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!

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[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

When your calendar becomes your workout buddy … huh???

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Let’s face it, there is something compelling when we schedule something on our calendar. We are more apt to follow through and keep a commitment that is on our calendar than one that is not.

It always helps me personally to proactively plan my exercise in the future by committing it to my calendar. If you use a paper calendar, pencil it in. If you use an electronic/phone calendar, then schedule it and you will have an automatic reminder.

I hate to work out, you might also but we know our #diabetes will thank us for getting out the door and into some activity, right?

There is something about human nature that simply makes this work. Let’s make it work on our behalf to help us manage our #diabetes better.

Thank you Mr Calendar!

(Author’s note: I have published a book for diabetics who hate to exercise, ’42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise’ … written primarily for my always inactive self … click HERE to purchase on Amazon, purchase and give away to friends and family who need it … purchase and send to your local diabetes society for distribution and if you cannot afford it, let me know)

Posted on by exercisehelps

What you FEEL will make you ill, but what you KNOW will make you go!

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Early in my career, I was a church worker. As such, I had the benefit of exceptional motivational teachings that I would listen to as various teachers came through my territory.

One teacher stressed the importance of not allowing our feelings to dictate our actions inordinately. He focused on the fact that if we allow our feelings to rule our lives, we would never amount to much of anything or accomplish anything significant.

He stressed that we should operate a great deal out of what we knew as fact that we needed to do as opposed to what we felt. He had a great motto for this… “What you FEEL will make you ill, but what you KNOW will make you go.”

Throughout my years, I have always marveled at the wisdom in this saying.

In many ways it applies to motivating us to get out the front door and get exercising.

With that in mind, I think it is vital to reflect on why we are exercising at all. In short, exercising benefits our #diabetic condition in so many ways it is impossible to list.

For starters, if you have insulin resistance which most #type2 diabetics do, exercise will lessen that resistance. Exercise will open the receptivity of your cells for blood glucose to enter them. That way it’s not in your bloodstream and your blood glucose levels of your blood will fall. That’s a good thing.

#Diabetes can contribute to a person being depressed.

Studies show that walking 20 minutes a day is as therapeutic as most medications or talk therapy. Can you believe that? Well you should because it’s true.

Exercise can increase a person’s overall fitness level which lessens the co-morbidities that can spring up when you deal with #diabetes in a person’s life.

This alone makes exercise a fabulous, fabulous option for a #diabetic.

So think about those mornings when you absolutely do not want to exercise. Your feelings are screaming “do not exercise at all because I do not feel like it”. It is mornings like this that what you feel is making you ILL but what you know has got to make you GO. Because you know you need to exercise, you put your feelings up on a shelf and get out the door and get to the business of exercising. Because your intellect is making the smart choice and the smart decision here.

We can do this!

Posted on by exercisehelps

Just moving your clothes will benefit your diabetes enormously … wait, say that again!

PHOTO BY NATHAN FRIED-LIPSKI

In the business world, especially in those parts where efficiency in movement is crucial, efficiency is often achieved by moving things around to make the movement easier. For example, in a warehouse, the most frequently used items will be stacked the closest to the loading dock in order to save time. And it does save an ENORMOUS amount of time.

There is a principle here that you can leverage in becoming more motivated to exercise…make it easy on yourself.

Here is a quick tip:

Put your exercise clothes at the foot of your bed or somewhere where you can easily reach them. Make it easy to find your exercise clothes. If you are a walker, this might pertain only to your walking shoes. If you are a runner, this would pertain to your running clothes plus your running shoes. If you are doing yoga, this is your mat plus your yoga clothes.

It is all meant to remove a hurdle standing in the way of exercise and make it easier to move into it. Believe it or not, I find this to be motivational in itself… you might not but I do. If I have to run all over the house looking for my clothes, somehow I lose a little bit of motivation and find something else to do.

It is too important for me to exercise to allow this to occur so I see this as a very small step that can yield very large dividends for our diabetes for those of us who hate to exercise.

JUST MOVE YOUR CLOTHES! LOL!

#diabetes #diabetic #exercise #YoungerNextYear

 

Posted on by exercisehelps

Write your way out of lethargy and fatigue … A1C numbers just might drop!!

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We are here to help you explode your inertia and get you off the couch to actually exercise! (and your #diabetes numbers will thank you)

Believe it or not, studies have shown that if you keep an exercise journal daily, this by itself will give you motivation to get out the front door.

Studies have also shown that as you record your obstacles, challenges, dead zones as well as your successes, you will exercise at a more consistent pace than the person who does not do this.

As I have alluded to before, the toughest step to take in any exercise program is the first step. Any advantage that we can get on our side to get us exercising and keep us exercising, we should take and embrace it enthusiastically.

This really, REALLY helps me. Seriously. It REALLY helps me!

So go buy a small notebook that you can write in and start today. If you have an iPhone, droid etc that you can keep a journal on, by all means do that!

The manner of journaling does not matter… that you do it is the only thing that does matter.

#covid #diabetes #diabetics #exercisejournal

Posted on by exercisehelps

Spin your way to lower blood glucose numbers, seriously!

spinning

Spinning is basically riding a stationary bicycle. A spin class however, takes a rather boring activity and throws fun and sparkle all over it.

Most YMCAs and other fitness centers, have spin classes, even during covid. You will be socially distanced and maintain all the proper health precautions but spinning is still occurring, trust me!

