Welcome back everybody to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who have been doing a lot of online workouts, whether on Facebook, on YouTube, or on whatever platform you choose. But you are finding that your body just isn’t feeling that good doing them anymore. What are some things you can do with your workouts to make sure you can keep exercising, but that your body stays feeling well also.
1) Watch Your Range
Our first exercise tip if your body is not feeling well doing online workouts is to watch your range. Be very mindful of the amount of motion you are using during each exercise. One thing we find to be a sure-fire way for someone to not feel well with exercise is when they are using too much motion while they workout. If your body is not tolerating the online workouts well, consider using less motion during each exercise.
Action Step: Be mindful of which parts of the motion during the exercise are creating issues for you, then cut that part of the range out. For example, you don’t have to go as low on squats or pushups if you find that it bothers your knees or shoulders.
Related: Joints feeling achy? Try these workout tips!
2) Watch Your Speed
Our second exercise tip if your body is not feeling well doing online workouts is to watch your speed. To piggyback off of tip number one, the second most common thing that we find causing people to not feel well when they exercise is moving too fast. If your body is feeling particularly beat up or drained, consider slowing your movement WAYYY down.
Action Step: Try using a 3/2/3/2 tempo – three seconds up, pause for two seconds, three seconds down, pause for two seconds. If that still feels too fast, try moving each direction for five seconds or 10 seconds. If that still isn’t feeling well, try just holding the position and doing an isometric exercise. There are a bunch of variables to try out, so keep exploring to find what works best for you.
Related: E118 – An Inside Look Into Our At-Home Workouts
3) Do What Your Body Likes, Not What Your Brain Likes
Our third exercise tip if your body is not feeling well doing online workouts is to focus on doing what your body likes, not what your brain likes. People often get drawn to doing certain kinds of workouts because they seem fun, high energy, high intensity, or whatever. While it is great to emotionally enjoy your workout, at the end of the day, your body has to enjoy it in order for you to be able to keep doing it. So, make sure to focus on doing workouts that your body likes and that will allow you to better-tolerate workouts that your brain likes.
Action Step: If the only thing that keeps you coming back to a workout is the “fun” of it, that may be an indication that you need to start looking for a new way to exercise. There isn’t anything wrong with your workouts being fun, but your workouts should be doing far more than just that. Your body should feel awesome after! If your body doesn’t, it is time to look for a new way to workout. Join our live Facebook workouts, perhaps?
