#200: Listen to your Body - Stop Ignoring the Signs!

We’ve all heard the advice “listen to your body” — but what does that really mean?

In this episode, we’re diving deep into how to truly tune in to what your body is trying to tell you — whether you’re working out, feeling unmotivated, recovering, or simply navigating daily stress.

You’ll learn how to:
 💭 Recognise the difference between discomfort and pain
 ⚡ Know when to push harder and when to rest
 💪 Understand your body’s cues around fatigue, motivation, and recovery
 🧠 Build awareness that helps you move smarter, not harder

Your body gives you feedback every day — you just need to learn to listen.

If you're facing challenges on your midlife journey and need some guidance, I'm here to help. I'm currently opening slots for a few individuals to join my FREE 1:1 Coaching.

Apply now for personalised support from me.

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Transcript

#200: Listen to your Body - Stop Ignoring the Signs!

[00:00:00] So you'll probably hear me saying a lot of times in the, throughout, throughout the classes or throughout things that I'm doing, you'll probably hear me saying, just listen to your body. And I wanna come on and talk about what does actually listening to your body mean and what does it mean? When we are saying this, your body is really the best teacher that you'll find.

It gives you cues and it generally recognizes things that you need probably before you do. It's giving you cues all the time of what things that you should, what things it actually really needs. And what I'm asking for you to do is to start become, becoming more in tune with that and being okay with, with picking up the cues and adjusting the cues accordingly.

Now we can, do be doing an exercise program or a class or anything like that. I could give you a set of thing, a set of exercises to do. I'm a set of reps and I can give you a weight to be lifting in any of those things. So I can give you all of these things, but you need to start [00:01:00] working and understanding the cues that your body is giving you or the tips that it's giving you on how it is coping with that workout.

And you need to, start to pick up on this and adjust it accordingly. And when I'm saying listen to your body, these are the things that I want you to really start picking up on. So what do I see happening all the time? I see lots of, people. So they start maybe starting, uh, lifting weights and their body starts swinging and they start swinging in the movement.

And, things like this, I, see people doing an exercise and it's pulling in their back or pulling in the wrong area, and then they continue to keep doing it. I see people, like. Doing an exercise and that they're lifting a weight and they don't feel anything or they don't feel challenged by it, but they just continue to do that.

So I see this kind, that kind of complacency. So when I ask you to listen to your body and pick up on the cues that it's giving you, I want you to start picking this. When we are exercising, the [00:02:00] goal of your exercise is to. The goal of any exercise is to, get a result. So you're either looking to increase, that's why, when we're doing things, I'm asking you to count reps.

Or increase the, increase the reps that you do increase the time that you can do the length of time that you can do things, increase the, speed. So that is how you are going to get a result, and that is how we generally feel a little bit more motivated or know that what you're doing is actually working.

So I'm asking you to start to pick up on some of these cues that your body is giving you. So let's talk about, um, I also ask, there's this kind of decision that we need to make in and only you can make the decision. So we talk about when we are working out and somebody might say, oh, I've hurt. I'm I've, it's hurting.

And I ask them like, is it hurting? Is it muscular sore? Or have you actually [00:03:00] damaged yourself? Have you pulled a muscle? Have you done something else? Or is it hurting because we have this comfort zone and we're stepping out of this comfort zone. And again, this is only something that you can decide.

Starting to pick up on those cues as to, if you have, if you have hurt yourself and you feel like you pulled a muscle, then you need to stop straight away. There is nothing wrong with that, that stopping. And you need to pick up, pick up the cue that your body's giving you and stop and listen and, keep, and, stop and listen and, because if you continue, you're gonna hurt yourself even more.

I always say to people if they feel these little twins, get an ice pack on it straight away, get an ice pack on it, and then it will, you are already starting to, the ice pack is gonna reduce your inflammation. So it's already starting to, help with that. Don't just think, well, I mean, the class, I don't want to stop.

