half-marathon, and hopefully a full one. Yesterday on my 5k route, as I looked at my time, I was overcome with a major case of used to’s. I used to run a 5k in 26 minutes or less. I used to run nine-minute miles. 

It can be depressing to focus on. I suppose I could force myself to run faster. Or I could just enjoy the run. 

I’m training for the future, not the past. 

I’m not going to stop doing things because I’m getting older. Honestly, my main goal is to stay active as I get older. I want to lift weights and I want to run and I’d like to beat my dad in a game of golf, and hey, maybe take up tennis.

I love me some Bruce Springsteen but I refuse to be that guy in “Glory Days.” 

I think there are plenty of those still to come. 

It’s ok.

That’s your permission slip for the day. That’s your golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Your tiny piece of paper that says you have permission to do what you need to do to take care of yourself today.

Sometimes it’s ok to take a break. 

It’s ok to break down.

It’s ok.

I can’t think of anything more powerful in terms of permission than those two words. So I’m using them carefully and thoughtfully and with as much meaning as I can pour into them this morning.  

It's ok.

You spend so much of your time taking care of everyone else. People at work, spouses and children and parents at home. Friends and family and people in your church. 

Today I’m giving you the permission slip that says it’s ok to take care of you. 

I see so many fitness posts about rising and grinding, and that’s ok if that’s what works for you. 

But I don’t really want my days to be filled with long arduous tasks that I endure. My dad lost his job in the steel mills when I was a kid and spent the rest of his working days as a corrections officer in a maximum security prison. He did enough enduring of his days for the both of us. 

Life is too short to constantly rise and grind. 

Yes sometimes you have to push yourself through a workout, but the only thing I want to grind in the morning is my coffee beans. 

I would argue that when workouts and life and long runs begin to feel like they are a grind - when work and relationships and life begins to feel that hard, day in and day out, then it might be time to take a break.

Take inventory today, right now. What do you need right now? What do you need today? How will you take care of yourself today? Sure we all probably need more sleep and a vacation and more sunny days like yesterday. We have some degree of control over the sleep, but often very little over vacations and the weather.

What do you have control over?

Maybe you need to take a day off from the gym and walk outside. Maybe you need to get back in to the gym because you know you feel better when you show up. Maybe you need to eat lunch away from your desk. Make yourself a priority.

I don’t know what you need today. But whatever that need might be, here’s your permission slip.

It’s ok. 

Ok?

Good talk. :)