Find Your Champion
This all started on a yoga trip at the end of last year. When I decided I needed to make a commitment to moving my body more on a daily basis. It was really more about something I felt I "needed" to do rather than actually wanted to do. I didn't really want to do it (at all) and had been actively avoiding cardio exercise for many years.
Most of my day is spent sitting down - either at work or in the car. I don't run, go to the gym, hike or cycle. I've tried loads of things to spark my interest - I quite like climbing but I don't have a climbing wall at my house - so I decided getting a bike to use at home was the most time efficient way of solving this problem.
My husband on the other hand loves cycling. With the meer whiff of an opportunity to buy a bike to use at home he had one ordered and after a long wait it arrived.
In my head this was going to be a quick 20 minute HIIT session 4 times a week. The reality was I could barely complete the warm up programme. It was really not good.
I found it so hard and moaned and moaned and moaned until I was totally ready to give up. My husband offered to get out his bike rollers and gradually talked me through how to pace myself, breathe properly and motivated me to keep going.
My daughter thought we were hilarious - cycling together in our shed - and must have taken this sneaky photo as I found it last week on my phone.
Really without my husband's help I would have totally given up. The photo reminded me how hard change can be when we feel like were alone. It can be hard to find our champion, the person who pushes us to improve and go beyond our comfort zone.
It made me think about how I can help my patients more outside of our sessions together. There is lots of discussion in Functional Medicine at the moment about using coaches in between consultations, online group programmes or a Facebook group for people to share their experiences of things like starting an elimination diet.
I have set up a quick survey - it shouldn't take more that 5 minutes to do - to help me get a better idea of what other support you might use or like. I'm going to use the information to make sure we can all find a champion to help us along. I would really appreciate you taking the time to fill it in.
The cycling is going okay - I don't love it - but once I got over the mental hurdle I saw big changes to my fitness level. I do have more energy, I can complete more than the warm up and I have got to do some HIIT sessions.
I know my husband's motivation is to get me out on a road bike this summer... we will have to see ;-)
Debbie
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