I don't wanna look weak. I don't wanna, it's, you are being, you're being more silly if you continue when your body feels like that. But if you're working out and you feel like it feels tired, you feel tired, or you feel, [00:04:00] like this is maybe because you were getting out of this comfort zone.

And they say the magic happens when we're outside of this comfort zone. We are working out and there's this kind of level that we are used to, we may be, everybody is different. We may feel like a little bit of, might feel a little bit tired, it's starting to challenge you a little bit.

Some people get to that point and they then back off because they feel that's too much. Or some people know that they can push themselves more. As I keep saying, and you'll hear me saying often that, when we think we've had enough, when we think we're at our maximum or our limit, there is actually still,

they said there's like 30% left in the tank. Some people just have never gone there, or they've ne they've just never tried to push themselves that little bit more. Now. I don't think it's cool to, be exercising and, I don't think it's cool to vomit or any of those things while you're working out.

That is not why I work out and that is not what I want for anybody that is, working out. In, , any of my classes, that is not at [00:05:00] all what I want, but I want you to start to learn that you can challenge yourself a little bit more. You can pick up the heavier weight and you are actually capable of a lot more than what you think.

And that is why we have been doing specific stuff with your, one, looking at your increasing your one rep max. And all of those things because you can see that you can actually lift more than what you think. Going back to this idea of listening to our bodies, it's really picking up on the cues that, that your body is giving you.

So we feeling, so if you are feeling, fatigued during your workout, or it's asking yourself, am I feeling? Am I feeling muscular, fatigued? Like that I've pushed myself really far, further than what I have been. And that's fine. And maybe just keep going and keep going at it. If you're in a, that's why the great thing is about being in a class situation because you have to kind of be there till the end of the class.

But if you feel like you've hurt yourself, like you've, gonna have an injury, then that's when you need to stop. But only you can [00:06:00] differentiate between the two. I know sometimes it also becomes overwhelming for people that they, like, because they've never been at that, they've never challenged themselves that much.

Sometimes people misinterpret that feeling of. Fatigue, I guess for injuring themselves. But, each time we, that's why it's good to be able to understand,, what you're doing and how it's working. So I can understand that I can lift, 10 kilos for 12 reps very comfortably of let's say a, an overhead press.

So let's say I know that I can do that very comfortably. And when you get to the end of your rounds, so let's say you're doing three rounds. And you get to the ends of your rounds, and if you still feel like you can do more, maybe you actually need to go heavier in your weights. And this is all part of, picking up on the cues that your body's giving you.

If it feels easy, but you're sticking to the same weight, then maybe [00:07:00] we, um, maybe you need to look at changing it up because we are not gonna get this result by doing the same thing over and over again. We need to keep your body challenged in certain ways. So yes, consist. It's very important, but you need to challenge your body with either weight or time or tempo or reps, types of things to, to always keep your body challenged.

So pick up on the cues that your body's giving you. The other thing that I want you to think about is some days winter feel like working out. Some days some people wake up in the morning and they feel unmotivated, they feel flat. They feel crappy, I understand that we feel that and we sometimes use that as an excuse just to not do anything.

And I always ask people when they feel that way or when they're feeling that way, I always ask them to think how, remember how you feel when you finish. So when you finish a workout, on, especially on those days where you don't feel like it, I don't know anybody that says, I wish I never did that. I don't know anybody that [00:08:00] regrets the workout, they always feel better for it after.

So those times that you are feeling that way. I want you to start really picking up on the cues. Am I feeling that way? Because what, why am I feeling, why, what is my body telling me and why am I feeling this way? And sometimes the very best thing to do is to have a rest.

Sometimes that is the most important thing that you should be doing is resting. And other times you need to just get up and get on with it. And just get up and do the workout. And remember that maybe it won't be your, maybe it won't be your best workout, maybe,, you would've just showed up that day.

But you're keeping up your routine and you're keeping that habit. And, and that's really important because we, the thing that's going to keep you with long-term results is consistency. And I think it's really important to understand that, we look at habits and the habits of what help keep us consistent.

