Clear expectations, patience keys to successful exercise

MOSES LAKE — It is one of those annoying facts of life that movement, even just a walk around the block, is better than not moving. And exercise, even a little, is better than not exercising at all.

It’s also an annoying fact of life that activity, if not done properly, can cause injury. There are, however, ways to avoid injury and still get the benefit of movement.

“Motion is lotion. Movement is good,” Eric Olson said. Olson is the director of physical therapy for Samaritan Healthcare.

Daily activities at home and at work place demands on the body and body posture. In the case of a desk job, Olson said, it’s important to get up and move around every 30 minutes or so. People who have active jobs also benefit from mixing up the movement periodically, since that helps relieve the demand on specific muscle groups, he said.

Exercise is movement turned up a few notches, but it doesn’t require a gym or special equipment. “Exercise can come in many, many forms,” Olson said. There is something that will make it easier to keep up an exercise routine. “It has to be something you enjoy,” he said, otherwise people find excuses to avoid it. The right activities leave athletes wanting to do more, he said – attend another dance class, walk or ride the bike for longer distances.

When exercising there are practices people should follow to avoid injury. “You need a physiological warmup,” Olson said. “Just to get the blood pumping throughout the body, before any activity.”

That might mean a few minutes on the bike or treadmill before heading to the weight bench. Warmup doesn’t have to fit the activity, Olson said – in physical therapy, a patient working on rehabilitating a shoulder might ride the bike first, or a person rehabilitating a knee might do arm exercises.

Exercise can be easier with some support. “Can you find a partner to do your activity with?” Olson said.

Committing to exercise with somebody else makes it more difficult to cancel. “Accountability goes a long way,” he said. “Without that accountability it’s easy to hit the snooze alarm a couple more times.”

One of the keys to successful exercise is patience. “It (getting fit) is not going to happen overnight,” said Dylan Tipps, owner of Anytime Fitness in Moses Lake.

People need to have a goal in mind when they set out to get in shape. “Set clear expectations with yourself and your training partner,” Olson said.

People who are working on an exercise program for the first time, or returning to one, need to assess their current level of fitness and start there. A person with a desk job will have a different level of expectation from someone whose job or lifestyle is more active.

Getting sore is part of getting fit. “You’re going to have to expect there’s going to be some soreness,” Olson said. “You’re going to be sore the first couple of weeks,” Tipps said.

But soreness should go away over time, Olson said. “Pain is not something necessarily to just work through,” he said. If the pain doesn’t go away with rest, he said, it’s something that needs further investigation.

There are ways to avoid injury when starting a fitness routine. Dan Oehl, owner of Snap Fitness in Moses Lake, said introductory classes will help a person get familiar with exercise and equipment. In most gyms, the staff will provide an introduction to the equipment for new members.

Most gyms also have trainers, who can help people set up an exercise routine. “You have the guidance to make sure you don’t hurt yourself,” said Lizbeth Viveros, a personal trainer at Snap Fitness. In addition, “you get faster results when you’re doing it correctly,” she said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].