Good morning! How are you doing today? I hope you had a great weekend. Some of you may have seen my Instagram post at the end of last week:

I have never experienced what I experienced last week, but I can tell you it wasn’t very fun. Looking back, it’s likely from pushing myself too hard and too far, but I struggle because if I feel ok and want to work out, how do I know that I’ve pushed it too far until something happens? In the past, I’ve struggled with rest days… more than I’d like to admit. But, over the past few months, I’ve been much better at not only TAKING 2 every week, but also ENJOYING it. I look forward to my rest days now, actually.

But last week, 4 unplanned rest days really threw me for a loop. I didn’t want to rest on Thursday. I wanted to go to a class and I wanted to rest on Friday. I wanted to race on Saturday and rest on Sunday. Unfortunately, my body had other plans for me, and even though I knew I needed to listen to my body, it was hard to not have negative thoughts about the extra rest and not being able to do anything. I hate that I still think that way when things don’t go as planned. It’s definitely my Type A personality showing throw- I hate not being in control and going off plan. But the thing is, plans don’t always work out and sometimes our bodies just have a different plan for us.

I know that I won’t lose any physical gains I’ve made by taking extra rest days, but making the mental shift to get rid of negative thoughts during unplanned rest days is hard! I’ve mastered it for the rest days I plan (I feel zero regret and I don’t miss my workouts at all), but when something throws a kink in that plan, that’s when I struggle.

I received some great feedback from some followers and every single message made me feel so much better. There’s just something so nice and comforting to hear advice from fellow friends who workout and can likely relate to how I was feeling. So, thank you, friends- your words meant so much to me!! And you know what? I really ended up enjoying the extra rest and had way fewer negative thoughts about it than I thought I would. Rather, I tried to soak it up and appreciate the slower paced life for a few days.

Last Week’s Workouts

• Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then did 10 minutes on the stair stepper.
• Tuesday- I went home after work and did something I haven’t done in a LONG time: I did an at-home workout! When I was at MANIA, I won a Step 360 so I decided to go home and test it out. The verdict? I LOVE it! It’s probably one of my new favorite workout tools. I’ll post the workout I did because it can be adapted to using a step (like I did in UXF Burn last week) or a BOSU even if you don’t have a Step 360.

• Wednesday- I ran a 5K before teaching UXF Burn.

• Thursday & Friday-  Rest  days, as mentioned above.
• Saturday- I got up and felt much better, so I did some stretching and light core work to start my day.
• Sunday- I went for a 30 minute walk around East Boston. I had been inside for too long and realized I really needed to get some fresh air so I laced up and headed out. It was chilly, but it felt great.

This Week’s Workouts

• Monday- I’m not sure my plan today. I may head to the YMCA for a workout after work.
• Tuesday- I may try to go to Cara’s Tabata Treadmill class at Beantown Bootcamp, but if I don’t, I’ll maybe go to my favorite bootcamp at the Wellington BSC. I’ll see how I’m feeling, I guess!
• Wednesday- I will probably do some light cardio before teaching UXF Burn. It’s our last class before the holiday so I need to make it good 😉
• Thursday- Hopefully I’ll be able to go to the cardio kickboxing class I wasn’t able to go to last week.
• Friday- Rest day
• Saturday- I’m teaching cardio kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA
• Sunday- Rest

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I think what I’m looking forward to the most is going home to Maine this weekend with RM. We are going to head up after I teach on Saturday and will stop in Kennebunkport for lunch and some shopping before going to my parents for the night. I can’t wait to cook and drink wine and just hang out. I’ll be back home next week for Thanksgiving, but I’m never mad about extra time up there!

Questions for you: How do you feel about weeks with more rest days in them than you’re used to? What was the best workout you had last week? What are you looking forward to this week?