And we look at these habits and [00:09:00] it's really easy to start creating the habit of we to miss one session. And I see these cycles happen a lot. We miss one session and that one turns into two. And, which we miss two, and then we miss three. And then you're creating the new habit of not to go. And each time it gets harder and harder not to go.

And I see people say, oh, I just need a break. So maybe they need a break, but. When they have that break, then they come back and they say, if they come back, they say, I wish I never took the time off, because it was so much harder to come back. And maybe you just need to keep your routine up and remind yourself that, your workouts might not be perfect and they don't need to be perfect.

You are good. You're doing really well for keeping that routine. And that's the important thing to be reminding yourself, about, about those things and listen to your body in that way. So when I say listen to your body, it's not a cue to not turn up or to not show up or to say, I'm listening to my body.[00:10:00] 

And I am not coming. It is it is a cue for you to pick up and recognize what's going on, and, and you have to make that informed decision on, what's feeling best for you. I judge this with myself all the time. I am always sometimes I. I have no issues with not doing a workout, and sometimes I have to prioritize things.

So I think stress is something that plays a havoc on all of us. And, a place HAC on all of us. And I need to sometimes pick up on where it's at. So if I, we, a couple weeks ago, I really wanted to do a workout. I didn't do it in the morning. I didn't do it first thing in the morning. And then we were going out and we needed to be somewhere and the time just kept getting away from me.

And I was just gonna do a quick run. And I went to run. And then the treadmill, I had to reset the treadmill, I had to re-put in the login and all of those stuff. So that took up some more time. And then, I knew I would be sweaty after I finished the workout [00:11:00] and I only had, I probably wanted to run for like 20 minutes saved, so I thought I could run, but I only, we had to be somewhere in 20 minutes.

So I knew if I ran for 20 minutes, I would've put myself behind. It would've caused stress and that my husband would've been like, why? You're not ready now? Blah, blah, blah. All of that stuff. I knew all of that stuff and I said to myself, stop. Because I'm not actually gonna enjoy the workout. So I stopped and I recognized that this was actually gonna add more stress to my day.

And I reminded myself that's totally fine and that, I could do it later on whether I'd actually enjoy the workout more, because I wouldn't be worried if, I wouldn't be worried about other things in the back of my mind. So I listened to the cues. I listened to the cues.

That as much as I did wanna do the workout, I knew that in the long run that probably would've added a little bit more stress to me, and, it's probably not what I needed. And, I didn't do it. I then didn't beat myself up. I didn't beat myself up for not turning up to the work for not doing the workout.

I knew that [00:12:00] I'd made a really, I've made a good decision on the situation that I was currently in and, from experience of doing things before, like probably, and, I would've probably one time pushed it to try to fit that workout in. And, I would've then caused more stress, which, we don't need any more stress on us, so I ask you to pick up cues.

There's lots of mornings that I wake up and I think I can't be bothered, but I, as I said before, I just go, no, you feel so much better for us. And I get up and I do it, and I do it, and I, always be, thank God I did that. I feel so much better for it. And so that's again of listening to the cues that your body's given you in, as you can kind of experiment with things yourself and you'll be able to learn more, I guess, things that your body adapts to, or habits or little things that makes you feel better or, or recognize when I feel this way.

This is what's good for me. I also, lots of times I, depending on where I'm at in, sit [00:13:00] life at that moment, I will sometimes be like, I've got half an hour and maybe the best thing I could do as a workout. Or maybe actually I could spend that half an hour doing a meditation. I could spend that half an hour doing something else.

And, that's okay too because you are, you are weighing things up on how you are feeling, what else is going on in your world? And that's all right to do that. I think there's, when we try to look at things from the bigger picture, so instead of focusing on that one moment in that day, you go, okay, this is happening to me today.

But in the long run, one missing, one workout. Isn't going to throw you off isn't going to totally throw everything out the window. It's one out of five, in a week or one outta seven, or, like it's something like that. So I ask you to pick up on those.

