Today I was chatting with a friend Ali and fellow yogi! She was mentioning how it feels to age gracefully, choose exercises wisely, and listen to how her body feels with certain exercises and activities. She is a yoga instructor and along with her yoga practice, she does light cardio in the gym. Ali also told me she use to be a runner. She stopped running for 10 years and tried again just for two short runs. Immediately after the the runs, she was in pain again. She has a family history of chronic joint pain including a father having two knee replacements and another having a weak hip with pain. After those first 2 runs after ten years, It took 3 months for her joints to feel good again. Ali did this by listening to her body. She stopped running completely and added in yoga and strength training. Now she is pain free.
I am often asked the question what exercises to do to help joints, be pain free, and become stronger. Here is my response to that question.
If you know your family has history of any problematic body issues, that is a great start for your own body awareness. Knowing your weaknesses is an important part of your training. When we try sports and different activities through our lifetime, we find which ones aggravate or which feel good – how they resonate in our bodies. Our goal begins focusing on strengthening our weaknesses and staying away from the activities or exercises that don’t feel good to our body! Choosing to stay moving and in our natural life’s movement patterns will continue to stimulate your central nervous system and strengthen your skeletal and muscular systems. As we age gracefully, movement becomes even more important. To sum it up, let your body and fitness professionals *wink wink* help guide the way instead of letting your head and ego get into the way. Do not push yourself through pain, listen to your body whether training solo, in a sport or in a class. Be motivated by others, progress at a steady pace, but don’t get pushed beyond safe. Watch for the up coming list of exercises I will post next week.
Please tell your friends about me! Refer a friend for a free session or fun class! Follow me and watch for leg and core (and more) exercises on this site. See you in the gym or on the trail.