Posted on by exercisehelps

I lost my wife and my motivation

My sweet wife passed away about a year ago after a 16 month battle with cancer. I was her caregiver and I was very thankful to have served her in this role.

It was hard, it was brutal but it was my honor to ‘walk her home for the last mile’.

In the course of all the demands of caregiving, the psychological chaos in my interior and the anticipatory grief, my exercise went to the wayside. I just could not leave her side except for short periods of time. I just couldn’t.

So my exercise and my movement were interrupted. I am certain that my blood sugar rose during this time of inactivity … glucose sticks confirmed it. My low energy levels also confirmed it. My brain fog confirmed it.

And even after her passing, I was mired psychologically in grief. Unable to muster the motivation to get off the couch and out the door.

Until recently.

The inner pressure to get moving again had built up to the point that I simply had to reestablish my exercise routine or die.

So … I drove to the gym and was astonished at how my muscle mass had diminished. I was equally freaked out at how winded I would get on the treadmill. I had clearly regressed. Oh, for good reason I suppose but nevertheless.

Here’s what I did, even through the inertia of grief. Even though the dark hand of mourning was still pushing me down.

I made up my mind to daily get off the couch and walk. I made up my mind to daily get off the couch and go to the gym.

I started small. I walked only about a half of a mile. I lifted far lighter dumbbells than previously. But I was there, doing it.

As I continued, I have grown stronger. My wind has come back.

I have gradually increased my walking distance and my lifting weight until I was able to lift more and walk further.

And my brain rewarded me with far better brain chemistry. And my blood sugar was under 100!

They say that loss of a spouse is the most stressful of all life events. It sits atop the stress pyramid. Alone at the top.

So it is understandable if the logjam of grief and caregiving pushes us underwater in terms of exercising and moving. Very understandable.

But there comes a point when we have to face our inactivity and resolve to burst the inertia dam blocking our way to movement.

If you fit this category, I want to encourage you to take a deep breath and get off the couch today. Please drop me a line at terryread.blankenship@gmail.com and tell me how you did it.

If I can do it, you can do it.

Get off the couch today!

[Author’s note: I have written a book to help you get off the couch. Find it HERE ]

#Diabetes #Exercise #Grief #Walking #Type2 #LossOfSpouse #Mourning

Posted on by exercisehelps

Walking helps grief

I have been walking extra-hard recently.

Why?

My wife of many years passed away mid-summer and I was left grief-stricken. I was left with a great big hole in my heart. My soul-mate had departed this life after a bout with cancer.

I started this blog as a way to encourage diabetics to get off their duffs and get out the door and exercise. Exercise often cancels diabetes, especially when you watch your diet. So I am ecstatic to report that exercise, in my case, walking, has helped me with my grief immensely.

I have a favorite park nearby and this is where I walk. It has a lazy river winding through it. It is a perfect place to run, walk, bike, whatever. Walking in this park has become a habit.

Grief can often leave a person depressed and for some, downright non-functional. Feeling sad and lonely is a normal part of the grief process; this makes it imperative that folks like me move through grief in a healthy way. In my case, this means tons of walking.

Here’s what I found: walking 45 minutes a day helped me feel actually less sad. It makes me feel somewhat hopeful on many days. It kept collapse away from my door.

All because I got off the couch and went for a brisk walk.

Inertia (anti-movement) is especially strong in the grief-stricken who seek to exercise.

I had to stare inertia down day after day and it was not fun.

But it helped my inner mood tremendously.

Are you mourning the loss of a significant other, family member, friend, pet or job loss? Open the front door, start walking. No excuses, just start walking.

I promise you will feel a bit better, it is SO worth it. I am living proof

Posted on by exercisehelps

My Surprising Struggle with Pushups

I was in a routine for years where I would do 3 sets of 10 pushups every day. Seriously, every day.

Until my routine collapsed. Inertia had taken a sledgehammer to my activity. Apathy had thrown my best intentions into the ditch. I quit doing my pushups. I mean, totally quit. Zero pushups.

But this is a hopeful story.

I recently awakened thoroughly disgusted with my lapse in routine. I swear I could feel the weakness in my arms. I was determined to face down inertia yet once again. My old enemy, inertia.

So, I got down on the floor and attempted to go through my 3 sets of 10 pushups. Here’s how I ended up … 3 pushups, 2 pushups, 2 pushups. A far cry from 10, 10, 10.

I was stunned at how quickly my strength had departed.

But … the next day, I got down on the floor and did 4,3,3 pushups. The next day was the same, 4,3,3.

Then a new day rolled around, and I did 5,4,4. My strength had increased a little. I was surprised to see how quickly it was coming back.