Typically these are 20 or more stationary bicycles in a large room, that are utilized for a group activity lasting from 45 minutes to an hour with an instructor leading it to the melodies of great music.

To say that this is fun is a huge understatement. It is incredibly fun!

And it is low impact and high aerobic. Almost a perfect exercise. And since you are spinning with other people, the added benefit of socialization is baked right into this.

So many people in spin classes make friends with each other and this serves to motivate each other to higher fitness goals.

It is not uncommon to see people of all ages in spin classes. I’m talking about from teenagers to young adults to middle-age to senior citizens. The spin class I go to has a fellow by the name of Ollie who sits in the corner and participates enthusiastically. He has been doing this for at least 10 to 15years. Ollie is 80 years old. He is in great shape. I do not know if he has diabetes or not but that is beside the point, isn’t it? He may not have diabetes because his fitness level may have been forestalled. Or if he does, he is helping manage it well.

I challenge you to go to your local YMCA or fitness center and see if there is a spin class. The instructors are extremely sympathetic to beginners and you can get in a spin class and going slowly for the entire period of time and no one will say a word because they understand you’re starting out.

Who could ask for more than that?

#covid19 #covid #spinclass #diabetes #diabetics

Posted on by exercisehelps

How to throw inertia into the ditch and start exercising again!!

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Today, I’m going to focus on inertia.

Check out the dictionary definition of inertia: ‘a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.’

Inertia keeps us from exercising. It is a force in itself.

Inertia is an invisible hand that keeps us on the couch or in our office chair, when we know better.

It is the hobgoblin that whispers in our ear ‘Put it off until tomorrow’. It is the belief that says, ‘It’s too much effort to find my walking shoes (or workout clothes, etc)’.

Inertia is an internal mountain that we attempt to climb daily.  Did I say climb? More often than not, we just sit and stare at it. Then night comes, we sleep and we get up the next day only to repeat the cycle all over.

Inertia is a paralyzing poison that renders us incapable of forward movement. It throws its thick straps onto us and holds us tightly in place.

This happens to me all the time.

What do I do when this tsunami of inactivity has me jailed?

I find my walking shoes.

I put them on.

I take one step. Then another. Then another.

By this time, inertia recedes a tiny bit. But that’s all I need, an opening. A chink in its armor.

And usually I find myself walking a bit, and a bit turns into a mile and a mile turns into two, you get the picture.

And I will have put inertia in its place until I face it all over again tomorrow.

You too? Sound familiar?

Let me encourage you to punch inertia in the nose today.

Your diabetes will forever be grateful!

(Author’s note: I have published a book for diabetics who hate to exercise, ’42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise’ … written primarily for my always inactive self … click HERE to purchase on Amazon, purchase and give away to friends and family who need it … purchase and send to your local diabetes society for distribution and if you cannot afford it, let me know)

#covid #covid19 #coronavirus

 

 

Posted on by exercisehelps

Covid and social distancing and diabetes and … and … I’m still exercising

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As you are reading this, most of America is under some kind of stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, safer-at-home restriction.

Yet many of us have diabetes.

And many of us have to exercise in order to help manage our diabetes.

Well, let me tell you what I am doing. It is springtime in Tennessee and we are now often experiencing days that are warm and full of sunshine. And we are experiencing days that are a bit cooler but still perfect … like any springtime season.

My wife and I have been getting out on our street and walking religiously. We also live near a greenway that we frequent. It can all be done with appropriate social distancing guidelines. (that’s me on a greenway in the photo above)

And the walking decreases my insulin resistance.  And this benefits type 2 diabetics.

But the entire point of this is that there is a way to get off the couch even during a dang quarantine.

If ever I needed an excuse to not exercise, a national pandemic would be one, wouldn’t it? I mean, everyone would understand, right?

But if I didn’t exercise during this national emergency, here’s what would happen:

  1. a key tool in my diabetes management would vanish
  2. my mood would darken
  3. because my mood might darken, depression might set in
  4. because depression might set in, that would adversely affect diabetes (see my post on this)

Exercise brings hope.

Let hope back in!

#coronavirus #covid19 #covid #socialdistancing #YoungerNextYear #ChrisCrowley

Posted on by exercisehelps

Video onboard! How to squeeze in a 20 minute walk between business meetings

Hi there everyone!

I had a noon meeting in Franklin, TN yesterday that lasted an hour. I had not gotten any exercise in because, well, I hate to exercise.

And inertia battles me every single day.

But because of type 2 diabetes, I must exercise.

So I decided to take a 20 minute walk on Main Street in Franklin which is an extraordinarily picturesque walk. Plus it was 65 degrees in February.

It was fun, I enjoyed it, I didn’t even notice the walk because I was so absorbed in the sights and sounds.

Diabetic conditions can be improved through regular exercise, like this.

If we enjoy our exercise, we are more likely to do it.

If we pick an exercise that we loathe, odds are that we might not do it. (I know myself, I assure you, I won’t)

Get off the couch and out of your office today … I’ll bet you also can find a way to squeeze in a 20 minute walk somehow, some way, even today.

#diabetes #diabetics #walking #exercisehelpsdiabetics #FranklinTN

(Author’s note: Click HERE to check out my book on Amazon “42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise” … this would make a great gift for friends and family who need encouragement to exercise)