What's your barrier?
As a younger less experienced therapist and athlete, I probably would have titled this post ‘What’s your excuse?’ Because my attitude would have been if you are not exercising regularly then you must be making excuses. As I have learnt more as a therapist and an athlete (I use that term very loosely) I have learnt that it is not always an excuse to not exercise and increase your performance. ‘Excuse’ has negative connotations that are not helpful in the physical therapy world. Barriers on the other hand can be removed when we work together to help you get the most out of your body.
Let me share my personal exercise journey this year. As I have previously shared my 2020 was made very busy by the majority of the AFL season relocating to Queensland. During the AFL’s footy festivals I was regularly working 5 or 6 nights a week as well as treating umpires on the Gold Coast in their hub, while at the same time maintaining my teaching commitments 2 days a week at a massage college. On top of that I still had all of life’s business to deal with that comes with having a family. The result of all this was that from July to October I was probably the busiest that I have ever been in my life. The one thing that suffered is my commitment to exercise. Like a lot of people when our lives get busy exercise is the first thing to be dropped. ‘I don’t have the time’, ‘I’m too tired’ etc. etc. The excuses come out…or are they barriers?
What my experience this year taught me is that there is not really such a thing as too busy to exercise? Now I’m not saying that I was the busiest person this year and I know that there are people that are busier than I was. My point is that I made choices to use the time that I had to do other things rather than exercise. Some of those things were good choices like spending time with my family and some of those choices were not as productive like lying on the couch watching TV. What I learnt is that you have to take the opportunities that you have and look to create more. I adopted an ‘anything is better than nothing’ and an ‘exercise when you can’ approach. I started prioritising exercising. When I had time, I chose to exercise. I didn’t let myself fall into some of my old excuses like ‘It is too hot’ or ‘I am too tired’. If I had time available to exercise I took it. Now I am not saying that you should exercise at all costs and be detrimental to your health. If it is 35 degrees outside you need to adjust your exercise accordingly. Make sure you’re hydrated and do a 15 minute higher intensity workout, rather than a 1 hour lower intensity workout.
The other thing I did was to create opportunity. Spending time with my family is a fantastic use of my time, but it doesn’t mean that that time can’t be spent exercising. I have 2 young boys who love running around and getting thrown in the air by their father. I made the time that I spent with my kids exercise time as well. I used my sons as weights and did all sorts of normal strength movements. Instead of using a barbell or a dumbbell, I used my kids. There are plenty of opportunities to turn normal daily activities into exercises. We need to change our mindset and our priorities to see opportunities rather than barriers.
One of the biggest barriers that people face is pain. When you are in pain exercise is normally the last thing that you feel like doing. Again, we need to change our mindset. We can’t see exercise as the enemy when we are in pain, instead we need to see it as the solution. It is very rare that sitting around doing nothing will get you out of pain. (Yes, rest and not over straining yourself is important but there should always be an active element to dealing with pain) The research is overwhelming that including exercise in your management program will give you far better results than just including passive treatments alone. The problem is that most people don’t have the right advice. They get their advice from friends or family who knew someone with the same problem or they are overwhelmed by the amount of information they find online when they try to find answers, most of which contradicts each other.
We are now in December. It is the end of what has felt like the longest year of our lives. Many people are looking forward to 2021 with hope that it will be a better year. If you are looking at 2021 and are thinking about wanting to exercise more, wanting to increase your performance or wanting to be pain free, make a decision today that can help. Take control of the situation and don’t just hope that it will get better.
We are still running our Gap Free or 50% off 30 minute appointments promo* until the end of December. The most the appointment will cost you is $25, if you have private health insurance that covers myotherapy it will be free. Are you willing to spend $25 to help you remove whatever barriers are in your life that are stopping you from exercising more? Head online and book a 30 minute appointment before the end of December and let us help you finish 2020 strong.
* terms and conditions apply