28 July 2014 ~ 0 Comments

An Important PSA: Your Body On Lazy

By admin

Hey friends, how’s your Monday kicking off?

I thought we could start the week off with a little PSA, whatcha say?

Remember this one…

Even if you weren’t around during the 80s, you’ve heard of this classic. It’s almost as memorable as…

“I’m Fallin’ And I Can’t Get Up!”

Watching it now though, I don’t find it as funny as I did when I was a youngster. Shame.

Anyways…

Today’s public service announcement is YOUR BODY ON LAZY!

I Used To Workout, Now I Don’t

Have you ever fallen victim to exercise burnout? Or perhaps you’ve let others influence your healthy living choices for the worst…

Peer pressure… it does exist.

Here’s what a mean. For months (even years) you were diligent to your workout routine. Each week you made sure to fit in at least 3 awesome workouts.

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Your body felt strong, you felt fit, and you looked amazing.

Then one day, something happened. Maybe an injury, a new boyfriend, a new job…

Something that pressured you to change your devotion. Those workouts took a backseat to life.

Or maybe this hasn’t happened to you, and you are sitting here, reading my blog thinking…

“Taylor, I will never turn my back to exercise.”

I hope not. I certainly hope not.

But just in case, let’s talk about your body on lazy. (Yes, I will be talking about being lazy as a noun).

Your Body On Lazy

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I get the following questions quite frequently…

“If I stopped working out, how long does it take to get out of shape? How long until I start to lose muscle? Is it true my muscle will turn to fat?”

Wow, breath for a second. Let’s tackle one issue at a time.

I know your body seems as if it doesn’t want to workout. There are times when it feels as if it’s begging for you to remain on the couch without getting up to even go to the bathroom.

But it does.

The body craves movement. Did you know that your butt isn’t the shape it is because it’s meant to be sat on?

The glutes are biggest muscles in your body to help you stay erect and moving! Sitting on that beautiful tush of yours almost instantly encourages it to become weak, undertrained, and over fat.

Yes, I said it… over fat… If you don’t live an active lifestyle… laziness will lead to increase fat storage and decreased butt muscles.

Move every day, no one wants a wide, flatty patty ass right? Not if we can help it.

That’s your butt on lazy.

Speed Of Being In Shape To Being Out Of Shape

There have been several studies on how quickly a person goes from being in shape to being out of shape when it comes to endurance.

Lucky us!

And study after study shows that it happens fast.

In one study, after taking 3 weeks off subjects’ anaerobic capacity dropped by 20%. After 9 weeks, by 40%.

The initial dropoff in fitness was fairly quick: after 12 days, levels of enzymes in the blood associated with endurance performance decreased by half, and VO2 max had dropped by 7%. (source)

That’s pretty significant… in less than 2 weeks of not exercising the body began to go into lazy mode.

But here’s the good thing…

The body remembers. It remembers a time when you were working out and holds on to it… it’s called “muscle memory”. And that muscle memory has helped out a lot of people.

When you do start moving again, you’ll be able to experience gains and improve a lot faster compared to someone who has never worked out.

It’s as if the body was sleeping and suddenly jolts awake excitedly. Ready to move again.

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What About Muscle?

Nervous that taking time off will make you a weakling?

It will.

Like endurance, muscular strength is also lost quit quickly when workouts cease to be.

After 2 weeks, muscles that are going unused will begin to atrophy. But like with endurance, the good news is strength can come back quickly once you get going again.

But in terms of muscle turning into fat? That’s totally a lie. Salt doesn’t turn into sugar, a dog will never turn into a bird…

And muscle will never turn into fat.

They are two different types of tissue. It would be like your lungs turning into kidneys. Not going to happen, like ever.

But what will happen is this… as your muscle breaks down from not being used, your metabolism will fall (it takes energy to keep muscle!) and that makes putting fat on a lot easier.

So where there was once muscle is now occupied by fat.

Get it?

Got it?

Good!

Signs You Were In Shape And Not Aren’t

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It can be very humbling when you experience that moment of “oh crap, I have some work to do.”

I have a friend who likes to hold on to the fact that they were active in high school. They like to think that they are “naturally” in shape, even though over 10 years has passed without much more than a casual walk or random weekend weight session.

But if you ask, they’ll respond…

“I don’t exercise, I’m just naturally athletic.”

Yea okay…

That’s called exercise denial. And no, this person isn’t in shape. If they did a workout, they would be humbled to learn just how out of shape they are.

Because when you don’t workout and then you do, this is what can be expected…

  • Heart rate sky rocketing must sooner and much easier than you would like.
  • Decreased strength and atrophied (decreased) muscle mass.
  • Weak bones and joints (pushups killing your wrist?)
  • Decrease endurance
  • Decreased blood volume leading to dizziness and discomfort
  • A general feeling of being out of shape.

Those of us that have been in shape and then fall victim to lazy, know that general feeling of being out of shape.

I’ve mutter the words, “Gosh I feel so out of shape.” Quite a few times and I hate it.

Being out of shape sucks, which is why, unless you have an injury or other real reason for skipping your workout makes me wonder why you would ever allow lazy to take control.

And yes I have truly enjoyed talking about laziness as if it’s a person today.

When It’s Good To Be Lazy

Do not take this little PSA as me saying you should never, ever, EVER take a break from working out. That would be insane.

Sometimes the body does need rest.

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In fact, I am a big believer that every 12 weeks (a training cycle), it’s wise to take a week off or go very light. It offers time for the body to fully recover and actually helps you to continue with gains as you move forward.

Sure, you’ll feel out of shape when you get back, but you’ll quickly recover after a few workouts and be right back where you were.

And of course, if you have an injury… the road to recovery might be long but it’s the smart road to take.

Other than that… don’t let lazy claim you as a victim.

No body wants their body on lazy…

Am I right?

Let’s chat…

What do you do to help get through those workouts when you feel out of shape?

I Never Want To Take My Pants Off

lucy-outfit

Before a sign off for today, I wanted to shine a spotlight on my choice of outfit above.

The kind people at Lucy sent me this outfit to try and I have to say, it is honestly my new favorite. The pants are “I Run This Capri” and the top is the “Straight Up Strength“.

Those capris are the most comfortable pair I have ever owned! And that’s saying a lot, as I have owned dozens over the years!

The material is extremely soft, breathable and I feel like I have nothing on…

Dan always asks me after I get a new pair of capris if they are better than my other favorites. He didn’t ask me this time, but after a few hours of parading around and doing a workout, I looked at him and told him that they were in fact, my new favorite pants.

And the top, I love how its longer in the back so that when you do moves like pike push-ups, squats, etc you don’t have to worry about your butt crack being shown to the world.

Love this outfit and if you are looking for some new fitness threads, check them out!

I received the outfit free, however all thoughts and opinions are 100% mine. If I didn’t like it, I would let you know!

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