I learned early on in my life that without a healthy body, everything sucks.
While training for a bicycle tour back in 2009, I fell and suffered a shoulder injury that I never fully recovered from. With that same injury, I also had to get stitches on my eyebrow and bottom lip because my teeth dug straight into them when I face-planted onto the concrete. I know, it was gross, and it freaked me out. I’m sure I was a sight to see when I went into the nearest Starbucks asking for a cup of ice cubes to soothe my wounds.
Because I never fully healed from the injury, the pain began to trickle down into other parts of my body that included my neck, lower back, ribs, knees, and ankle. It was after about 5 years of increasing pain and thousands of dollars later seeing chiropractors, physical trainers, massage therapists, acupuncturists, and even trying Chinese medicine, that I finally found a way to make things a little more bearable.
I missed out on many friendly gatherings to play basketball and simple afternoon runs because my body couldn’t handle it. You don’t get much sympathy when you don’t have a cast on, and I never had. My troubles were interior, unseeable, but I felt them every day. Nothing is more demoralizing than waking up to a world of pain that others do not understand. While I’m nowhere near where I want to be, in recent years, I managed to learn enough about my body and figure out an exercise approach that works to keep the pain away and improve my quality of life.
Here are 10 exercise tips to stay in shape:
Small doses - Keep your workout sessions short. I notice I begin to lose focus after working out for about an hour. I also get tired. Most importantly, keeping my workouts to just one hour doesn’t feel like too big of a commitment. It’s just short enough so I’d want to come back and do it again the next day. Once you get stronger, you can up the time, but I think maintaining short sessions is a great way to stay interested so you want to keep exercising for the long term.
Reward yourself - I like to treat myself to a delicious smoothie after a workout. For a while, my treat was also a yummy Indian restaurant with the most best curries ever. Another way to reward yourself is to switch up your workout and do something a little more fun. For example, you can go for a swim if it’s a nice sunny day, or take a dance class with a friend.
“Don’t get in shape, just don’t be out of shape” - This is a concept I learned from jiu-jitsu class. Our instructor once told us to stop trying to win all the time, instead, “Just don’t get defeated.” I think a lot of people burn out trying to reach unrealistic goals. Everybody wants the perfect body, but I’ve found it much easier both physically and mentally to aim to simply not be out of shape. I know it might seem like a backward way of thinking, and it doesn’t sound impressive at all, but it keeps me in the game, and I think that’s what matters most in the end.
Good music - I don’t always use music, and some people say it’s a crutch, but I find it helps put me in a better mood to get going sometimes. I don’t always listen to upbeat music. Sometimes I listen to meditative sounds. To be honest, sometimes the music at the gym sucks and I don’t want to hear other people huffing and puffing. So even if it’s just to shut out the distractions, I’d do it. Podcasts could work too.
Turn it into a habit - Exercise is hard when you have to rely on willpower every time, so turn it into a habit. This might take some experimenting but I find it’s best to exercise in the morning. Incorporate it into your morning routine if you can. The reason why is because you’re still fresh at the start of the day and I notice it energizes me more than it drains me. If I save my workout for the end of the day it becomes more like a chore and it's not easy when I’m already tired from work.
Don’t look at the mirror - I know, it’s hard not to check yourself out after your workout to see how much sexier you’ve gotten. You’re not. Just kidding. Seriously though, it’s important to consider why we look at the mirror. Is it because we genuinely want to spend time looking at our reflection? Or because we want immediate results? Chances are, you’re looking for immediate results, so more likely than not, you will be unsatisfied. Don’t waste time looking at the mirror. It doesn’t do anything for you.
Stretch - Stretching is often overlooked in exercise. I don’t blame you. It doesn’t look like you’re doing much. However, when you exercise, your muscles become fatigued. They tighten up. Strength comes from the ability for your muscles to contract, but also relax, so stretch. Otherwise, you might end up defeating the purpose of a workout.
Listen to your body - Sometimes you won’t feel like working out. Here’s my rule: Get out of bed and head to the gym before you decide to take it easy. It’s easy to say, “I’m not feeling it today,” when you wake up and your body is sore. It’s more likely that you’re way too comfortable in bed and you want to find an excuse not to get up. Once you get to the gym and you feel a little off, then it’s fine. Take it easy. You’re doing two things this way: 1) You’re maintaining your habit of regular exercise 2) You’re avoiding injury by not overexerting yourself.
Hire a personal trainer - They’re expensive. Yes. They also sound like gimmicks. Sure. Some don’t know what they’re doing, but many do. It took me a while to find a personal trainer I liked, but when I finally did, it was well worth the money. A personal trainer will make sure to send you down the right path for physical and mental wellbeing. It’s way better to spend $100 learning how to do things properly than to save that money and do it wrong forever.
Relax - Physical fitness has become quite trendy lately, hasn’t it? It might seem like you’re never good enough. Never strong enough, fast enough, skinny enough. Marketing sure has ways to make you feel like crap. We must remind ourselves why we exercise. I do it to make my life better. The last thing I need is to have exercise be another source of stress. To be honest, I usually feel more relaxed after a workout. My mind is clear and I feel like I did something with my day, rather than sit in front of the computer all day watching YouTube videos.
These are all things that work for me and I hope they work for you. If you are in the San Francisco area and you need recommendations for any trainers or rehab clinics, feel free to reach out and I’ll point you to all the right people. At the end of the day, fitness is a very personal journey and you need to figure out what works for you. I hope the tips I shared above will send you the right direction.
by Jason Lam
