Pre-Habilitation

Pre-habilitation?  Sounds like a made up word, right?  Actually its' a word that some exercise scientists use to describe a way to "PRE-vent" physical "re-HABILITIATION."  The idea is that movement can often keep a body working such that we prevent certain problems. 

For example:  The American Heart Association recommends that the average adult exercise moderately 3 to 5 times a week.  The higher the intensity of the exercise the fewer times an average adult needs to workout (or perhaps more time to rest). 

Pre-vent is a word that we don't like to use in our medical industry.  Is it?  Our industry is designed to respond after-the-fact of an injury or other problem.  Generally we don't go to a doctor to prevent a problem.  Sometimes we do.  Mostly we go to the doctor once we've got a problem.   We rely on the doctor to diagnose illness / injuries and then treat them.  How do we prevent health problems?  Hmmm.  It's not cultural.

Re-habiliation is a word we use most often to describe reforming a problem.  Dictionary.com gives us the roots of rehabilitation as:

1533, from M.Fr. réhabilitation, from M.L. rehabilitationem "restoration," from rehabilitatus, pp. of rehabilitare, from re- "again" + habitare "make fit," from L. habilis "easily managed, fit." Specifically of criminals, addicts, etc., from 1940. Slang shortening rehab is from 1948. The verb

 

So, rehabilitation is literally, to make fit again.  Not make more fit.  Hmmmm.

 

I knew a woman who once had a child when she was about 39 years old.  She wound up with gestational diabetes primarily because she didn't know how to take care of her health.  Although the baby was premature, she has subsequently grown up to be an impressive young woman.  However, the mothers story

 

didn't go the same direction.  Often Gestational diabetes is a response of the hormones during pregnancy that affects how the body metabolizes sugar.  When the pregnancy is over, so is the diabetes.  Not for this mother, however. 

 

In fact as the years passed by her diabetes not only got worse, she contracted other ailments: high blood pressure, gout, and many other ailments.  Her moods often swung uncontrollably in no small part due to the diabetes and uncontrolled health problems.  She was often ill and complained endlessly of feeling exhausted.   And her attitude was that she would live for the now, eating and living the way she wanted to live with no acknowledgement of the consequences. 

 

One day in march of 2001, after a lovely meal with family, the mother retired to her bedroom to prepare to rest.  The family was downstairs for a bit longer, laughing and enjoying each others company.  About 20 minutes later the mothers' other daughter ( a little older than the premie) went upstairs to say so long when she saw the mother laying face down on the bed un responsive to her name.  As her daughter moved closer, she realized something was incredibly wrong.  The mother was not responding because she was unconscious and cold.  The diabetic mother was in fact, Dead at the age of 56.   

 

 

I don't like to talk about my mothers' death.   But her story is an important story.  It is a tale of how a little prevention could have added decades to her life.  My mother wasn't born with Diabetes.  Although she contracted diabetes during a pregnancy, her death WAS NOT the fault of my sister.  My mothers death was a statement of her life, how she ignored a problem that eventually came to extract a price. 

 

I wasn't there for my  mom when she died.  That's a hard truth.  Strangely enough I received the news of her passing at 6:30am the next morning.  I was so shocked, I couldn't cry.  Instead, believe it or not, I went to the gym.  During my strange workout, I was pushing an barbell incline chest press when I decided, nearly immediately, that I wouldn't let my health determine my future or the future of my loved ones.  Today, I try to help others achieve their fitness goals and to enjoy their life to it's fullest potential.

 

One day, we shall all pass.  But let's do so having enjoyed and shared our lives with our loved ones for as long as possible.  Little steps today can help us move giant leaps forward over time.  Moderate exercise can help us "Pre-vent" poor health. 

 

Mo-tate.  Motivate your life.

We (Americans) are taught to hate ourselves (our image).

