As I write this I have just finished walking across Rarotonga. It took me 2.5 hours and was challenging but at no point did I think that I wasn’t going to manage it.
I had time to reflect that 3 years ago, after my surgery, walking to the end of the road was a challenge.
While I have been holidaying in Rarotonga with family I have gone swimming daily, I have snorkelled most days and I have gone on a nightSUP tour (even if some of the time I was on my knees). I have driven a mud buggy (which definitely got the heart rate up even if it’s not technically exercise), and I have done a few short bike rides with my youngest child.
I don’t mind sharing with you that I am both pleased and proud of myself.
Exercising and moving well the "one" thing that "everyone" agrees is important for health, and for recovering well. I believe exercise is also about personal best. Throughout the recovering well process doing your personal best is an achievement worth celebrating. The walk across Rarotonga was a personal best for me.
I have experimented recently with various type of exercise to review my exercise routine and find that what works best for me.
What I found useful in my experimenting was to try something for a week. That way I tried it a few times and got familiar with what was involved (the first time I tried something new was always a bit awkward). I got to see how I truly felt after doing the particular option that I was trialling.
By giving myself a week to trial something new I wasn't committing to something and ending up setting myself up to fail because it wasn't for me.
Going into the trialling with an open mind, but also knowing there were other options to try took the pressure off me to make something work that ultimately wasn't what worked best for me.
I have a warm up routine in the morning that includes any therapeutic exercises I need to do.
Then I do a quick resistance workout and go for a walk.
I will admit that my evening stretching is my least adhered to part of my exercise routine, but I am grateful for the essentrics exercise routines and feel much better for doing them.
Exercising regularly is a healthy practice, I explain more about this in my article Moving Well - Physical Activity While exercising needs to be actively included in the schedule, and it can take a bit of motivation to get moving, the rewards are worth the effort.
The fitness I have allows me to enjoy my activities on holidays and weekends with friends and family.
I get a lot of value from long walks with friends, and from swimming off the boat with family, as well as calm lovely kayak trips that I do when we are anchored somewhere peaceful and serene. None of these require super levels of fitness, but they did require me to recover my energy and ability to move well after my cancer surgery and treatments.
Is there something you would like to be doing now that you need to build up to?
There are so many options for exercise that it doesn’t need to be a chore, or worse a punishment for being overweight or unfit. Moving well is good for you and can also be fun. Even if you don’t get to do your favourite form of exercise every day, regular exercise can help you be fit and strong enough for the activities you most enjoy.
I encourage you to add the following into your week.
Stretch - not as a militant forcing of your body to submit to being supple but as a way of being that celebrates your mobility, and in that celebration and practice you perhaps then get to have more mobility to celebrate.
Resistance/ Toning Exercises - such as Pilates, Weights, 7 minute workouts
Cardio - such as walking, HIIT, swimming
I find guided exercise such as YouTube workouts or something were I am in nature (walks) are more pleasant and motivating for me but you might be more motivated by a joining a group or a team (or just having one person you meet up with).
Whatever works best for you, I encourage you to change exercise and moving well from a "should" to a MUST, remembering that it can also be FUN.
I have found with the people that I help that using minerals gives us a strong foundation to work with.
On a personal level I am extremely grateful for the support of minerals!!
When you start to think in a downward spiral, or become distracted or focussing on negative “unwanted” thoughts - of the past, the present or the future you simply tell your brain “Useful Thoughts Only”
The trick is catching yourself in the act, but I suspect you may have a few (or even many) opportunities each day to practice this technique. The great thing is, even if you realise after quite a while that you have been riding the unhelpful thought train, you can stop at any time and tell yourself - USEFUL THOUGHTS ONLY.
