This post is dedicated to a guy who we consider a part of our family, and with it I ask you to send out wishes his way for a speedy and healthy recovery.
Recently, a tragedy struck our family. Someone who has spent most of his life being active, playing basketball, running and enjoying being able to use his body will face a challenge to re-learn how to do some of these things in a new way as a result of severe injury. Although things will never be the same, without a doubt, we know that he will make a strong recovery due to his love for being physically active and spirited will to overcome struggles. My message to you today, is to appreciate your body and all that it does for you, just as he has always done. If you find it hard to exercise after a mentally and emotionally exhausting day at work or school or even caring for your little ones, think about the importance of maintaining the strength and awesome ability that is your body. As you've heard before, "if you don't use it, you lose it" - get moving, get motivated, and don't wait until it's too late to appreciate your body.
Food for Thought: Here is a guest post by Terri Graham, Master's level ACE certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Author, Speaker, Owner: The Metabolic Treatment Center in Orange County, California.
I think a lot of this has to do with mindset. Just look at the number of people in rehabilitative facilities who fight like mad to 'exercise'. They'll give anything just to move again, let alone walk. They go to great lengths, including being tethered to a bicycle so they can peddle or literally hung in a sling from the ceiling just to 'walk' on the treadmill. Christopher Reeves used to 'exercise' (assisted of course) for hours on end six days per week. As a quadriplegic who couldn't even breath on his own was he technically 'healthy' enough? Doubtful. But what he did have was a desire to exercise, a dogged determination, and a motivated 'can-do, 'mind-over-matter' attitude. Look at all of the para-athletes and amputees who find a way to move their bodies with both purpose and joy despite their very real physical limitations. Without intending judgment towards anyone, it is almost shameful in this country the number of perfectly able bodied people who don't exercise or who cop to excuses for not exercising. I'm sorry, but if a quadriplegic can exercise daily, so can ANY of the rest of us. I would say that unless someone were in a coma they would have an excuse, but guess what? Even comatose patients in good facilities are exercised weekly by trained staff who come in and move their limbs for them. There are a multitude of adaptive exercises that can accommodate and benefit just about anyone. And not exercising is so detrimental to lean body mass (especially bone) it is quite literally the equivalent of going to the moon. Having seen for myself soldiers returning from war with missing limbs who cannot wait to start PTing (exercising) again and training to get back to their original military duty (including jumping out of airplanes) I now know for a fact that to exercise or not is a CHOICE! I bet a great many of those people who think they can't exercise or who say they hate to exercise would have an entirely different attitude if they were suddenly confined to a wheelchair or lost their leg due to an accident. Shameful and sad that we often don't appreciate our opportunities (including to exercise) until they are taken away from us for real instead of just in our minds.
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