Oh so annoying! Just when the gym feels like a solid routine, the old bum knee acts up again. There's a few good reasons to keep your gym habit - even when you are doing nothing while you are there!
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[00:00:01] Hey, I'm Amy Chang. I'm a nationally board certified health and wellness coach and this is Healthy AF. In this podcast
[00:00:09] I'll be bringing you all things health from the newest health strategies to how to tackle those personal roadblocks that just will not let you move forward
[00:00:19] So buckle in we're gonna be inspired and instructed and dad gum. We're gonna have a little fun on Healthy AF
[00:00:26] Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of Healthy AF. It is still movement May and I am going to share with you today
[00:00:37] one of my favorite topics and it is the habit of exercise and how to keep it when you've had an injury or an illness
[00:00:51] Now we all know that about the time you get that real good exercise routine going and you're hitting the gym on a consistent basis
[00:00:59] everything seems to be turning out roses, you have an injury. What to do? I can't tell you how many times my own CrossFit athletes have come to me
[00:01:11] and said, well you know I've got this shoulder or I've got this knee or I've got you know whatever it is and I just need it to heal up
[00:01:19] and my response is always the same. Great! You got a knee problem? Fantastic! You're doing your physical therapy for that right?
[00:01:28] You're resting it appropriately right? Great! Come on into the gym on your schedule. You're gonna have the strongest abs and upper body in six weeks you've ever had
[00:01:38] Right? So why would I tell somebody to come into the gym if they were injured? In fact, I've done this myself several times
[00:01:46] You know for many years I struggled with a back issue with some herniated disc bulging disc and that was unpleasant
[00:01:56] and I did a lot of physical therapy also unpleasant. You know how boring physical therapy is? So boring
[00:02:04] but it's a necessity and I'd go into the gym, I'd lay on the rack kind of perpendicular to where my workout partner was squatting
[00:02:17] and I'd do my clam shells for my hip stability while she was doing her back squats that I couldn't do
[00:02:27] and I mean this went on for weeks but you know what that did for me aside from really strong hips from doing clam shells?
[00:02:36] It kept me inside my habit of going to the gym and exercising
[00:02:43] People really underestimate how important it is to continue all the parts of that habit that you can even when the main objective of that habit
[00:03:01] is not something you can accomplish right then
[00:03:07] One of my clients couldn't do much of anything and I said well just go to the gym and say hey to your people
[00:03:13] hang out a little while, stretch, keep that space in your calendar
[00:03:19] I know for me if I ever take gym space out of my calendar, I get so much done at home
[00:03:28] I don't want to put gym space back into my calendar
[00:03:34] So if you're injured and you've got that one isolated part that can't do anything
[00:03:40] My recommendation is keep your habit
[00:03:44] Same time, same place, same people, just change that activity
[00:03:51] So that's with injury
[00:03:54] And I'm also going to say this
[00:03:56] I have been telling people that same thing about keeping your gym routine during injury for probably 15 years
[00:04:04] and then I tore my Achilles
[00:04:08] Tore my left Achilles in September of 22
[00:04:12] and for the first, I don't know, month
[00:04:16] I would go outside on my deck and do a lot of one-legged squats
[00:04:22] I did one-legged planks and pushups
[00:04:24] I did so many good ab stuff
[00:04:28] My shoulders were stout
[00:04:30] I was working those shoulder presses, bench presses
[00:04:32] Everything I could do on the deck
[00:04:34] And it felt great until it did not
[00:04:38] And there came a time while I was hobbling around
[00:04:46] A little bit better than just I can sit on the couch all day
[00:04:49] At this point, I can hobble into the kitchen and hobble to the bathroom
[00:04:55] hobble to my bedroom to get dressed
[00:04:59] My body was so spent, tired
[00:05:05] I really did not recognize how much energy it took
[00:05:09] to shower one-legged, not getting your boot wet
[00:05:14] to get dressed one-legged, not getting your boot tangled up in your panties
[00:05:22] How much energy it took to go from your room to the kitchen and get water
[00:05:28] only to realize that you needed to pee before you had to go back to the couch
[00:05:34] There may be times where your body just needs to heal
[00:05:38] And if that's the case, take the time
[00:05:41] But maybe call one of your gym friends during that time
[00:05:45] Keep that thread, keep that tether to what that exercise program is
[00:05:51] so that you can reintegrate it if you have to let it totally out
[00:05:56] Second thing I wanted to talk about today is illness
[00:06:02] Illness takes us out of our exercise routine fairly easily
[00:06:09] As a mom of three very close-in-age kids, if one person gets a GI bug
[00:06:17] we're down for possibly 10 days depending on how many of us get it
[00:06:23] and how close it is together and how many sets of sheets I need to wash
[00:06:29] So what do you do?
