Inside Parkinson's

How many of you exercise?  Do you exercise every day?  Do you exercise with intention?  The reason I ask is that I recently learned that people with Parkinson’s need to be working out at an intense level.  The CDC recommends 150 minutes of aerobic exercise weekly: 75 minutes should be of vigorous-intensity and 75 minutes of moderate-intensity.

I personally have found this difficult.  I’m not the type of person who runs, nor do I look for someone to compete with. I work out at my own level.  I enjoy a good challenge, but not too much.  Now I have learned that my heart rate needs to increase when working out, so I am pushing myself more.  My yoga instructor,  Dan at Method Yoga, in Springboro, challenges me every week.  He believes in short intense workouts, so we do many mini-workouts during his class. He incorporates strength training into the yoga class.  I am learning to enjoy the challenge.  However, there are times when I look at him and think “no way dude’.  Somehow, I manage through the difficult moves and my strength improves.  One of Dan’s major challenges for his students is to practice the yogi squat.  This is a squat where you lower your body as far as you can go to the ground. In the beginning, I could barely squat more than an inch,  Now, I can get to the ground, for a couple of seconds.  I can also get back up, which is really important!

I was amazed the other day at how far I could lower into the yogi squat.  I was putting air in my car tires.  So, instead of bending over, I did a yogi squat.  It really was much more comfortable.  It made the experience of putting air in my tires a lot easier.  I wasn’t out of breath and my legs didn’t hurt.  I think it’s a miracle!  I say thank you to Dan for continuing to gently nudge me further and further each week.  I am getting stronger, and that feels magnificent!

For my New Year’s goals, I am looking for other exercise routines that will give me a similar challenge.  My goal is to work out 6 days a week, one day to rest.  Yesterday, I found a barre workout that was extremely intense.  Fortunately, the instructor gave modifications, which allowed me to complete the exercise. 

So, I challenge you to not just evaluate your exercise routine, but find one exercise move that you can improve.  Do you need to improve your strength, balance, or mobility?  I know it’s a lot to look at, but Parkinson’s will challenge you both mentally and physically.  

I believe you help yourself a million times over if you exercise with intensity and intention.  My intent is to increase the intensity of my workouts.  My intent is to  “move it, move it”.  

If you accept my challenge, make it your intention to improve one move and write the name of your exercise in the comment box with your first name and date it.  One month later, write back what improvements you made.  Do you accept the challenge?