Stick To It

Winter riding in my new Pedaling for Parkinson’s gear is bearable.

During the recent holiday season (Nov & Dec), I let myself get derailed from my usual exercise / fitness routine. Cold weather, dark mornings, low motivation, other priorities and a whole bunch of other excuses kept me from sticking to a health-first regimen. And, I paid for it. Very predictably, my PD symptoms were elevated and more troublesome, especially the tremors. I could see it coming and I knew full well what would happen if I skipped my workouts.

Thankfully, I mustered the will to get back on track and jumped back in to daily exercising when 2020 began. Since then, I have made fitness my highest priority and feel much better for it. A typical week contains at least 4 aerobic workouts of 40 minutes, 2 Rock Steady Boxing classes (1 hour each), 3 weight training sessions (P90X style) and 3 ab exercise workouts. Now, if i could just work in some Yoga and balance exercises!

My advice to others (and myself, too) is in the title. Stick to your exercise regimen. How? By making it your #1 priority, especially on days when you “DON’T” feel like exercising. If you can push yourself to workout on days that you feel like skipping it, then you’ll find that they’ll be fewer of those as time passes. Get going and you will discover for yourself that energy begets energy.

Richard Beattie

February 5, 2020

Greenwood, Mississippi