[00:06:31] If your family members are suffering an illness
[00:06:36] Maybe it's your parent and you're having to go back and forth to the hospital
[00:06:40] Actually, last time I was in Hickory, I just finished up my workout at CrossFit Hickory
[00:06:46] and a couple of guys walked by and I said, hey, how you doing?
[00:06:50] And they shared that they were up from Atlanta taking care of one of the moms
[00:06:56] So those things happen and they wreck your jam
[00:07:00] So how do you keep your habit?
[00:07:02] Do your indoor workouts that day
[00:07:04] Take a walk around your house, do some walking lunges, do some at-home work
[00:07:10] If you have something heavy, pick it up, squat with it, walk with it
[00:07:14] maybe throw it across the floor
[00:07:16] Don't do that with a child
[00:07:18] But you can do that with, you know
[00:07:20] One of my favorites is a bag of grass seed
[00:07:24] It's like the perfect shape to just bare hug that sucker and stand up
[00:07:28] Stand up, squat down, stand up
[00:07:30] Can you flip it over? Can you jump over it?
[00:07:33] Can you pick it up from the ground?
[00:07:35] Can you put it on a retaining wall and pick it back up again?
[00:07:38] There's so many things that you can do at home while you're
[00:07:45] I'll say between laundry sets
[00:07:47] How's that?
[00:07:49] When you're cleaning up your sheets and taking care of people
[00:07:53] And if it's you that's ill
[00:07:59] Maybe you put something else nourishing in that time
[00:08:02] You know, when I was going through nursing school in 95
[00:08:06] We learned a little bit of theory about nursing
[00:08:09] And my favorite theory still to this day is an old one
[00:08:14] It's Dorothea Orum and it's her theory of self-care
[00:08:18] This was written back in the days where grandma would have a bunion
[00:08:23] And be in the hospital for two weeks
[00:08:25] And all the family would come in and they'd be feeding her
[00:08:29] And brushing grandma's hair
[00:08:31] She got a bunion, dude
[00:08:33] So this theory of self-care said
[00:08:36] Hey, we're actually making people sick
[00:08:39] By not letting them do what they can do while they are sick
[00:08:45] So the theory there is
[00:08:48] You know, if you're out with the flu for five days
[00:08:51] Okay, probably you're going to need to lay down and just do nothing for a few of those days
[00:08:56] But then you might just want to sit up a little bit more
[00:09:00] Open up your lungs
[00:09:02] Get some good deep breaths in
[00:09:04] And then on the fourth day maybe when you're not feverish or feel a little bit better
[00:09:09] You might want to just go outside
[00:09:11] Walk to the mailbox and back
[00:09:13] So pushing those limits
[00:09:16] Asking your body
[00:09:18] Can you work a little bit
[00:09:20] And resting while you're sick
[00:09:24] Is not always a bad idea
[00:09:26] And remember
[00:09:28] Work and exercise while you're sick
[00:09:32] Might look like just sitting up and taking a few deep breaths
[00:09:37] It might look like
[00:09:39] I'm going to try to walk out to the mailbox and back today
[00:09:45] Or I'm going to try to cook a meal for myself today
[00:09:49] Instead of just living on the saltines
[00:09:51] Which you need to do sometimes
[00:09:53] So remember
[00:09:55] Intentionality is key
[00:09:57] When you're injured or dealing with illness
[00:10:01] Look for ways to keep that habit
[00:10:04] Even if it's just a semblance of the habit
[00:10:07] Even if it's just calling that workout buddy and saying
[00:10:10] Hey, what was the workout today and how did you do
[00:10:14] You know, even if it's a plank before you go in a hospital
[00:10:18] To see your mom
[00:10:20] There's always something you can do to maintain your habit
[00:10:24] And you're going to thank me later
[00:10:26] For maintaining that habit
[00:10:28] And don't forget to give yourself some grace
[00:10:31] Habits fall away sometimes
[00:10:33] And we just have to pick them back up
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[00:10:39] I hope this benefited for you
[00:10:41] I hope this benefited you today
[00:10:45] And maybe makes your life a little bit easier
[00:10:48] Thanks for listening then
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