The other cues that your body's gonna give you is gonna tell you how it's feeling from a workout. And that's what I want you to [00:14:00] start recognizing is when you are working out, how does your body respond and how does it respond? Lots of people might say when they first start doing the classes, say, or they first start doing something new, you might notice that you are really sore and you're suffering from that doms, which is delayed onset of muscle soreness.

You might notice that you're suffering from these doms for, so I say. The way that Dom's work is you do a workout on Monday. You might be sore on the Tuesday, but you'll probably be sore by the Wednesday, but you should be recovered by the Thursday. That's fine. But if you find that you're getting to that Thursday or Friday and you still haven't recovered from Monday's workout, then there's something here that you need to start.

You need to start listening to the cues that your body's giving you and pick up that something's not right. And our body is our best teacher. So when you start to pick up on these things, you can start to make changes. So we recognize that's too long, that you shouldn't be that sore. I had someone last week and he was like, so sore, blah, [00:15:00] blah, and he was coming down with the flu, so he had a bug and he was fighting it and he was fighting it and pushing it and then he was like, I'll be back.

I'll be back. And I said to him, just listen to your body. Give it the rest it needs. Because in that circumstance, he needed to rest and he kept trying to push through and he just needed to rest. And you'll find that if we kind of accept the rest in those circumstances, you accept the rest that your body needs, you recover quicker than if you keep trying to push through.

But the cues that you are, when we talk about this is maybe if you are, so when I was talking about the recovery from your workout and your doms, so if you are maybe getting. How many days down the track and you're still just, like the fourth day, the fifth day, and you still haven't recovered from Monday's workout, then maybe you need to look at your nutrition.

Maybe you need to look at your sleep. Maybe you need to look at stretching, are those things in queue? And when we go, when we look at all these things, we look at the fundamentals, we look at, we look at piecing all pieces [00:16:00] of the puzzle together. We, your body is giving you, it is giving you clues and answers to what it needs.

And we just need to tune into that. So it's, I, I'm a pen and paper girl, so I really like writing things down because when I write things down, I can work on trends and I can see trends or I can recognize something and then that's giving me another piece of information that I can use to,

to make, to give me a better quality of life to, to make me feel good and to get the results I want in the end. I really want to, my goal for everything is to, I, I wanna be, I wanna exercise, I wanna be active, but you know what, I do not want to work out for hours on end. I just don't want to, I like to stay fit and active.

I like how it makes me feel. I like all those things. But I don't wanna spend three hours of my day working out. There's other things that I would prefer to do, and that's my choice. But there is lots of other things I prefer to do than [00:17:00] that. So I pick up, I listen to, my body and workout how I can get the most effective workout in that time.

And this is what I want all of you guys to learn too. We, I've had people in my classes before do things like, talk through. I remember it was just last year there was these, ladies and they were swinging while they're doing, and they talked the whole way through and I wanted to say.

What are you doing here? Like, why did you get outta bed? Why did you I like it. People can talk. Yes, but why? Why did you just do that? Why did you just come here? Because, you just talked the whole time. You didn't, they were so too busy talking that they didn't know when I'd ask them to change or to do a workout.

And they were meant to be doing a hip workout. And if you were doing a head workout effectively, you shouldn't really be able to talk. So it's really picking up on really picking up on, those things. And like if, if you can, if you can talk through [00:18:00] a whole workout, you're probably not working hard enough.

When I'm working out and I'm truly working out, I really can't talk, I'm concentrating. If I'm doing weights, I'm concentrating on the muscle. I'm trying to work at the time, I'm making sure it's activating, I'm thinking about my form. I like to have my eyes closed. I'm doing all of those things.

I wanna get through the workout the most effective way that I can because my time is limited. So in the time that I have, I'm going to really make it worth it. That's how I see things. You can, being sore after workout is not an indicator if you worked hard. So it's not a, I worked really hard because I, because I can't walk.

