If you follow my instagram ( lisasjonesmove ) you’ll know that I missed the bottom step in my apartment block and went over on my right ankle… If you don’t follow my IG (and you’re on it) - follow me!!!!….
Anyway, I missed the step, my ankle turned in on its outside edge and I have some nice bruising but not as bad as it could have been as I knew what to do to help it recover. After it happened, you know that ‘omg moment’ and breath has left all your body feeling??? Yeah I had that and wanted to double over and sit down and not move. But I didn’t; I continued to move on it for the day and then when I did sit down I put some ice on, put it in the air, then compressed it and kept wiggling it about…
It seems counterintuitive to keep moving it, but I’ve found when I did this in the past and I pretend everything is ok, it heals faster - it almost tricks the body into thinking nothing is wrong. (There’s something in that for life too…..)..
Ice, compression, gentle movement, bit of loving massage and not too bad a bruise but I do have a kankle…..!!!
My next thought turned to how am I going to train!!… I train pretty much every day and don’t really want time out, and also it’s just an ankle issue - I have a perfectly good rest of my body that can move. I have had a few clients in the past have an injury and then think they can’t train. There is always ways to train and ways round issues (well most of the time…)
Anyway, it left me in a predicament of how to train and get my cardio going given that I like to run and jump and skip…. not happening on a bust ankle.
I decided to don my weight vest and take the trx along to the park. Why the weight vest? Well it would make me work harder - 10kg extra on my torso to stomp my way along and pull up with.
It worked and wearing it to do the rest of my workout certainly upped the anti and it felt great and safe on my ankle.
That brings me this writing - I would normally train doing stair climbing/running … well that’s not gonna happen is it!! Impact is still a definite no go.
On with the weight vest again, and I frog marched my way to Fort Canning Park, up the “inclines” and the stairs - 2 blocks up, 3 blocks down and boy did I start to get a bit puffed out! It felt awesome and the vest also made me stand better, I could feel my mid back muscles having to hold me up (they are a bit lazy)…
As I walked back to the Moving Body studio, it dawned on me how much it takes out of you when you are overweight, the extra strain on the muscles to hold you up and the heart to pump oxygen around. And that also applies to pregnancy, the extra effort and energy it takes for the body to carry the baby and all associated with it and provide the baby with energy to grow. THEN mothers with the baby and carrying the child!.. I knew it but this was the first time I'd really EXPERIENCED it...
I know I added 10Kg in one go whereas weight gain (including pregnancy) is incremental but it did still really hit home to me the effect of excess weight on the effort I had to make.
Along my march back were a group of guys, tourists I am assuming as they were running to get the ‘hop on, hop off’ bus. 2 of them leading the way, 6 others behind and 2 stragglers, The last 2 were slim young guys but were panting to keep up and they hadn’t run far.
I wondered when and why did we become a race where so many don’t move enough, are overweight, unfit and don’t know what to do about it…?
There are plenty of overweight people who exercise - please keep going, you're doing great... unfortunately they are still at risk of all the diseases associated with being overweight, but a decreased risk. On the flip side, just because you are slim doesn’t equal fitness…. By fitness I am generally talking about the heart.
Is it a time thing, a lack of desire, a lack of enjoyment or don’t see the need, lack of education about food. budget, weather, the full moon - or a mixture of it all…. what is that initial oomph to just get going and then what keeps us going?
For me it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and the bottom line is I feel better when I move and eat well. Not to say I don’t enjoy lazy days and classically unhealthy food (apart form fast food places - you will never see me in there unless a gun is to my head…) - but I'd rather feel the way I do when I don't have those days.
Maybe what's more important is what can those of us in the industry, or partnered to someone who doesn’t move so much or friends etc - what can we do about it? Is it even our business to try to get them to move!!! Well as a personal trainer it is my business…. How do I do it to motivate not preach....??
This blog is not to provide answers but more to put it out, the thoughts that in my mind out loud which helps me.
It's there as a question in the hope that maybe someone reading this, maybe does start moving, or others get some inspirational ideas and maybe, just maybe we can work together for the world to be a fitter one?…
thanks!
As I was googling for images I came across this guy - good insights into what I’ve written about, and no I don't want to do the same thing....
edition.cnn.com/2012/06/05/health/drew-manning-fit2fat2fit-lessons/index.html
PS comments are welcome, or if you do want help getting going... it's my passion...