In my senior year of college, I went to the doctor because I had joint pain in my hands while trying to type and I was unable to grip a pull-up bar or barbell. I suspected that I had an over-use injury and would be advised to rest. That was not the case. After a referral to a rheumatologist, I was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disease that resulted in severe fatigue and joint pain. I was shocked, to say the least. But I had an answer as to why my ankles and knees hurt so much and why I constantly felt run down. It felt so great to finally know what was going on. However, my world was turned upside down when I realized I was no longer able to work out the way I was used to. I was used to spending hours every day at the gym with my then fiancé and my closest friends and suddenly I didn’t have the energy, stamina or strength to do that.
When I was no longer going to the gym I became depressed. I went through many seasons of denial where I tried to make the disease disappear by modifying my diet (more to come about that in a future blog post) and I tried to force my body to do what it once had with little success. I would start to feel better and so I would jump back into CrossFit and after a day or two my body would flare up and I wouldn’t be able to drag myself out of bed for the workout. I felt embarrassed. I assumed that my friends from the gym were disappointed in me. I feared that my fiance would regret asking me to marry him, as fitness was such a big part of our lives together. I was broken down and I had lost my identity. I had to rediscover my body, evaluate where I was getting my worth, and redefine what health, fitness, and wellness meant to me. There were months that I refused to do anything because I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do. I would go to school and learn about how important exercise was and then I would come home and watch Netflix. I was depressed, angry, ashamed, embarrassed, afraid, and so very lost.
I realize looking back that my pride was in the way of my progress. Once I finally humbled myself, asked for help and started trying different modes of exercise I developed a new understanding of health and fitness. I began to see wellness as just a part of me instead of finding my worth in it. I began to discover my identity in Christ instead of in what I was doing and I began to feel free to try other modes of exercise without feeling like I was less of a person. I share all of this with you because I want you to know that I understand how overwhelming it can feel to try to find the right exercise for yourself. If you are ready to explore what type of body movement is best for your body the following will guide you through that process.
If you have a disease, condition, injury, or pain, research it and find out how it can be affected by exercise and what types of exercise are best for the condition.
You can do this by talking to your healthcare provider and/or seeking advice from an ACSM credentialed personal trainer or exercise physiologist (hey, I’m one of those). You can also do some of your own research online.
Here is an example from my experience to help walk you through the process. After I was diagnosed with Lupus I learned that I need low impact activities to keep inflammation to a minimum and to avoid painful workouts. I found that aquatic exercise would be great for me as the water would take some of the weight off my joints. Stationary cycling would also great for anyone with a limited tolerance to weight-bearing exercise. Walking would be a great low-impact cardiovascular exercise option. Lastly, weight training/muscle strengthening would be good for me with lower weight and slow controlled movement.
So, now that you have researched and know what types of exercise may work for you, what do you do?
Ask yourself these 3 questions.
1. What sounds fun?
I think this is pretty self-explanatory. If you researched what exercise is best for your condition look at your options and decide what sounds fun. If you didn’t need to do research then you can think up whatever physical activities sound fun to you.
Going with my example, when I was trying to find a new way to move my body swimming sounded like a good challenge to me and I thought I would have fun doing it.
2. What do I have access to?
This question includes other questions such as; what can I afford? how much time do I have? Do I have transportation? What is available where I live?
At the time of my example, I had access to a swimming pool at the YMCA, I had great places to walk when it is warm enough outside, I had access to light free weights and I could do yoga/stretching at home.
3. What is my current fitness level or ability?
If you decide that you want to try marathon running but currently are fit enough to walk a few blocks, that is okay! You just start where you are and work up to your goal. If you want to try rock climbing but you are unsure of what level of fitness you need in order to do that look into it. You can talk to someone who climbs, ask a personal trainer what kind of strength or endurance you’ll need, go to a rock climbing gym and get advice. Don’t decide not to do something that you’re excited about because you don’t think you are fit enough. You can start where you are and work up to it.
Continuing with my example; I am a terrible swimmer and have been uncomfortable, afraid really, in water since I was a kid. However, knowing that swimming could be such a great way for me to move my body, I was willing to try and learn how to swim. I also had not been very physically active and knew my endurance would be low. However, It was exciting to me to take on the new challenge. So I decided swimming sounded fun.
I know what I want to do. Now what?
Just go try it!
You will never know until you try. Start with one thing and get out there and do it! Go find people who are doing it and join them. Maybe you’d rather find online communities of people who do it and learn from them. Maybe your cool with trying it out on your own. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just go do it!
Finishing with my example; at 28 years old I asked one of my peers in school (who is a bit younger than me) to teach me how to swim. That was humbling, and let me tell you it wasn’t pretty. I was out of breath pretty quickly. I started with what I could do and slowly increased. It was fun, it got my heart pumping, my muscles working and was a great challenge.
I’d love to hear how you choose to move your body in the comments below! Don’t forget to follow and share if this resonates with you.