That doesn't, it doesn't just because you have those. Feelings. It doesn't mean that your work. So if you don't have those feelings, that doesn't mean you didn't get a good workout in. Getting a good workout means that your body was challenged. You felt some, you made change in some way, as in like you, lifted heavier weight.

She might have done [00:19:00] more reps. She might have done the same reps. You might have, so that , you've made changes in that. But you don't necessarily have to be not being able to sit on the toilet the next day to know that you've got an effective workout. But we need to make sure we are challenging our muscles.

So by the end, the, your last few reps on your last sets or whatever, you should be really starting to struggle. And this is again, a cue that you need to pick up. That your body will be giving you if you get to the last few rounds of your, if we are doing weights and we're getting the last few, um, reps of your last set you, and you feel like you could do another round or whatever, then your weight is not heavy enough and we need to challenge you more.

Okay? And, but you need to, pick up on that and make sure you pick up a heavier weight in today's class. We, I was able to say to people, because we have been working on our rum, one rep Max and I know what, what your one rep Max is. I was able to say to them, increase your, no, you should be able to do this for this exercise.

And [00:20:00] they did, but they were gonna maybe pick up a weight that was half of that, that weight. And so then you could pick up a heavier weight, which is going to challenge you more. But obviously we have to have, correct technique, but in the same, you could challenge you more and you're gonna be that more challenged in the same amount of time and this is the cue, so it's always good to, to, just have a think after your workout.

How did I feel that went? Did I feel challenged? You could look at your heart rate if you've got a watch that tells your heart, you could look at those things and pick up on how and how you're feeling, how you're recovering, and listen to the, to listen to those cues, to, to make sure that you, that we are always keeping ourselves, keeping us on our toes.

Your body will, your body, it wants to go to what's familiar or what's easy. So we are always gonna lead towards that path and I get it. But if you are somebody that's looking for a result and you really need to pick up on these cues and make sure that you are feeling challenged and you are the only one that can do that.

I just had a girl yesterday [00:21:00] saying, she's doing pt, and she said, oh, it didn't work last time. I came here. And I said, ah. I said, I see you for an hour and a half a week. So she comes three times per 30 minute session. I don't control all those other hours. That you, you need to pick up, you need to be responsible and pick up the cues that your body's giving you for those other hours.

And like it takes more than 30, an hour and a half a week to get a result. We've gotta combine your food and your daily steps and your stress and your sleep has gotta combine all of those things. So this is why I'm asking you to pick up on the cues of what your body is giving you to make sure that you're getting, if you are not sleeping well, then that, like a red flag.

You're not sleeping well. How are you gonna recover if you're only getting four hours sleep? How can you recover if you are, if you're not eating well, how can you expect to build muscle if you're only eating, very little amount of food. So [00:22:00] we need to pick up on these stuff and to, to, to, to recognize how your body feels.

If you are feeling tired and fatigued and all of those things all the time, then that's a cue that your body's giving you look at that and think, okay, I feel tired and fatigued all the time while I'm sitting up to 11 o'clock watching something on Netflix. Well, maybe that's what you need to change.

So look at all of these factors, and that's why I like to write it down, because then you can start to see trends and then you can adjust. And this is where we talk about making these data driven decisions on, you make these data driven decisions on how to get the result that you really want.

So, listening to your body means so many things, but I think the best thing that you can ever do for yourself is to really tune into your body, to really tune in and start to recognize, where you are at, make decisions from there as to what type [00:23:00] of workout you do. Some days I feel like just running, running as hard as I can, and that's what I need.

Other days I feel, oh, I remember a few weeks ago we did boxing and I said to the girls, I said, when it finished, I said, I felt really flat when I started, I couldn't bother, I didn't wanna do it. And, but I did and I felt so good after, and I thought that's exactly what I needed.

The thing that I was gonna avoid was actually the exact thing that my body needed and I felt so much happier after. Sometimes. But then you recognize that and you see how good you felt and then you, remember that and then you add to that for next time and you feel the same way.