For many of us (human beings) our self esteem is intimately tied with how we look.  In our culture, we are bombarded with IMAGES of people that we come to celebrate for their photogenic talent.  We see these images all the time.  These are people selling goods with the body of Adonis.  The “Helen of Troy” appeal sending a 1000 ships to sail.  The six pack abs, the firm rear end, big gun arms, and tight legs are images of body parts used in commercialism 1000 times a day.  The subtle message of our product associates the user with a magnetism, allure, and / or sex appeal that we (the consumer) should seek in our own lives.  Our product is good.  If you don’t use it, you are not. 

We seek it out. 

Why?  The urge to procreate is a mighty motivator for human beings.  Sex Sells.  We all know this.  But what has the manipulation of sex done to the fitness industry? 

It has destroyed the general publics self esteem.  We can no longer simply look in the mirror and like who we see.  We compare ourselves to everyone and everything.  We buy products that promise those “sexy” results.  We buy the products that promise to help you lose weight, gain muscle, increase sexual function or whatever else a person can want. 

How many of us have gone out to buy any number of fitness products on the market in order to achieve the results that we wanted?  A great number, I assure you.  Where is that device now in our lives?  I would bet its sitting somewhere neat and clean where it may get used very rarely because it didn’t bring us what we thought it would.  Why?

I’ve often said (and continue to say)  in the gym we are MORAL RELATIVISTS.  That means that our morals (how we workout) is determined relative to the individual.  Our workout is determined by:

1. Our current fitness level
2. Our fitness goals.

Our current fitness level is determined by several components.  News flash: the human body is a wonderful and intricate organization of systems.  Maybe you’ve got great joints, but you have a heart condition.  Maybe you’re really good at running, but you can’t seem to get rid of that flabby look and feel because you’ve got no strength.    I don’t want to belabor the point.  Many of the devices we buy to help us (nutritional / exercise / books / whatever) don’t determine our exact fitness level because they can’t.  When was the last time your diet took your weight, or your stationary bike help you manage your asthma.  They don’t because they can’t.

Our goals are more individual in nature.  What we do and what we WANT to do could be two different things.  Setting reasonable short term goals to achieve a long term goal is exactly what planning a workout is all about.   

A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE. 

What an interesting concept. 

Now I’ve often said that the virtue of having a plan is that it’s flexible enough to manage unpredictable elements (you miss a workout, you get sick, you decide to change your goal) but FOCUSED enough a method to achieve the final result. 

Let’s stop hating ourselves.  Let’s stop looking at others as the “gold standard” of our own lives / fitness / image.  Let’s stop comparing ourselves to others and start competing with our self.  Let’s stop allowing others determine our success and let’s get honest about ourselves.  How can we be the best us possible?   Let’s be honest with ourselves about determining our current fitness level and let’s reach for a goal with lots of steps along the way.   TEMET NOSCE.  Know thyself.  Let’s start an honest conversation about where we are and we want to go with our fitness.

Mo-Tation!

Welcome to MO-TATION!  The mission of this blog is to educate, instruct, and inspire people to MOTION! 

MO-TIVATE MOTION!   The older we get the more we become sedentary in our lives.  My goal is to motivate ACTION!  It's time to talk about fitness in the long term.  Finding life long activities that we can sustain will fuel better health and a higher quality of life!  Who doesn't want that? 

We forget that we can improve our bodies, our selves if we commit to small action every day.  EVOLUTION is based on that principle: that given a stimulus we can change to accomodate that stimulus!  How amazing!

I've been playing recreational baseball for 6 years now. I love playing.  My workouts and exercise routines are determined by my goals in baseball (I pitch).  I didn't start out that way.  I got cut from my high school team twice.  I was frustrated and didn't have information or even a clue as to what to do.  I had no focus.  Not until I turned 30 did I decide to follow my heart and find a baseball team.  WAS I TERRIBLE!   But I had heart and a desire to improve.  I've improved every year and I will continue to improve because I LOVE playing Baseball!

 I urge us all to look at our lives and find what activity has even a remote interest.   Your goal could be to walk around the block, or it could be to run a tri-athalon!   In either event setting the goal today is the important step.  A dream is goal with a deadline.  What's your dream?  What's your goal today?