Why ‘pushing through’ is a really bad idea
If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know I get really angry with coaches and exercise gurus who tell you to keep ‘pushing through’ when exercise gets hard.
But maybe you’ve been wondering just WHY that’s something we don’t want to do…
I figured it’s time to dig into just a little of the science behind what’s going on here! Ready?
(For you non-sciency folks out there, don’t worry, I won’t make it too complicated! But having a basic understanding of why our bodies sometimes have a hard time, really helps us to know how to prevent it.)
Our bodies have an autonomic nervous system, which controls our physical responses of the body and mind.
The autonomic nervous system is composed of two components…
One is the ‘everyday’ system that deals with the humdrum of life. It’s called the parasympathetic nervous system, and we use it to ‘rest and digest’.
The other, the sympathetic nervous system, is the emergency system which you might have heard of as ‘fight or flight’. It gets switched on when we’re in danger and need to be ready to respond right away.
It’s the sympathetic nervous system that will put you on high alert, set your heart racing, and take energy away from secondary functions like digestion and tissue healing - so you’re completely focused to respond to any threat.
Now, the sympathetic nervous system is only designed to operate for a short time.
And if your sympathetic nervous system is switched on too much of the time, it starts to have really negative effects:
Your muscles become inflamed and sore from being tense all the time
Your sugar levels get depleted as you burn up sugar too fast
Your digestive system isn’t prioritised, so you start to experience digestive issues
Over time, your adrenal glands (which make the adrenaline to keep this whole system running) become depleted, and you stop being able to respond quickly when you need to
WHOA! Scary stuff, I know…
But it’s important, because SO many of us end up spending way, way too much time in ‘fight or flight’ mode - and that stands in the way of our healing.
Any time we react to something as though it’s threatening - like a presentation at work, or a difficult conversation with someone we love - that sympathetic nervous system kicks in.
And any time we ‘push through’ once we’re tired - which, let’s be honest, is sooo tempting when you’re sick and struggling to do all the things you need to - we’re using the sympathetic nervous system again.
And any time we hear that ‘ding’ from an app or a message, and we jump up to respond - there it is again.
Now, why does this matter for our exercise?
Well, every time we push ourselves to do something our body isn’t ready for, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in again - and when we’re already sick, that can be all it takes to trigger all those nasty symptoms again.
But there is a way to exercise WITHOUT kicking into your sympathetic nervous system.
If we can learn to feel safe as we exercise… and to listen to our bodies when they tell us it’s time to stop… and to not push ourselves outside the limits of ‘rest and digest’... then our bodies can continue to heal and recuperate, even as we build strength.
Over time, we can do harder and harder things - without triggering an adrenaline response.
I’ve designed the Autoimmune Strong program for exactly that: to help you learn to exercise in a way that feels safe and builds up your body over time, rather than hurting it.
With strength + love,
Andrea