Tag: fitness

Great programs but why the disconnect?

by Jody, posted in exercise, pain

disconnectAfter receiving basic information about the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s Heart Wise Exercise program, presented at my yoga therapy training, I wanted to go back to learn more so paid them a visit earlier this week. Theirs is a program that helps to connect patients who have been through initial rehab programs after diagnosis, illness, surgery from heart disease, to community-based exercise programs and fitness professionals. It served primarily Ottawa but over the years has expanded in/around Ontario and a little into Quebec.

I mentioned a program in Alberta that I’d found on the internet a year or so ago. In Alberta the Prescription to Get Active Program allows you to visit your doctor, receive a ‘prescription to get active’ and then find a facility in your community offering all kinds of activities from walking, strength training, yoga, cycling, swimming, dancing, etc. The ‘prescription’ allows for free access (often a series like a 10-pass visit, free month, etc.) to get you started.

I often reference the excellent program the province of BC provides to health care providers and those living with chronic pain. The Pain BC program is one of the of the best (well, the only one of its kind I know of) in Canada in terms of information, resources and programs.

It’s too bad all these programs are rather piecemeal and for the most part unknown across Canada, rather than being coordinated. I give great credit to the people and work done to provide them.  It’s just our government or overriding systems that seem to be unable to provide the coordination, or funding or whatever might be needed so everyone can access them.

Regardless, for my Canadian friends and followers, feel free to check them out!

Links above, but for easy reference click on any of these links:

It’s your life

by Jody, posted in individuality, movement, pain, training, yoga

Consider the ways you need to use and move your body every day.

It's your life

Depending on your life, how much you move throughout the day may be fairly limited or alternatively, you might go through a whole range of movements.

Do you work in an office? Sitting, walking, reaching, writing might be some of the things you do in a day. I suspect sitting, is a primary one. Do you work as a plumber? Your movement needs are different than the office worker. As are what a doctor, teacher, hairstylist, service worker, etc. will be, who are often on their feet much of the day.

What you need to ‘train for’ is different than what anyone else needs to ‘train for’.

What a person needs who sits at a desk all day, is different than what a parent with toddlers needs, versus what a teacher might need.

train for your life

We sometimes get into trouble when we’re doing exercises, that don’t always or altogether correlate so well to what’s actually required in our life. If you’re exercising for basic fitness and enjoyment, that’s fantastic. That in itself is an achievement. But perhaps you might consider adding more to the mix if you’re someone who also experiences pain, fatigue, etc.

This is important:

  • If you’re hitting the gym every day, building strength and stamina but suffer from low back pain because you’re also sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day, perhaps you need to train differently or add something to your training routine.
  • If you are the most amazing yogi but suffer from hip strain or other pain symptoms because during the rest of the day you’re standing on your feet, perhaps you need to look at what you’re training for.
  • If you’re out on the golf course getting your exercise and fresh air daily, but cannot ‘do, or manage’ the rest of your life, perhaps you need to do something else as well.

What happens all too often is the hour of exercise we get at the gym, yoga studio or out on the golf course doesn’t quite support all the rest of what we need to do in our day.

  • If you need to sit, train as best you can so your body can adapt for this.
  • If you need to stand, train what’s required in order to stand a lot.
  • If you are the golfer, train for whatever it is you need to do, besides golf.

But how can you do this and where to find the time?

It’s not always easy, but you can learn to build it into your day. It doesn’t always have to take another hour going to the gym, paying for a babysitter, driving through the snow. There are simple tools, you can use. Anywhere, really. That don’t take up a lot of time.