Five Reasons You Must Start Resistance Training Today!

I love list posts.  They are so easy to write, and even easier to read.  If only adopting the habit they propose were so easy…

But in this case, it is!  Resistance training is not difficult to do.  You don’t need to join a gym.  There is no requirement for fancy equipment or expensive clothing.  While a routine does take a little bit of time, you will begin to see and feel significant results in as little as 20 minutes 2 or (ideally) 3 sessions per week.  You could multitask, and do your routine while watching Scrubs reruns.  How simple is that?

Your own body weight can provide all the resistance you want or need, or if you are so inclined, you can purchase some very reasonably priced resistance tubing to use in your living room.

Here’s the trick.  Don’t fall for the fitness magazine articles that suggest complex moves, or drop sets, or supersets, or unbelievably crazy-sets.  Pick exercises that target multiple muscle groups like squats, lunges, front and side plank, or good old fashioned push-ups, and just start doing them!  Here is why you should start today:

Reason 1) Resistance training is a friend of your metabolism.  Why is this?  As you begin to overload your muscles beyond what they are used to, you injure them slightly (don’t go for major injury…that doesn’t do any good at all).  You cause little tiny microtears in the muscle fibers, and this is why you are sore one or two days later.  But this is good news, because as your muscle fibers heal, they become stronger and bigger.  You add muscle mass, and over time, this increases your metabolic rate.

How does that work?  Body fat doesn’t do much.  It just sits there and looks back at you in the
mirror.  It doesn’t use up much energy.  Heck, it doesn’t even need much of a blood supply since it requires so little maintenance.  As a result, it burns very few calories.

On the other hand, muscle is very active.  It requires food (glucose and amino acids) and burns tons of calories by just being there.  Clearly, if you want to be a lean, mean, calorie burning machine, you want as much muscle as you can get.

Reason 2) Muscle, because it requires glucose and amino acids, is very sensitive to insulin.  Insulin opens the doorway to  to the little muscle cells, so glucose and amino acids can get in.  If you are insulin resistant, as in Type II diabetes  (and possibly CFRD), lifting weights will increase your insulin sensitivity as you build muscle mass.  A finely tuned insulin sensitivity mechanism is required for a stable blood glucose level, which leads to good health.

Reason 3) This is a big one for me, and maybe you can relate.  Building muscle and feeling and being strong physically is one area of my life where having cystic fibrosis doesn’t even matter!  My lungs may not be the best in the gym, but I will take on any woman my age in a push up or pull up contest!  This is a very empowering feeling…I have at least a modicum of control over my body which is otherwise at the mercy of my lung status.  Now, some days my lungs even interfere with my time at the gym, and that is OK.  I know that when I recover, I will be back, strutting around the gym with the big boys, knowing that my muscle fibers are no different than theirs:-)

If you have an illness other than CF, lifting may just provide the same benefit.  Lifting weights is a very black or white thing to do.  You do it and you see and feel results in as little as two or three weeks.  You have control of this.  It may not feel like you have control of much else, sometimes.  But you do have control over this.
Reason 4) More and more studies are showing that well-designed resistance training programs in post-treatment management of cancer patients and survivors are beneficial in improving health status and quality of life.   This is true in other chronic diseases as well.  Weight training is anabolic, meaning it builds up the body.  Often, treatment for illness is catabolic, or breaks down the body (think steroids or chemotherapy).  While these treatments are necessary, we can counter their bad side effect of breaking down tissue by weight training.

Reason 5) Weight training is fun!  Ok, maybe I’m in the minority thinking this, but stand by this statement.  When you get over the initial “I have no clue what I’m doing,” and move through the “Oh my God this huts,” you begin to see improvement!  And this is fun!

Are you ready to begin?  I’m starting a YouTube channel where I will teach easy, and very modifiable exercises that anyone can start doing today.  Check it out, and subscribe today!

Can I Exercise When I’m Sick?

Not that I’m an expert on this… The last time I had a PICC line I ended up with a DVT (blood clot) in my arm and had to be on blood thinners for 3 months.   Why?  Well, I’m not exactly sure, but it could be because I didn’t want to atrophy away, so I was doing push ups as well as my daily walk.  Dumb.

So maybe this does make me an expert because I definitely know what NOT to do.

Here’s my take:

If you have a PICC, NO UPPER BODY RESISTANCE TRAINING NOT EVEN PUSH UPS WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!  But when you start feeling better after the first few days of “happy juice,” as I now call it, you can definitely go out for a nice walk every day.  Or get on an stationary exercise bicycle.  Basically, the bottom line is don’t push it too hard, but it is good to move! If you don’t move for three weeks, it will be very difficult to get motivated again, and you will lose muscle mass, a very bad thing indeed.  Be gentle.  Be mindful.  But, move.

If you have a fever, no exercise.  Rest.