My arms stung from the lactic acid that poured onto my muscles as I struggled to increase the number of repetitions daily. But it felt oddly good.

Within two weeks I was back at 10, 10, 10. The positive inertia has kept me going and I have now exceeded that.

But it flipped me out to see how quickly my muscle strength came back. After that, as I was lifting some heavy items, I remember thinking ‘hey, this isn’t so heavy after all’. It was the pushups that did it!

Strength exercises like pushups are excellent for diabetes as it helps manage insulin resistance. Add aerobic exercise to your routine and you will have done your blood sugar control a huge favor.

Have you fallen out of your exercise routine? Inertia and apathy CAN be put back into their box if we start small and slowly ramp back up. Here’s to 10,10,10!

———

[Author’s note: I hope you enjoy this blog! It was started because I am so sedentary that it is unbelievable. If you want to support this work, consider buying my book ’42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise’ on Amazon by clicking HERE ]

Posted on by exercisehelps

If you can walk to the refrigerator, you can exercise!

Joe Rogan, a popular American media personality, recently had a guest on his podcast who made the statement that her husband, who is a celebrity in some circles, hadn’t exercised because it is just too difficult.

Wrong thing to say to the former host of “Fear Factor”.

He basically wasn’t having any of this … and made the statement that became the title of this post. To sum up his reaction in four words, “give me a break!”.

I am a master of inventing excuses to not exercise. I have won an Oscar for my inertia-invoking performances on why exercise today is just simply too awful and too painful to even begin.

On those days when the “it’s too hard to exercise” mood dominates my brain, I take a deep breath and get moving anyway. It is slow. It is hard.

It is imperative.

“If you can walk to the refrigerator, you can exercise!”

#joerogan, #diabetes, #exercise

Posted on by exercisehelps

Yes, your camera can help blast you out of lethargy

I saw a photo of myself taken years ago and was aghast at how out of shape I looked. I mean, it stopped me in my tracks.

Honestly, I looked swollen and hideous.

If you’re not where you want to be physically and you’re a diabetic, take a picture of yourself. I don’t even have to explain how motivational this is to simply gaze upon a picture of yourself.

Chances are you’re not where you want to be.

Exercise is a way to change that picture. Oh by the way, you will be improving your diabetic condition immensely while you do this.

I know I know, you don’t want to do this. It’s just too painful. There is not enough time. It’s WAY too inconvenient.

All of the above is why you have to do it. But I thought this was a blog about managing diabetes through exercise and not about weight loss, you might say. You’re right it is. However the magic is that they both often move together.

So, either look back at an old photo for motivation or snap a new pic – either way, now your camera is part of your health team. Who would have thought??!!

(Author’s note: Share my book with friends! https://www.amazon.com/Motivate-Sedentary-Diabetic-Actually-Exercise/dp/1692830473/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 )

Posted on by exercisehelps

When you absolutely, positively, totally do not want to move

Recently, I had a day where I simply did not want to go to the gym, walk on my street, or do anything at all. I was frozen, like an iceberg.

All of this despite my being an exercise blogger who has written a book on the criticality of getting off our collective rumps and moving (ahem, exercising).

On this day, this un-moving day, my brain just simply could not process doing anything other than sitting in my recliner. It was simply a bridge too far for me to conceptualize. It was a thought that could find no place in my menu of activities for that day.

Trying to combat this dreadful turn of events, I reminded myself of the enormous benefits that diabetics enjoy when they exercise. And then I reminded myself again. And again. Nothing worked. I was still in the clutches of inertia … let me capitalize that, I was still in the clutches of INERTIA.

I’m confident that I’m not the only one who has ever found themselves in this sorry situation, right?

So what did I do?

I got out my self-winch and winched myself out the front door. There, I got that far. Let’s see if I have enough motivation to make it to the street. OK, I found a couple of cracks in inertia’s wall, giving me a few ounces of motivation to actually walk to the street (the self-winch is straining, straining, straining against the force of inactivity). OK, now I’m standing on the street, motionless. So I will myself to walk 100 steps on the street. By step 10, inertia conceded that it is defeated today and I end up walking a mile, which isn’t that much but is much better than the day started out, which found me lacking the will to get out of the recliner. Yep, my battle with inertia is that deep, folks.

Inertia flees in the face of action.

Inactivity retreats whenever we engage even in modest activity.

Even one step on these very difficult days is a victory.

Our daily iceberg can be melted, one day at a time. (But it can be hard, as evidenced by my account above).

Let me encourage us, when we are in the throes of a ‘cannot do anything’ day, take one step. It will lead to two, which will lead to three.

And our diabetes will thank us.

Posted on by exercisehelps

Cold, rain, wind all conspired to stop me from getting off the couch today

It’s cold. It’s raining buckets. The wind is tearing my roof off it seems.

