In teaching indoor cycling I see people who ‘fight the bike.’ They have too much tension on and need to use the momentum of their upper body to help their legs turn the pedals. This isn’t really productive, in fact it’s putting a great deal of stress on your body, it means that the tension you have on the bike is beyond your body’s strength -- for now.
That’s the beauty about exercise. If you keep at it you improve, you become stronger and you can handle more. Isn’t that the truth about life? But sometimes we hold on so tightly to our challenge that we’re stymied by why we can’t seem to get over it. Just like people who ‘fight the bike’ are stymied by why turning the pedals is so hard.
A more productive approach is to loosen our grip on the challenge (unload the tension on the bike) until we’ve had time to emotionally build up our strength. It might mean stepping back for a bit. Try and not think about the challenge at all if you can. Then, when you feel rested, fortified and stronger, approach the challenge again.
Just because the sheer act of the struggle feels like we’re doing something, doesn’t mean that we’re actually doing something. Although it may feel counterproductive to loosen our grip on a challenge, it’s actually the fastest way to resolve it.
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