Life happens. Sometimes we get injured or sick — and we get older. As we change, so should our exercise routine. NPR’s Life Kit explains how to adapt your fitness plan to meet your body where it is.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It’s late January now, so how are those New Year’s resolutions coming? One of the most common goals is to improve your health – get fit, exercise, just move more. It’s also common to stop after a few weeks or maybe even just one workout. For whatever reason, we just can’t keep going. Maybe our bodies have changed from aging or injury or illness or other ways, and that’s pretty normal. Reporter Aja Drain spoke with a personal trainer who redefines exercise and says it’s about meeting ourselves where we are.
AJA DRAIN, BYLINE: As a lifelong dancer, I was devastated to be couch-ridden for months after a back injury. But while scrolling through TikTok, I found a personal trainer who really spoke to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
SAMANTHA SALVAGGIO: With a chronic illness, being able to move your body may not always be the easiest. It may not move in the way you want it to. It may tire quickly. But moving with intention makes a difference in your physical, mental and emotional well-being.
DRAIN: That’s Samantha Salvaggio, an NASM-certified personal trainer, patient leader and behavior change specialist. Salvaggio was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had to change her relationship with exercise. My injury is temporary and vastly different from her lifelong condition, but Salvaggio’s insights made me realize that no matter what your condition, our bodies all go through changes at some point. She says to design and adaptable fitness plan, put the big goals on the back burner and focus on the smaller ones day to day.
SALVAGGIO: If you’re focusing on – just on the end result, it can be really hard to see, like, the small progress that you’re making throughout that can really just serve as motivation versus…
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