Your body feels like you have the flu & it was tough to even get out of bed. You are bloated and miserable from all of your medications. It sounds pretty counterintuitive to tell someone who feels like this to go exercise right!? Exercise is actually one of the BEST things a lupus patient can do for their bodies & it sure beats laying in bed all day thinking about how miserable you feel.
I have always been an avid exerciser & love moving my body, except to Zumba or dance classes, I am TERRIBLE at those! But after I found out I had lupus exercise took on a whole new meaning for me. Physically it fought off some of the damage my body was doing to itself because I was keeping my bones, muscles, joints and heart healthy amidst attack. Mentally it fought off damage as well…I have found the hour a day I carve out for physical activity is the hour I feel most empowered & in control of my body. Some days my range of motion isn’t what I would like or I might not move as fast as the day before, but any movement at all makes me feel so much better!
There is a growing body of literature that suggests exercise is extremely beneficial in so many areas for lupus patients. If you would like to delve into this, please contact me, more than happy to share! After I was first diagnosed until age 26 when I had my son I was a group fitness junkie, Spin, group power, kickboxing, & I loved to run. I was at the gym 6 days a week & loved every second. Working out has never felt like a burden or something I have to do. It’s something I WANT to do because it makes me feel so much better! Enter having my son…lupus and pregnancy is a whole other topic I will delve into in another post. But let’s just say it left my body wrecked & in the worst flare up I had ever experienced. My body longed for movement. My joints cried out for it. But I had this tiny human to care for who DID NOT want to be away from his mama. Not to mention the gym I went to wouldn’t let kiddos into childcare until 6 months (not that I would have left him before that anyway probably). Even writing about this time in my life makes me tear up because it was such a trying time physically & the one thing I knew would help my pain (exercising) seemed to be so unattainable. I tried working out at home and hated every second. Jax always needed me, especially at home with no distractions, I couldn’t get anything done & to be honest, I thrive in a group environment. When Jax was 1 I knew I had to find a way to make it happen again & we were finally at a spot I could leave him for longer periods of time. My body was in bad shape. I would cry myself to sleep every night from the pain of laying on my hips. I knew I couldn’t go back to impact for a bit so I googled best low impact exercises and Pure Barre popped up. I had no idea what Barre was but it looked simple enough (hahahaha, boy was I wrong) & I signed up for my first class.
I will never forget that first class…I wore an old pink T-shirt & Black leggings and had no idea what the hell sticky socks were or why you would need tiny grippers on your socks if you weren’t jumping 😆 Sheri was my instructor and she was beyond amazing. I fumbled thru the 55 min class, felt like I almost died at least 10 times, couldn’t hold a plank to save my life, and ate a big ole piece of humble pie. I was sore in places I didn’t know existed before barre & I was HOOKED!
Now over 1,000 classes later (no that is not a typo) I feel like every lupus patient, or any person struggling with joint issues and autoimmune diseases should know about barre. Y’all it is a game changer! No impact & strengthens muscles around your joints which equals an effective workout that reduces joint pain, perfect for me 🙌🏻 The secret is in the tiny isometric movements that literally make you feel like you have fire shut up inside your body while doing them, but oh my goodness that burn and shake make you so strong and joints stable! You isolate single muscle groups in barre, which is difficult especially in your legs, because most lower body work (I.e a squat) engage a primary muscle group, but you have a whole lot of secondary going too. But that isolation is the magic for building those strong stabilizer muscles, which for me meant no more hip pain! I had been in physical therapy off and on for years for my joint pain, after I discovered barre no more needed! And let me tell you, strengthening your “outer seat” as they call it in barre is much more enjoyable moving to music than in a PT office!
Thank you Pure Barre Louisville for giving me a Barre home the last 5.5 years & for truly changing my life. The instructors are amazing & can make some killer playlists to get you thru that burn! Nance & Alissa I think you all have dished out the most butt kickings, but love my time there no matter who is on the mic ❤️
Now onto boot camp! The women that make up my Baby Boot Camp tribe have filled my heart in ways & changed my life in ways I never thought possible, & there is a whole seperate post on that coming in the future as well! But remember how I said I was miserable until Jax was 1? I NEVER wanted a mama to be in those shoes again…whether you have a chronic illness or not, isolation & losing exercise if it is important to you shouldn’t be the norm after having a baby. So I went on a search to find a way to fix this! And I found Baby Boot Camp! I am, and have been, the proud owner of the franchise here in Louisville & Oldham Co. Kentucky for the last 3 years. I have just started building an instructor team the last year so I can finally workout at boot camp too & not just instruct! I LOVE the days i get to bring Jax with me to class & workout! It gives me back the sweaty glory of my group fitness days all surrounded by my momstrong family & some of the sweetest littles ever who I will totally claim as my own any day 💗
I don’t have to do my burpees & squats alone anymore, which makes for a much happier exerciser! I’ve kept my cardio & weights/resistance work up along with barre on my own a few days a week the last 4 years, but having one my instructors yelling at me is music to my ears 😂
If you have lupus, please, please find some type of exercise you love (or at least don’t hate) & stick with it! Surround yourself with a group that will hold you accountable to show up & will support you! Don’t like a group setting? Find a personal trainer. Your body has a unique set of circumstances and having a trained professional work with you in person is so important. Having a bad day with your knees? Tell them and they can show you a modification! Barely made it to your workout because it is a “bad” day? Tell them what hurts & they will help you! That is our job, that is what we are here for as fitness professionals. Having a trainer in person means anything can be adapted for you & your needs. You can’t get that from online workouts. At least to get started on your journey, find that support system & happy sweating!
-Meagan
Faith, Fitness, & Fighting Lupus 