Exercise Support Thread Part 2

[Kizzie]

This follows on to Part 1.

[Blueberry]

So copying from Chart's first post on Thread Part 1 https://www.cptsd.org/forum/index.php?topic=16116.msg143798#msg143798
Anyone who exercised today and wants to brag I'd LOVE to hear about it!

I started out with one exercise lying on my back on the floor. idk anymore what one. One exercise led to another - lower back, pelvic, hips. A little strengthening but mostly just stretching and then holding, letting gravity do its thing.

Then I got up to do some stuff, like take my compost pail down to the bin. What a difference!!     I could feel how 'loose' my hip joints felt, in a good way of course. It made such a difference going down the stairs. I don't think I've ever noticed such a difference after exercise. I've heard other people saying "Oh, that felt so wonderful! My body feels so good! "   Well, now I've felt a bit of that too   My body might remember that, might be easier to get going another time.

Please no replies to me on the virtues of daily/regular exercise. Doesn't help me. Far too many things I need to / ought to be doing regularly, but can't. Not because there are too many things but because my particular version cptsd...

[rainydiary]

Over the past few years I've learned that it helps me to start my day with exercise of some kind.  It used to be running but I am really tired of running so it has become either a walk, yoga, lifting weights, or swimming. 

Today I woke up not feeling bad but also not great.  I typically walk during the week but today decided to do yoga.

I like Yoga with Kassandra videos in the morning.  I am also trying to do a meditation on the Calm app after I walk or do yoga.

[Blueberry]

Yesterday at the farm, I lay on my back to let my toe ointment soak in and while I was about it, I did a few leg and hip exercises. Not much, but better than nothing!

Today I cycled about 10 km, except I pushed my bike up the longest, steepest hill on the route.

This afternoon I did some gardening, including raking up leaves from the autumn. That's similar arm, shoulder, back movement to sweeping the yard, which I did yesterday at the farm. Today it was easier.

For many others on this forum, I'm sure that what I wrote won't count as exercise, but it is!

[Hope67]

Today I did 10 minutes with some small hand weights - just pushing my arms up in the air and lowering them down.  It might have been 5 minutes actually - not sure why I said 10.  But I was pleased to have done it, as I don't manage to do much strength based exercise, and would like to do more.

[Blueberry]

Not today or yesterday, but in the ca. 5 days preceding I did stretching and loosening exercises, mostly lying on my back. By day 3 or 4 I was noticing a difference in walking - I lost my rolling gait, which is good to state the obvious. Also my body simply felt better than normal!

I'm glad you wrote Hope because that bumped the thread for me and reminded me to write.

[zen_racer]

I did a search for if it's best to meditate before or after exercise with regards to cptsd.  The answer I got is that it can be worse before exercise for potentially retraumatizing by not being grounded or stabilized enough.  So, this is the 2nd time within a week I've done exercise.  This time lower body.

10 squats, holding 2 15lbs dumbbells, balancing on a bosu ball
10 1 legged bridges, each side, with a 20lbs dumbbell on my hips
1:30 plank
1:00 holding a weighted lunge, holding 40lbs of dumbbells, each side
10 hip raises standing on a yoga block, each side
10x rolling my ankle while balancing on the bosu ball with that leg, each side

(Just a reminder, I exercise like this for racing motorcycles. This isn't a competition, any exercise is a win that deserves celebration, no matter where any of us are at in our journey.)

Time to let my heart rate drop again and then try meditation/mindfullness.

[NarcKiddo]

Thanks for bumping this thread, ZR.

I like to use exercise for meditation but am unable to do that at the moment because I can't currently do steady state cardio. Well, I can, but it would have to be so slow that it wouldn't count as any sort of exercise, and even that slow speed on the treadmill makes me wobbly at present. I have to be very mindful about interval length and my physical responses so my mind can't drift off like it used to. Maybe I will be able to get back to that.

However I did get some good intervals done on the bike at the gym today. With the help of AI I have worked out how to get my warm up time down from 20 minutes to 11 without triggering a breathing or wobbling crisis, which is great because it gives me enough time to do intervals that actually give the lungs a bit of a blow through. I'm pleased with that.