Every few years, there's a new exercise fad. Barre, spinning, CrossFit, whatever—it's usually a class. And as all my friends sign up, I always consider trying them out myself. But then I remember that I'm not like everybody else, and if there's one place where it matters, it's an exercise class.
Take pilates, for instance. I signed up for a class at my college gym freshman year. I mostly kept up with everything, but when it came time for planks, I did them with one arm, fully extended. One day I looked at my arm and realized my bicep had red spots all over it. Yeah, apparently I had burst blood vessels in my arm doing one-armed planks. So that was the last time I tried that.
Yoga was similar. It's supposed to be relaxing and smooth. But try doing a sun salutation when you only have one arm. Not very smooth. It was just annoying, and frustrating, so basically... I don't like yoga.
Why does all this matter? I can just avoid pilates and yoga, right? Yeah, but when my friends want to go to barre together, and it requires buying a package of classes, I can't know for sure beforehand how much I'll be able to do in the class. I really don't want to spend $150 for a package and then only get half of a workout. Like, maybe I can do the leg and ab work but then spend the time during arm work trying to figure out an alternative. I don't get a great workout, and I end up sitting there for longer than I'd like.
And don't even get me started on CrossFit. Would I want to do it, even if I had two arms? Probably not. But it does suck to be unable to try. There's really no way to do a clean and jerk, or whatever they call that stuff, with one arm. Massive bar bells over my head? Not gonna happen.
I'm thankful that the thing I'm so limited by is only workout classes. Plenty of people live without them. It's not that big of a deal. And my yoga teacher back in the day was really good about helping me find my own ways of doing things. But I'm interested if other amputees have had similar experiences. Are there any workout classes that are actually a good fit regardless of how many arms you have? (I'm sure spinning is fine, huh? Probably don't need two arms on a stationary bike.)
Also, do you long for the feeling of doing a normal plank? I want to know what it feels like to have two strong arms you can lean on, do cartwheels with, lift bars with. I want that symmetry when I do yoga.
But on the bright side, at least it's a good excuse to not have to try CrossFit.
xo,julieo
Take pilates, for instance. I signed up for a class at my college gym freshman year. I mostly kept up with everything, but when it came time for planks, I did them with one arm, fully extended. One day I looked at my arm and realized my bicep had red spots all over it. Yeah, apparently I had burst blood vessels in my arm doing one-armed planks. So that was the last time I tried that.
Yoga was similar. It's supposed to be relaxing and smooth. But try doing a sun salutation when you only have one arm. Not very smooth. It was just annoying, and frustrating, so basically... I don't like yoga.
Why does all this matter? I can just avoid pilates and yoga, right? Yeah, but when my friends want to go to barre together, and it requires buying a package of classes, I can't know for sure beforehand how much I'll be able to do in the class. I really don't want to spend $150 for a package and then only get half of a workout. Like, maybe I can do the leg and ab work but then spend the time during arm work trying to figure out an alternative. I don't get a great workout, and I end up sitting there for longer than I'd like.
And don't even get me started on CrossFit. Would I want to do it, even if I had two arms? Probably not. But it does suck to be unable to try. There's really no way to do a clean and jerk, or whatever they call that stuff, with one arm. Massive bar bells over my head? Not gonna happen.
I'm thankful that the thing I'm so limited by is only workout classes. Plenty of people live without them. It's not that big of a deal. And my yoga teacher back in the day was really good about helping me find my own ways of doing things. But I'm interested if other amputees have had similar experiences. Are there any workout classes that are actually a good fit regardless of how many arms you have? (I'm sure spinning is fine, huh? Probably don't need two arms on a stationary bike.)
Also, do you long for the feeling of doing a normal plank? I want to know what it feels like to have two strong arms you can lean on, do cartwheels with, lift bars with. I want that symmetry when I do yoga.
But on the bright side, at least it's a good excuse to not have to try CrossFit.
xo,julieo