Wednesday, April 14, 2010

At Home Workouts

Mandi and I have started a "new" workout lately that has gone really well! I guess I shouldn't say that the workout is new as much as it is the place that is new. After Josh (her brother) got married it freed up a space in her parent's garage that Mandi's dad turned into a little gym. When I say little I mean it. We have a bench, a barbell and a set of dumbbells amongst all of the boxes, decor and tools. I'm certainly not complaining however as it is more than sufficient for just Mandi and I.

Today we worked out back and bicep, following tricep and chest the day before. We certainly have to become a little creative to keep the workouts fresh and target the proper groups of muscle, but so far, so good. In between sets today I did sets of "jumps" by picking a spot on the wall and repeatedly jumping as fast as I could while hitting the spot. Talk about a good lung workout! I suppose it's very similar to the trampoline workout that doctors prescribe for CFers in other countries. After every set I was coughing up a ton of mucus that I felt coming from way down deep.

Point of all this- I realize that not everyone can set up a mini gym in their house, however, there is always stuff that we can use to workout at home. You can first just start with you. Push ups, jumps, wall sits, sit-ups, these are just a handful of exercises that you can do at home that require nothing but yourself. If you're looking to add some weights to the mix, all it takes is some empty milk jugs of all different sizes filled with sand. Do that and you've got your very own set of dumbbells!

I've said this MANY times before on this blog, but I'll say it again, doing SOMETHING is always better than doing NOTHING. It doesn't matter if it's 10 random jumping jacks in the middle of the day. You could at least say that was more than you did the day before! Key is, push yourself to do at least 11 jumping jacks the next day. The name of the game is to be always improving. If you have that mentality everyday when you first get out of bed, then the sky is the limit.

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Unknowncystic's avatar

Unknowncystic · 781 weeks ago

Ronnie, You may want let your readers know that craigslist is a great resource for buying home gyms. I bought a $1,200 gym for $100 on CL.
Tara Veldman's avatar

Tara Veldman · 781 weeks ago

Just thought I would comment about the exercise thing to a lot of moms and dads who have young kids with CF. It is so important as parents that we lead our children by example. I have always been active played basketball in college, but since I have had my child Elyse who is now 2 with CF, exercise has become even more important to me and a large part of my life. When I heard that exercise is important for CF children I wanted Elyse to learn that early in life, and what better way to show it than by example. As a mom we don't always have a lot of time for ourselves, but one hour a day is all you need to get 2 benefits, your own and the other your child. Elyse always says when I am putting on my shoes " mom you going to exercise" I say "yes, exercise is good for the body and lungs". So I challenge many moms and dads in the CF community who have done and will do anything for children, to do this: Show your kids by example the importance of exercise, because what you make important, they make important. They learn by watching us! Blessings and Happy Health.
Tara
17 year old with cf here
For the past year or two I've been working out more by going for runs, doing weights, shooting hoops, skipping, and heaps of other stuff.

I honestly have felt a lot better about myself since I've started working out more, like the person above me said it's really important for children with cf to get into exercise habits at a young age.
I hope that all other cf patients can understand the importance of exercise.
Good luck to all!

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