A Break from the Gym, Psychosomatic or Real Pain?

If you’ve been keeping up to date with my newsletters, then you’ll know since Jan 2022 I have been committed to a consistent workout routine. After years of struggling with on-again, off-again mentality I decided to go all in and commit to building solid habits that I could keep up with for life. This commitment has been the making of me, the foundation of all the other goals I have achieved over the last 2 years.

But after my birthday this year, I decided to give myself a week off from the gym. I used the excuse that I wanted to spend time doing “other things” like finishing off renovations or finally taking those toys we decluttered to the sallies (I did neither). It was really just an excuse to get a couple of extra hours sleep and neglect my bedtime routine while indulging in some self-sabotaging behaviour as a protest for being another year older.

While it was nice to stay in the comfort of my warm bed, and not have to rush out the door, hair a mess to get to the gym on time, I noticed some side effects of stopping my usual workout routine and it made me question - were these effects psychosomatic or real pain?

Let’s get into it.

Wellbeing Dimension: Physical

Here’s a quick rundown of the things I started to notice, the week following my birthday and a break from my usual workout routine:

Monday, 3 pm: Hard to concentrate, had to take a 10minute break, grab a cup of tea (and some bikkies) and get outside in the sun - struggled to concentrate for the rest of the afternoon

Tuesday, evening: Lower back starting to get a bit achy, haven’t had this pain in a while, do warm-up stretching routine and core activation exercises in front of TV

Wednesday, all day: Rushed, out of sync, late, disorganised. Felt like I couldn’t get a hold of the day - went for an afternoon walk for a pick-me-up and to reset my mindset

Thursday - Breathing feels funny, caught myself holding my breath a couple of times throughout the day and (argh) mouth breathing while watching TV!

Friday, 4.45 am: Had enough, wasn’t enjoying the break so went back into the gym at 5 a.m. to realign how I was feeling and finish the week off strong.

According to John Ratey M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and author of this month's new read Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain when we’re exercising, more brain cells are being activated than when we are doing anything else. If that’s anything to go by, then it's no wonder my brain cells started getting sleepy when I decided to give myself a rest, for no other reason than I was feeling post-birthday blues.

Because I keep a day-by-day diary, it was interesting to reflect on how each day went and just how quickly missing out on physical activity impacted my ability to concentrate. I don’t work out over the weekends, but I’m normally pretty active with my 3yo - Still, come Monday while I might not want to get out of bed when it's still dark and make my way into the cold, there is somewhat of this nagging need in my brain to do it. When I ignore it and choose to sleep in, while at the time I feel great, the impact of that decision comes back to bite me in the backside later in the day.

Because I haven’t experienced this before, it made me wonder whether these impacts were as a result of not getting in physical activity, or whether it was psychosomatic.

Before I committed to my current routine almost 2 years ago, I wouldn’t feel one bit guilty about missing a gym session. In fact, I wouldn’t feel an iota of guilt and could go weeks without moving my body. As a result of being committed to building solid habits, I think I have rewired my brain and my body to expect a good deal of movement each morning to feel normal. When I decided to actively stop firing those brain cells up in the gym, my body and my mind fought back, in protest.

“Why would you do this? Get movement in, girl.” - Brain.

Whether or not these symptoms were psychosomatic or real, I’ve listened to my body and gone back to what makes me feel good - while it may not have intentionally been an experiment, I’m glad I did it. I’ve learnt that maybe, just maybe, slowly but surely each time I workout, head out on a walk or get active, I am pushing past that notion to deny myself the opportunity to be great.. and I am here for it!

Have you ever felt similar symptoms when you’ve stopped physical activity? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to know whether this is something my brain created, to help keep me committed to my habits ;)

Nic x