WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN YOU EXERCISE EVERYDAY – a guide for individuals fearlessly fighting Parkinson’s disease everyday
After you finally accepted your diagnosis, you found a way that you could improve your health, and be a fearless fighter of Parkinson’s. You decided to WIN this. You want to PUSH this disease away. YOU WILL NEVER QUIT. The fact that you’re reading this blog shows how committed you are to your goals: YOU’VE GOT THIS.
To keep winning against PD and to get MAXIMAL results from daily exercise, check your E B I:
E B I
E Effort – how much effort are you exerting when you exercise? Do you feel like you’re working hard? Do you feel your muscles contracting throughout? The effort you exert during exercises is directly proportional to the benefits you reap from it. The dopamine push that your body needs come from exercises done with 100% effort.
B Bigness – HOW BIG ARE YOUR MOVEMENTS, YOUR POSTURE, YOUR HANDS? Maintaining a BIG amplitude during exercise and activity keeps your muscles long, and your joints mobile. It gives feedback to your body to generate more power for each exercise.
I Intensity – how intense is your exercise session? Do you feel your heart thumping, is your breathing a bit faster, is it difficult to keep going? Intense daily exercise has shown to release neurotransmitters that actually GROW your brain’s size!
These are the THREE MAIN things you have to assess each time you complete a set of your daily exercises. Don’t forget these. If you do your exercises without thinking about these, you will be wasting your time and effort.
For more advanced practitioners of the daily exercise (> than 3 months since starting the program), I use a different, more complex acronym (I like this one since its really easy to remember):
A E I O U
A Amplitude – HOW BIG ARE YOUR MOVEMENTS, YOUR POSTURE, YOUR HANDS? Note that I changed the word BIGNESS to AMPLITUDE this time around. They mean the same thing, but amplitude is a bit more technical. Maintaining a BIG amplitude during exercise and activity keeps your muscles long, and your joints mobile. It gives feedback to your body to generate more power during each exercise.
E Effort – how much effort are you exerting when you exercise? Do you feel like you’re working hard? Do you feel your muscles contracting throughout? The effort you exert during exercises is directly proportional to the benefits you reap from it. The DOPAMINE PUSH that your body needs comes from exercises done with 100% effort.
I Intensity – how intense is your exercise session? Do you feel your heart thumping, is your breathing a bit faster, is it difficult to keep going? Intense daily exercise has shown to release neurotransmitters that actually GROW your brain’s size!
O Overcome – overcome all barriers when you’re exercising, even the ones you set for yourself. Overcome the URGE TO GET COMPLACENT with your exercise. The exercises MUST feel challenging. If you’re moving easy and don’t find them challenging, your results will slowly start to plateau – do your best to increase the weight (using dumbbells or ankle weights), decrease the base of support or increase the step length in the safest possible way.
U Understand – be aware of how your body is moving. Understanding how BIG you’re moving and where your position in space is key in fighting off symptoms such as bent posture, small movements and shuffling walk. This kinesthetic awareness is key to pushing away disease progression and staying active for the rest of your life.
Follow these guidelines to be able to make the most out of your daily exercises. Call me at 609-726-6003 if you have any questions!