Using Sport & Fitness To Impact Disabilities

What the majority of the disabled people don’t know of is that exercise can turn their life around in ways they never thought possible. In fact, it’s one of the few effective ways known to lessen the physical difficulties one faces.

Today, there are special fitness experts willing to share tips and loads of other vital information that could help those with disabilities to make the most out of sports and fitness. Yvonne Jacobs is one of them and she will be sharing her knowledge and experience today.

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To begin with, here’s how routine fitness can benefit you if you have a disability.

  • It reduces muscle straining and wastage
  • Enhances balancing between different muscle groups
  • Leads to better sleep
  • Increased energy
  • Improved confidence

Unfortunately, statistics have revealed that people with disabilities hardly take part in routine physical activity compared to their non-disabled counterparts. It’s time to change this.

Training Facilities

Most training facilities don’t cater to people with disabilities. This includes not just those on wheelchairs but even those battling spinal injuries and amputations, those suffering from Cerebral Palsy, just to name but a few.

The major reason for this is that the majority of gym instructors, coaches or the gym management itself believe that it’s pretty difficult to cater to people with various disabilities. But it’s not.

Nonetheless, we have a few gyms and clubs that have special disability-friendly facilities. So it’s up to you to find one or figure out another way you can take routine exercise.

Read on to discover some ideas and tips that will help you go about this with ease.

Pick a proper coach

Nowadays, there are plenty of experienced coaches specialised in working with people with disabilities. But if you can’t identify one, you can talk to just about any coach looking to add this to their coaching profile.

Alternatively, you can hire a remote instructor. Yvonne does it too- she trains people in places far away from her via Skype.

Better still, you can combine both: a remote fitness instructor and a face-to-face coach just in case you wish to make the most out of each of them.

Ask a friend to Join You or Join Them

Do you have a friend or a couple of them who do the same thing as you when it comes to exercising? You can join them or kindly ask them to join you. If you don’t have one yet, you can identify one and ask them if they’ll be interested in joining you.

Adjust your daily routine

Besides joining the gym or taking part in sports, you can come up with home-based exercise plans. All it takes is just adjusting your daily schedule. You can set aside 5-10 minutes each day and use them to do extreme workouts such as squats, lunges, seated crunches or arm presses.

You can as well turn your housework into workouts. Replace the typical bending movements with squats or rapidly clean/dust your house as you would while going about cardio workouts. Embrace both short and long walks as well.

Put simply, just find what suits well with your lifestyle and abilities and be sure to put it to test

Make dietary changes

It may look like a minor adjustment but it goes a long way in making you healthier. You can start by being a veggie. This means consuming plenty of vegetables and more fruits as well. Avoid sugary foods or those that serve to deteriorate your health.

Never compare yourself to other people

Your disability is only special to you and so you can’t be like everyone else. Rather than weighing your progress against theirs, simply stick to your lane and only do what’s right and proper for you.

Try functional movements

Functional exercises help to reduce imbalances. Arm presses, adaptive squats, lunges, seated crunches are a great way to strengthen your other weaker sides. The main aim is to ensure all your muscles are used the same way.

Take Part in Water Sports

Water sports such as swimming, pedal boating, rowing, or canoeing work to the advantage of most people with disabilities. Each of these sports can fit well with people with various disabilities. For instance, those who can comfortably work their upper bodies can try rowing or canoeing.

Pedal boating may be ideal for those able to use their legs. Doing these activities in the company of friends makes the whole experience more fun, effective, and memorable.

Embrace Patience

You will need patience a lot while going about this. For instance, you will require reasonable time to figure out if the coach is right for you or you are right for them. If you don’t like the way things are turning out, go ahead and try a different coach or gym.

Bottom line

Choose to remain positive and active in whichever activity you choose. This way you will grow your health, strength and your physical life will also be elevated.