Fighting Back: Getting Fit

Greetings,

The one big thing that I have noticed with regard to my fibromyalgia is that much of the pain issues and joint issues in my case can be related to activity levels. I have found that if I do not get regular exercise of some form or another I begin to slow down and then the issues increase. In talking to some people with the same condition I have found that some are the same, but many do not know where to start or where to go. For the most part this process starts internally.

The first thing that you have to do is to make the choice to get up and do something. I have found that a moderate level of fitness enables me to do more than if I had been doing nothing. You have choices you can stay in the condition that you are and not do anything about it or you can try something new or different which may or may not work. In my impression, some sort of progression is better than nothing at all, indeed the chance of some sort of progression is even better. The thing is that this needs to be an active choice, not a maybe, but something that you are going to do.

Next thing is that this process is not easy, especially if you are starting off from an essentially sedentary state. It will take time and it will take effort on your part. This is one of those "do it yourself things", people can help and advise but you have to do it. It is easy to become discouraged in this process as the progression is not immediate and it will take time. The thing to do in these situations is to look forward to the future. Set yourself a goal to go for and attack it.

So the decision has been made to get more mobile and get some level of fitness. The next question is where to start. My advice is to start simple, this means not going trying to jog a couple of miles, but doing something like putting some walking shoes on and going for a walk. It does not even have to be particularly long to start with. You need to build up some endurance first and making a mess of yourself is not the way to do things.

Two things to figure out at this point in time, what can you do, and what do you enjoy doing? What sort of activities of an active nature can you do? What sort of activities do you enjoy doing? Pick one of these to start with and go and have a go. In my case I had always been interested in fencing, so that is what I had a go at. This may be a little to active for some to start with. As I have said, pick something you can do and will want to do.

Start easy and build upwards. If you have chosen the walking option try to increase the length of the walk or increase the speed. In time you can even increase both. The important thing here is that you need to set yourself little goals and once you hit them, pick something a little more difficult. As you increase your activity, your fitness and endurance will also increase, but you need to take the time that it will require.

When you pick an activity go for something which is low impact. Hence the reason why I suggested walking rather than jogging. This activity is something that you want to be able to maintain for the long-term as it is a long-term result that you are looking for. Low impact activities are kinder to your body and easier to deal with than high impact activities. They also have a higher chance of maintenance in the long-term.

With this in place you have another choice to make. The choice here is whether to continue or not. If you are getting some benefit from the activity it would be unadvised for you to stop the activity. Now, we are all going to have periods where we simply cannot do the activity, the important thing is that after this period that you get back to it in order not to lose the progress that you have made.

A level of fitness can assist with reduction in joint issues if it is approached in the correct fashion. The trick here is to find something that you are going to want to do, thus you will be enthusiastic about doing it. Something which is not interesting to you will be easy to give up and this will set you back. Pick something which is easy to start with and build up. Once you have increased your fitness you can pick something which is more active. Put simply, get moving and stay that way.

By getting fit we can fight back.

Cheers,

Henry.