Skipping Exercise

March 25, 2010

In my work with cancer patients and survivors, there is a lot of discussion around what’s happening in their lives that causes them to skip exercising. The list is long and varied.
However, last week I was inspired by a client who said “sometimes the weights lift me up” and I had to stop, take a deep breath and say “wow!” What an incredible observation.
And, the best thing is that it’s true! Exercise can be just the ticket when your life seems like it’s spinning out of control, when pressure and fear mount and when you think nothing is going your way.

Take a walk, especially lately here in CT, when spring and the natural optimism it brings seems within reach. Look around and you'll see people dragging out their bicycles to check how the seat feels this year (and contemplate riding in the CT Challenge of course!) or getting back in the swim at their local Y. Your body wants to move, why not give it a chance?

Lifting weights or doing other resistance exercise demonstrates your current strength and challenges you to get and be a bit stronger, day by day. Increasing your cardiovascular activity improves stress management and can help you sleep better at night.

Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself! Start conservatively, doing less than you know you can, insuring you will feel good about your exercise. Setting yourself up to win is one of the best ways to introduce (or increase) exercise. Maybe one day those weights will help lift you up too.