If you are just coughing more than usual, but don’t feel too bad…well, this is a tricky one.  Are you losing weight?  Are you eating well?  Do you have energy?  This is probably a good time to call the clinic, let them know what’s going on, and ask for your doctor’s opinion on the exercise question.  Do I do that?  No (well, I ask myself and I usually tell myself to quit being a wimp and do some push ups). But I’m learning to not listen to that inner little sergeant.

Last week (Week One), was the “walk every day” week.  My dogs loved it.  I also did daily Qigong (gentle stretching).

This week, I’m adding some lower body exercises (squats) and curl ups to the above.  Feeling good!  Zero cough.  I love this happy juice.

Next week, who knows…but it won’t include push ups.

Do you ever feel like you are in over your head?

Today, I am taking a crash course in internet marketing.  Why?  This is what I keep asking myself.

The reason is that I really want to figure out how to get my upcoming e-book, “The CF Wellness Boot Camp” out to as many people as possible.

To do that, I am learning, I need a “LIST.”   So I am madly learning  about how to create “opt in” boxes everywhere, and how to create  an e-newsletter (to entice ya’ll to sign up to my “LIST),” to use FTP to do weird things to my blog, to tweak HTML to make things look better, and generally, to do all kinds of things that ARE NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION!

But, alas, one  of my strengths is “love of learning,” so I should be very happy for a  very long time.  Please be patient with me.  I have great ideas for the newsletter, including exercise instruction and demonstration, interviews with nutrition and stress management gurus, and so much more.  Please sign up.  I promise you won’t be sorry!

Do You Ever Have One Of Those CF Days?

There’s been a bit of a lull in my series on shaking up your CF child’s exercise routine.  But, I have good reason.  I promise, I’ll return…as soon as….it works.

How To Fit Exercise In

In a previous post, I discussed time in a very esoteric way.  Yes, Eckhart Tolle is right in a way…time only exists in a horizontal dimension, the one we are used to dealing with most of the time.  CF and all of its accompanying “life situations” exist there, too. It’s enlightening to understand that we don’t have to be dictated by that dimension all of the time.  We can practice entering the “now” and get vertical anytime we want…

Alas, one must also be practical in this world.  So, let’s get real about time, shall we?  Yesterday, when I finally got in the shower and first brushed my teeth at 3:30 pm…exactly 9.5 hours after awakening, I realized I needed to write this post.  Mind you, none of those 9.5 hours were wasted.  And I don’t even have a real job!

I don’t need to go into the specifics.  If you are reading this, you already know the laundry list of things that must be done once, twice, or even three times daily regarding health care.  The meds, the nebs, the Vest, the food, the insulin, the enzymes, the vitamins, the doctor’s appointments, the trips to the pharmacy, the uncomfortable moments (hours) where you just want to be left alone to deal with your digestive system…

This is all before “life” stuff…work, school, kids, spouses, friends, churches or spiritual activities, fun, Grey’s Anatomy….

My first point:  “When in the WORLD is there time to exercise?” is a reasonable question.

My second point:  It needs to be part of that first list…the essential health care activities, or else it just isn’t going to happen.

The number one reason CFTR-able people don’t exercise is TIME, so it stands to reason that the addition of hours of self-care does not make the problem any easier.  Nobody has time.  That is a given.  Accept it as a given, and make time anyway.

I have coached and known many people with CF, and I have not once met someone who was not happy and proud of themselves for having started an exercise program.  Yes, it is hard to fit in.  Yes, it is frustrating to get sick and have to start over from what feels like ground-zero.  But, it is always worth it.

HOW TO MAKE TIME ANYWAY

Tip number one:  If you keep a scheduler, or planner, or palm, or iphone…whatever,  schedule yourself in FIRST.  Start with just 20-30 minutes.  Go for a walk or do some yoga.  Get into moving your body in some way, every day.  Over time, splurge and give yourself an HOUR a day.

Tip number two: Schedule a reward for immediately after your exercise.  Make it small, but something you really want…a latte, a nap, whatever.  You have to really want it, and you DON”T get it unless you exercise.

Tip number three: Plan to exercise with someone else.  Set a date, time and place.  The accountability factor kicks in, and you tend to show up.

Tip number four: Try hard to establish the habit of doing your exercise first thing in the morning.  This is the only way I made it through medical school/residency and stayed healthy.  It was a grueling schedule, but I know that it was the early exercise (accompanied by the early to bed the previous night) that provided me the energy to live through it.

Tip number five: Set a goal.  Make it appropriate for you, but also, set it high enough that it will force you to stretch yourself a bit.  You don’t grow muscle mass or endurance or flexibility without stressing the system.  If you are new to running, schedule a 5K.  If you are new to yoga, try to make it through an entire class!  If you are new to weight training, work up to your first unassisted pull-up.

Tip number six: When you reach your  goal, tell everyone you know how great you are, and celebrate!

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