The last thing about listening to your body, especially for women, is to start to understand, I understand your cycle and how much, I think becoming more in tune with your cycle and recognizing where your cycle's at is a, is massive for, for your workouts. There is time I I have a podcast that talks exactly about this and I've spoken, many times about your cycle.

Your, there are certain times of the month [00:24:00] where you are more optimal to lose weight. There are certain times of the month where you will have more energy. There are certain times of the month there is actually a certain like day of the month where you will feel, you will feel more attractive.

And it's reckon, and there's other times of the month where, so the, the two beats I guess, leading into your period where you may feel more fatigued, more tired, you are gonna crave different food. So tuning into those cues, and uh, maybe in those weeks where you are a bit more tired and fatigued, maybe, you might need to, lift a lighter weight.

Maybe you might to do a lighter session. Maybe it might be better for you to do a yoga class or go for a walk instead of choosing a high intensity session. So it's picking up on where you're at. That way I am somebody who has a personality that I just have to feel like I just have to push through. So you just have to push through.

You just have to do it. That's how I've always done stuff in the past. And I, probably a few years ago, I started to really tune into my cycle. [00:25:00] And I'm someone that, my period doesn't really affect me. I don't have, I know lots of women that suffer, really terrible period pains on that, but I don't from that, so I'm very grateful for, but I don't, I don't do that.

And, I don't suffer from that. Sorry. And I, started tuning into my cycle. I just, I didn't think it affected me. Lots of times I would just get my period and that would, I would even, wouldn't even realize it was coming that day and I'd get it. Oh,, and once I started tuning in, I realized I had quite, I do have quite, I have quite severe symptoms.

But now I recognize it and I pick up on it. I can just adjust things accordingly so I can do a lighter session. I might be better to go for a walk instead of a run, and there might be some days that I'm just, I'm better to sit and watch something on Netflix. And that is okay because there is times of the month, like, a couple weeks ago I exercised two or three times a day I was doing, I like to do little intervals and spit them out through the day.

And I was doing that and yeah, I was doing these intervals two or three times a day and I felt great for it. And then the next [00:26:00] week I was like. God, this is what I did the week before and the next week I did nothing. I did hardly anything. I did the bare minimum. And and that's okay because in the, when you put it all in the pot and you look at it in the long run, it all kind of works itself out.

And this is what I'm saying to you, listen to your body and those times, sometimes it is not. Sometimes, your body's telling you something that you do maybe need to rest and that's okay. And, it's picking up on that and maybe resting when you do need to. And other times we are just being lazy and we're stressed and we're, and then you kick yourself for missing the workout or for not doing it.

And again, I've done that numerous times too and I recognize when I've done that and I don't do it anymore because I know how shitty I feel if I miss it. So I just get up and I do it. And listen to what your body is saying, because it's, you live with your body. Nobody else does, and only you know.

So listen to how you feel after workout. Listen to how you feel during your workout. Listen to how you feel before, look at foods. [00:27:00] How are certain foods, I was able to work out foods that irritated me from listening to acute of what made me bloated. , What hurt my tummy, what made me feel good,

And picking up and listening to those things was I was able to then, I'm able then to make decisions to make my life feel better and run a lot easier and smoother. So that's what I want for you all. And so when I hear, when you hear me say, listen to your body, this is what I. Listen to your body.

Don't just because I've prescribed an exercise for you or whatever else, don't just push through. If your knee is hurting, stop. Listen to the cue that your body is giving you and adjust if your back is pulling while you're doing exercise. Don't just keep going because you don't want to be seen to.

Stopping, because you have to deal with the consequences of that. And you can stop and reset and recognize what's going on and pick it up and you can make a change instead of just pushing through. So it's really important and it is a really, great skill to learn. [00:28:00] So when you hear me say, listen to your body, that's what I'm talking about.

And I want you to start picking up on these cues and let me know how it makes you feel.