It’s January.

Not much sunlight. Days are short.

In other words, an awfully fine day to chuck my exercise activities and resume my comatose lifestyle.

Knock, knock, knock. I hear this knocking in my brain.

A whisper comes through, “…. fine! This is a great way to make your type 2 grow stronger.”

I battle briefly with myself then run up the white flag of surrender to that knocking and whisper, get into my exercise clothes, make it to my car and drive to the gym.

I didn’t want to. I cannot find words in the English language to adequately describe my resistance to exercising today. Enormous, huge, spectacular resistance.

But I won another round with inertia.

Barely.

You see, my better angel on my right shoulder was advising me that #diabetics need daily exercise in order to combat insulin resistance and help their #A1C numbers move down.

Even in the cold.

Even in the rain.

Even in the wind.

Even in January.

Posted on by exercisehelps

The revenge of the dumbbells … or how I learned to blast through dumbbell boredom

Boredom has always feverishly nipped at my heels whenever I exercise.

Yep, I don’t get exhausted much but almost always I do get bored.

It’s funny, in all my years of researching exercise, I have only seen one article that addressed boredom and that article specifically focused on marathoners.

Yet back to my dumbbells … in a previous posting, I had discussed how they disappeared for a year and then reappeared magically one day. And how I was now faithfully using them daily.

However, as an update to this, boredom started setting in during my exercise with them. Boredom in exercise for me is as mustard to a hot dog. It just is.

However, I know my type 2 diabetes benefits from not only aerobic exercise but also from strength exercises like dumbbells so I had to figure out a work-around.

Enter my Roku-TV.

It fits under my arm and is as light as a feather so I decided to position it in front of my dumbbells and watch something interesting while I was working out. You know, “Christmas Vacation”, “Family Stone”, documentaries about planets etc.

It worked.

Boredom kicked to the curb.

My dumbbells are again fulfilling their destiny.

Does your exercise bore you?

Figure out a way to untie that knot! Inertia will go down for the count!!

Posted on by exercisehelps

My dumbbells, their tragic yet hopeful story

I have always loved my #dumbbells.

Simple workouts with them always seemed to be easy and effective. I could sit on a stool and do arm curls (I usually do 30 for each arm, 20 lbs) without too much hassle or disruption to my day (remember, I HATE to exercise).

And I know from my #diabetes research that strength exercises can have a super positive impact on diabetes numbers, working in concert with diet and aerobic exercise.

Then I lost my dumbbells.

How??

I am not sure other to say that some other-worldly creature must have stolen them while I slept and relocated to an obscure corner of my house. I hate it when things like this happen!

However, about a year after this theft, I rediscovered my dumbbells in the aforementioned obscure corner of my house.

And then I faced a new obstacle … motivating myself again to actually use them.

How to overcome, yet once more, my old nemesis, inertia.

Here’s how I did it, listen carefully … I got a stool and placed in the hall of my home where I would see it everyday and have to intentionally walk around it. I then walked over to the dumbbells, picked them up, sat on the stool and did 10 reps on each arm (arm curls).

Then I did it the next day.

Then I did it the next day.

It has been 3 weeks now and I have increased the number of repetitions every couple of days.

My arms feel fabulous.

But I had to encumber my hall to do it.

You see, I have to do all sorts of crazy things to defeat inertia however I won this round.

You too may have to get creative but you can do it.

At any rate, I am on a roll with my newly-found dumbbells, feeling great and loving it.

BTW, we recently took a trip to a second home and guess what? My dumbbells were packed in the car and traveled with us.

So even though my dumbbells’ story had a tragic turn, it has all ended up just fine.

I challenge you to buy some dumbbells at weights comfortable for you to lift.

And then put a stool in your hall! Your #A1C numbers will thank you!

#diabetes #diabetic #type2diabetes #diabeticexercise #A1C

Posted on by exercisehelps

The wrestling match in my head today

We are in the midst of another #covid lockdown, this time much more restrictive.

Somehow the thought has gotten into my head that exercise (walking, running, whatever) is going to be tougher for me during this season. Somehow, I have begun thinking “oh no! I am going to just shut down my physical movement!”

Keep in mind that my #diabetes is saying “Please get off your butt and get out the front door and move!!! We need this!” Actually my #diabetes is not just saying this, it is SCREAMING this!

In my mind, I see #inertia and #diabetes wrestling each other. One is going to win, trust me.

This is the point of this blog, to make sure #inertia does not win.

To make sure #ExerciseAndDiabetes walks away with the trophy.

As I write this today, I am in the middle of this internal wrestling match.

But I am here to say, once this piece is completed, I am going to get off the couch and out the front door.

I promise.

How about you?