September 24th is National Women’s Health and Fitness Day and I’m here for it!
I consider women superheroes. Not to take anything from men – they are great too! Women just have their hands in a lot of different things. This being the case, most women tend to neglect self-care, and their personal health and fitness falls to the wayside.
If women don’t make health and fitness a priority, underlying conditions can overtake them without notice, leaving them with little or no time to get threatening health issue(s) under control.
In addition to avoiding serious health risks, prioritizing your health can improve mental health and personal self-confidence. The better women feel on the inside, the more it will reflect on the outside. In my experience, a woman with a positive “glow” about her is probably making a commitment to her self-care goals.
Overall, I’m a healthy woman. My disability, cerebral palsy, poses its own set of challenges when it comes to health and fitness. Mainly, it causes muscles to be stiff. If you are wondering if exercising is hard for me? Heck yes! But it’s necessary.
When it comes to trying to keep myself fit, my philosophy is: whatever I can move, I’m doing it. Your girl is doing neck rolls, foot pumps, leg stumps, leg lifts, arm rolls, stand-ups, and squats all from the safety of my scooter.
I’m at the age where, if I eat a pint of French vanilla ice cream (my personal favorite), it’s like I can feel it making its home on my thighs. Since I sit 90% of the time, gaining weight can come easily. To avoid that, and the health issues that come with it, I try to find fitness routines I can do independently to keep in shape.
I was curious what some underlying conditions can develop if women neglect their health. Here are just a few:
- Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety
- Dementia
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Osteoporosis
- Coronary Heart Disease
I don’t know about you, but just learning that I can develop any of these makes your girl want to hit a gym. Currently, my health insurance offers me incentive called Silver Sneakers. Silver Sneakers allows me to go to one of my community recreational centers and work out. Soon, I’ll be checking out rec centers in my area, picking the one that’s more accessible for my needs, and working out.
Women: don’t let me be the only one on the health and fitness mission. Let’s do this together. Get your health and fitness on!
Great reminders, Shari!
I have added some weight training to my routine and have noticed more muscle in my arms than before. It’s working!
We all have to keep moving and using it, or we’ll lose it!
Good job!
Kim,
I know the weight training will make your arms look and feel, great! Keep up the good work.
Shari, I’ve been powerlifting and will be in my second meet in November. You are absolutely right, movement is critical – use it or lose it.
Mel,
Powerlifting, how awesome are you?! I know you’ll do good at your second meet! Keep me posted.
That’s great news, Shari! Thank you for the reminder that health needs to be prioritized. I realize that my inconsistency is the reason my major physical goals have not been met, though I’ve experienced small wins. That being said, I would like to also be held accountable to move more to increase/improve mobility of my limbs but, more importantly to stimulate me mentally and become healthier overall. Shari, please give us an update on the results of your gym visits. I’m looking forward to hearing about your journey.
Hey Monae,
Thanks, for reading. Good luck on your health and fitness journey. I’m sure you’ll do a great job. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on my journey