Change your questions, change your routine

I've been in a bad rut lately with lifting. And by "bad rut" I mean pretty much not really doing much lifting and by "not really doing much lifting" I mean not at all. I've been doing the stretchy-bandy-thingy's which have been good. And I found a way to hang by heavy bag outside,which is great. But I'm still having my own issues. And I'm still beating myself up.

Recently, I started reading a book called Change Your Questions, Change Your Life. The basic premise of the book is that it's not so much the answers we need but to ask the right questions. Now, before I get all Mr. Miyagi here, I do think there's a valid point to this. One I've been learning on my knees. And by knees, I actually don't mean praying.

Lately I've been feeling pain in my knees as I do dead lifts, squats, leg extensions, etc. That's not a good sign. Yet, I still press on with some of these exercises that work the knees. Why? Well, because, I need to work on my knees so they won't hurt. I need to exercise my quads and my glutes and all the rest of them muscles down yonder. Yet when I do, they still hurt.

After reading the first few chapters of Change Your Questions, I began to ask myself: "What questions am I really asking?" No, I didn't actually say it out loud, more like to myself in the inside voice type of way. But honestly, I realized that I was asking myself "How can I loose weight? How can I be healthy?" Good questions, right? Then I realized I needed to ask a different question: "How can I be healthy and kind to my body at the same time?" In other words, if it hurts when I do that, don't do that. Yet, I kept on doing squats.

Instead, today, I focused on cardio by riding the stationary bike. Guess what? No knee pain. I changed my question, I got a new answer. So, now I must ask new questions about the workout routines I've been doing.

What are some questions you might need to change. In order to find the answer we seek, we must first ask the right questions.