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Winter Fitness & PF
Staying active is an important part of keeping your body and lungs healthy, but wintertime can make it hard to get moving. Especially if the cold exacerbates your PF symptoms. For those of us who live in places with real winter, cold weather, shortened daylight hours, and treacherous conditions are all good reasons to want to bundle up at home. Not to mention seasonal depression and a general urge to hibernate!
How do you stay active during the winter months? Gentle yoga in a warm room? Do you have a fitness routine you do at home or at the gym? Do you still get out for regular walks if that’s something you do in the summer?
If you have tips on staying disciplined with your movement/fitness goals, please share them here 🙂
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9 Replies
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Hi Christie
This is an essential topic for those impacted by PF. Following a recent exacerbation, I am back to walking outdoors on a regular basis. That can be a game of chance in the winter months here in Virginia. I also have a recumbent bike set-up with a great view if I have to move my exercise indoors.
Sam …
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Indoor bike or treadmill is a great addition to the house for those in cooler locales! Glad you are able to walk outside for now though 🙂 Thanks Sam
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Following closely:
I’m disgusted with myself, the overwhelming weakness, shakes, aches, sweats, fatigue.
Starting today, I’m going to stop this laying around, feeling sorry for myself.
Youtube has many excellent gentle yin yoga sessions, by Kassandra, as long or as short as I wish. Also morning and evening ones.
YIN yoga is simply lying on the floor, stretching. And holding that stretch. After a session, it often feels like you’ve had a massage. And your mobility has increased.IT WORKS. But I’ve lost the motivation. Any tips on reactivating that? The only bribes that I want are to go back onto my bed or couch, and be left alone with my iPad, my book, my phone.
How do people MAKE themselves DO things? For those who do, I have awe and respect.-
Hi Adelaide and everyone
If you enjoy the yin yoga, you might also like the stretching classes by Mady Morrison on youtube. She’s from Berlin and has yoga and stretching classes – some with just music – no talking. I try to do one of two classes daily. They help me keep calm, relaxed and relieve my chronic back issues. And I love her music!
cheers
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Hey Adelaide! I have felt like you feel for much of my life, and the epiphany for me came from my therapist telling me I should start talking to myself like I am my best friend. I am, after all, my oldest friend, so I might as well be my best friend too. It takes a lot of practice, but it has changed my life to adopt this mindset. Now, as for reactivating motivation.. for me, step one is related to that.
1. I look at working out as a treat for my body. I try to think of it as a way to say “I love you” to myself. I know that starting to exercise again when you have fallen out of a routine sucks. It just does, so getting over that is starts with a mindset shift. I like to sit and think about how I have felt in the past when my workout is over. What comes up for me? I feel proud, I feel stronger, I feel more flexible, I have less pain in my back, and it makes it easier to sleep well… So I try to fill my body up with those good things, and then it is easier to start. Because I’d rather feel like that than like *this*.
2. I tell myself not to have expectations. I won’t be where I was when I stopped if it’s been a while since I worked out, so I just set the bar low and make a deal with myself that anything is better than nothing. If it’s only ten minutes? That’s better than zero. Tomorrow, maybe We’ll shoot for 12 minutes.
3. I heard once that you have five seconds to decide to do something… like, if the thought to work out comes into your head and you don’t say “yes!” within five seconds, you won’t do it. So if I have some free time and a little voice says, “hey now might be a good time for a walk or do some yoga,” the clock starts ticking in my head. If I don’t start moving to put on the right clothes, or pull up a yoga video, or whatever it is I need to do to get started within five seconds, it’s not happening at that time… and boy can we waste a lot of the day five seconds at a time, especially with the distractions of the phone, the ipad, the book.. whatever it is that keeps you on the couch.
I hope this helps! You’re doing great 🙂 Hugs
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Hi all
I live in the snowy north and walk outdoors as often as possible. I was diagnosed in Dec 2020 and the following winter while on mega doses prednisone was miserable. I was told to exercise as little as possible. Wrong! My next doctor told me to exercise and I bought an Apple watch and haven’t looked back. The prednisone has played havoc with my osteopenia so I’m super careful about falling – no more skating or cross country skiing. We walk when it’s not icy and bought Kicksleds for the whole family. We go out together and if I need to I can always sit down.
I’m also pretty much hibernating now. My doctor told me that I would have a 50% chance of not leaving the hospital if I catch a cold – let alone Covid. So socializing is all outdoors now!
The one thing I’m not doing is weight training. I hate it! Does anyone have any suggestions to make it more fun and tolerable? My GP says it’s important to maintain my strength should my lungs deteriorate more. I have to work on this …
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Hi from the Frozen North!
I’m in Minnesota and It has been cold as Hell since December. The extremes of below about 10f really slowed me down even just walking my dogs! I used to get in at least 1 mile a day, quite often two but this winter the cold just stole my breath even with a mask. I’ve always been active in martial arts, kayaking and biking but 2 out of three of those don’t work well in snow. Since I was scheduled for foot surgery in early Jan I decided to take up VR exersize with a Quest2 I bought last winter. The Supernatural program works well for me inside and I was getting my heart rate and breathing up 4-5 times a week before the surgery.
My Doctor often credited my exersize for the slow progression on IPF (7yrs now) and since I’ve been “on bed rest” from the surgery I’ve taken up chair yoga and sitting boxing till my foot heals.
I live by a saying, “be a shark, sharks die when they stop moving, Keep moving Be A Shark!” just bring it inside.
George Richard
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I love your mantra George! I feel the same way–Team Shark! Gotta keep the water flowing over the gils as long as we can, huh?
Good suggestions with the chair yoga and seated boxing… do you have suggestions on where to find free seated boxing routines? I’ve never heard of that, but it sounds interesting. Also love the VR idea! Very high tech, but if you can gamify exercise, that’s always a good way to keep it interesting and appealing when discipline falters.
Sending tropical vibes your way
Christie
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Hi Christine!
Im just doing a couple different Quest VR boxing programs in a swivel chair, supernatural and lite boxer . Both require movement and facing hence the swivel chair. rounds in both time out to aroung 2 minutes so I can catch my breath between.
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