bodies_in_motion | (no subject)

(no subject)

okay so like

exercise that

* won't fuck with any of my disabilities
* won't feel impossible to start or maintain
* won't get blockaded by my executive function or wtfever before I get started
* won't cost money
* won't make me feel like a fail on the grounds of continuing to not meet the 150 min/wk moderate exercise guideline
* won't tempt me into excessive ambition
* will help me learn patience
* will help me increase some number of my strength, flexibility, endurance, and cardiovascular health
* will start where I am wrt all four such
* will be enjoyable, not chorelike

am I chasing a unicorn here?

(I really appreciate the effort you all put in last time I posted here! just none of your suggestions stuck. /o\ and it's incredibly frustrating.)

(also I don't understand why I chose today to start caring again? I have been complaining all week about through-the-roof pain! this is maybe not the week to reinstate a practice of physicality?)

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(also I don't understand why I chose today to start caring again? I have been complaining all week about through-the-roof pain! this is maybe not the week to reinstate a practice of physicality?)

I can't answer your other questions, but this is the week I wrenched my back, on top of being a high pain period anyway, and also started thinking about attempting Couch to 5K. So it's not just you!

I probably don't have a suggestion that will meet all these requirements for you, but I completely commiserate with you in terms of frustration re: finding an exercise that doesn't feel like an imposition or that doesn't meet all the needs you have.

So I'm thinking there are forms of yoga which incorporate a dynamic series of poses and which would probably work for your list of strength, flexibility, endurance, and cardiovascular health. But which sort of yoga, and whether you want to try classes or work from video tutorials etc. will really be a matter of personal preference (and spoons).

Are you looking for 'at home', 'free outside the home', and/or 'classes'? Because I have possible suggestions for each of those, but it will depend a little on what might be readily accessible.

One thing that works really well for me is having a "menu" of exercise options to pick from.

My energy and mood levels fluctuate a lot at the best of times, so it really helps if I work on the basis that I need to (try to) do An Exercise Thing almost every day, but I have some flexibility to pick something that I have the energy for and that actually appeals.

And some of the options are very gentle and easy, so I can mostly do them even if I feel wiped, and it keeps the habit of exercise going.

(I accept that I won't manage every day, but I also have a rule of at least one total rest day per week.)

It also helps with fitting in all the types of exercise that you need recovery from (like strength training), where you can't and shouldn't be doing the same thing on consecutive days.

And it means you don't have to find one single form of exercise that is perfect for you at all times and does everything!

My very simple, cheap, fun exercise is dancing. I put on my headphones in my room and dance.

I use playlists to get around a few problems. One has long songs, for when I feel okay physically but I'm having trouble wanting to do it. I can agree to one or two songs.

I've also got a playlist of short songs, when I want to be able to alternate dancing and resting.

I have one of slower songs for when I'm not feeling well and I want to make sure I don't over-exert or hurt myself, but I still want to get up and move.

And I have a list of my current favorite songs, for when I can't make up my mind about which playlist to use.

I started with my favorites, since I could make that playlist really fast. It took me a while to set the others up, but they mostly involved me sorting my music collection by song length and going from there. So it wasn't too hard.

It's a unicorn I'm also having trouble finding.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find free tai chi/qi gong classes in the park or similar. If not, or if you're like me and going out to do things like that with/in front of other people in public is a significant barrier, there are books and youtube tutorials that can get you started, too.

I find some of the qi gong breathing exercises and warm-ups especially helpful, and doing even 5 minutes or so makes a big difference in how I feel in the morning.

I second the suggestions of pilates as well, and yoga (to a somewhat lesser extent). Pilates mat exercises did a lot more for me than yoga ever did in terms of overall strength and health, but yoga is still relaxing.

Also also - I have recently discovered laughter yoga, which seems really silly when you do it, but the guided session I went to was about 30 minutes of standing around, and I felt good after. I know that there are free-to-attend laughter yoga groups in some locations, but I don't know how common they are.

Other people have had some good suggestions wrt exercise options. I'll answer on a different tack. As ever the case for free advice from random internet people, use your own judgment in applying to you.

I notice a lot of the things you're looking for from exercise aren't about the exercise at all, but about you.
What youlike, how youfeel, what fitsyour your particular dynamic needs and abilities...
There is no particular exercise that will all these qualifications (and at the same time, there are numerous ones that might work), because you're not describing what you need from an exercise, but what you need from your experience of exercising which is more than half about you --the attitude, effort, and abilities YOU bring to the relationship.

Patience, ambition, feeling of failure, feeling of enjoyment, bypassing executive function limits, those are completely independent of the type of exercise you do; they're more like skills or mental habits of their own. You may do better if you address those separately from the habit of getting X minutes of movement per day.

This guy has a lot to say about forming "sticky" and effective habits. If you're open to thinking of exercise in those terms, have a read:
http://jamesclear.com/habits#What%20Are%20Habits?

http://jamesclear.com/articles

Edited (fix spelling) 2017-04-24 15:51 (UTC)

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