Transcript: When Your Body Says No: Giving Yourself Grace Without Losing Your Momentum
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Ashley introduces the episode by recounting that last Sunday — the third time in 220+ days — her body revolted at the idea of moving, even though she wasn't as physically sick as the previous two times.
For the third time in just a little over 220 days, my body said, oh, hell no. What's up, you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. But today I want to talk about when I didn't want to move my body at all. I've mentioned in the past that there were two times in my wild ride of fitness that I couldn't move. Like I could not get to the gym. One of the times I even got dressed to go to the gym, but then had to turn around and go home because I was so sick. And last Sunday, I kind of hit a wall and couldn't bring myself to move my body at all. It wasn't burnout exactly.
It wasn't, you know, complete body shutdown, but it definitely was a listen to your body and do what it says situation. was literally revolting at the idea of moving. And if you guys have listened to this podcast, you know that Wednesdays and Sundays, I usually do as my active recovery days. And on those days, I'll do stretching and I'll do walking. Sometimes I'll do stretching and yoga. But for the most part, the whole goal is move every day. Y 'all last Sunday, I could not move like I could have if I'd really put the effort into it. I will be honest. It's not like I was sick to the point like I had been the previous two times that I could not work out. But this particular situation, it just you ever get one of those moments where your body just basically tells you if you do this, you will get hurt.
Ashley describes the guilt and depression she felt skipping her Sunday workout, and how she ultimately gave herself grace after recognizing that forcing it risked injury — and that resting let her return to the gym Monday.
Yeah, that was the situation I was in. And I chose to listen. And it was really hard, y 'all. Like I felt a level of guilt that I haven't felt in a long time over fitness. And it was it was really depressing. Like it really, really bothered me that I couldn't I couldn't bring myself to do my workouts. Now, ultimately, I will say I did, you know, give myself some grace and just accept the fact that, yeah, for 220 plus days at that moment, I had been moving every day with the exception of two days. And it really bothered me. to make it a third day. But it just was very obvious to me that if I did force myself to work out, it wasn't going to be good. And so I chose not to. And so basically, this is another one of those listen to your body episodes. I talked in a previous episode about how, you know, I don't exactly diet, but I am listening to my body more in terms of like, if I'm full, I stop
eating. Or if I feel like I need more water, I'll drink more water instead of so much soda. That kind of stuff. But yeah, this was just a situation where I had to listen to my body physically. And I didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to do it. And it's only because I listened to my body that I was able to do my workouts that I had planned for the rest of the week. So I did go back to the gym the very next day. I used the eights as my smalls and the 20s as my bigs.
And honestly, I think being able to do that wouldn't have been possible if I had gone and worked out on Sunday. But yeah, I just I promised you guys that I was going to be raw and real. And so I just wanted to talk about the day that I didn't want to work out and chose not to. And like I said, could I have forced it? Absolutely. But I just recognized that there was too big of a chance that I was going to hurt myself if I did.
And just all signs were pointing to don't do it. And so I didn't. And so if you're in the same boat where you've been trying to go hard and really, really get wild with your fitness and all that jazz there, you might hit that kind of a brick wall yourself. And if that happens, I just want you to do. what I had to do for myself, give yourself some grace and make sure the next day you get back to it. Because that was the big thing, right? Is, you know, previously before I was getting serious about fitness, I would have just let it go. And I would have let one day turn into two and two days turn into three.
Ashley reflects on how she went back to the gym the very next day, warns against letting one skipped day snowball, and wraps up by inviting listeners to share their own fitness journeys via voice note.
And, you know, the funny thing is when I went back on Monday, I still wasn't feeling great, but I knew I was actually able to at least do the workout and that I wouldn't get hurt, that I would actually be able to handle it. So I guess that's the big takeaway is if you're considering skipping a workout, really ask yourself why you're skipping it. And if all of your signs point to you really should just give yourself the grace to go ahead and skip it. But don't let that give you the excuse or the green light to keep skipping your workouts. Get back to it. Go back to go back to your regular routine as quickly as you can, because that's exactly what I did. So, yeah, that's just the big thing is listen to your body.
Pay attention to what it's telling you. But also don't let yourself just completely crap out on your workouts. You have to make sure that you get back to it as soon as you feel like you are physically able. And so that's that's all I've got for you guys today. I hope this was helpful. If you guys want to leave me a voice note or if you have like any tips that you want to share, if you want to share. how you're doing on your fitness journey with me, I would love to hear from you. Go to famousashleygrant .com backslash fitness. You can leave me a voice note there.
I love hearing from you guys. So again, that's famousashleygrant .com backslash fitness. Thank you so much for listening. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?