What
is Active Fit and where did it come from?
Some of you may have heard about Active Fit and are now wondering what
this Active Fit thing is and why you are hearing about it. I wanted to take a
minute to write about where the inspiration for Active Fit came from and why we
at Active Life Chiropractic and Rehab, and especially I, Dr. Rachael Newman are
so passionate about it.
 |
| Pregnant me, feeling miserable 2015 |
I didn’t know it yet, but this
whole thing started 4 years ago, after the birth of my son, Ben. Here I was with
a brand-new baby, I had gained 40 lbs in pregnancy weight and did nothing but
work, take care of my family, and try to sleep a little here and there if there
was time. I was the unhealthiest I had ever been, and I really felt awful,
like, ALL THE TIME. I had no time to exercise (and no motivation) and my diet
had gone steadily downhill due to exhaustion. I had no energy, no
concentration, no focus and; at that point, no hope of getting those things
back.
 |
| Myself and my new son, Ben 2015 |
About a year after Ben was born, I
decided it was time to do something about the way I was feeling. I was very
concerned about injuring my back because of my history of multiple spinal
surgeries, but with as terrible as I was feeling, I was willing to take the
risk (things couldn’t get much worse, right?!)! I found a Kettle Bell class I
wanted to try, I convinced myself it would be fine if I just did it with proper
form and jumped in with both feet! I was wrong… after about 4 classes I was
overly sore from being pushed too hard too soon, I could also feel a nagging
back pain that I knew wasn’t just muscle soreness. I was forced to quit Kettle
Bell class, and because I had injured my back in only 4 sessions, it was about
6 months before I would be able to attempt fitness again.
When my back was finally feeling
better (or as better as it gets with chronic pain) I decided to join a gym and
see how that went, after all I had worked out most of my life, and because of
my training as a chiropractor, I was capable if programming workouts for
myself…. But I was so tired and unmotivated, it was easier to tell myself I’d
just go tomorrow and drive home after work rather than go to the gym and forget
getting up any earlier to work-out before work! After a couple of months, I
gave up and canceled my gym membership. I spent the next year or so trying to
exercise at home, go on walks with friends and find any other way I could force
myself to be more active. I still felt terrible, I was gaining more weight, I
didn’t even have energy to play with my kids. Something had to change!!
In May of 2018 I decided that I
needed to find a workout class to help motivate me to workout. It needed to be
affordable and needed to have a trainer or coach knowledgeable enough that they
wouldn’t push me too hard too soon and make me too sore to continue after just
a few workouts (we’ve all been there!) and not push me to do movements that would
hurt me. I looked far and wide but found none. It turned out that in my area
there were no classes that would accommodate someone with a complicated medical
and surgical past. I felt out of
options, I didn’t have the motivation to work out on my own, and I couldn’t
find a class that met my needs physically and financially.
In June of 2018 I finally bit the
bullet and decided that if I was going to make any change, I was going to have
to hire a personal trainer, even though I didn’t really need the one on one
help, I needed the motivation and accountability and personal training was the
only way I could think of to safely get it. I started working with my trainer
and she was wonderful, I still work with her in a group class setting and I
love her. Even though my trainer was wonderful I still had to advocate for
myself about what I could and couldn’t do, asking for activity modification and
modifying things myself to be more friendly to my injuries and current
limitations.
 |
| Ben helping mommy with bench presses 2019 |
Little by little as I got stronger
and built more stamina, I started to feel better. Playing with my kids didn’t
seem like climbing Mount Everest anymore and when I got home from work, I had more
energy to cook dinner and interact with my family. I felt like I was FINALY
getting my life back and I was so excited! I remember one time coming home from
a workout and still having the energy to clean my house, that was a huge deal
for me! I also made some dietary changes which helped with weight loss and
helped move me in the right direction, after all you can’t outrun a bad diet
(more on that later in another blog). But being more fit and stronger had made
a huge difference in my life.
After about 6 months of private
personal training, it was no longer financially reasonable for me to continue
private sessions. I decided I was fit enough to try the group class my trainer held
on the weekends. It was hard, I had to and continue to have to either modify
things myself or ask for modifications several times each class. But I was
doing it, I was getting stronger and feeling better all the time. I even got
past my fear of jumping and have successfully completed some box jumps!
 |
| First Box Jumps! 2019 |
As I started to feel better, I
began to reflect on my fitness journey, and how challenging it has been. I
struggled through every step of the way, but at least I knew when I needed to
ask for a modification, or when it was time for me to stop, or when I just
plain shouldn’t be doing a particular exercise. I could tell the difference
between ‘ok pain’ and ‘bad you need to stop now pain’ and I knew how to avoid
things that would injure me. I began to think about all the people out there
who didn’t or don’t know as much as I know…. What was there to help the people
who had injuries and health concerns
that prevented them from going to regular classes, or who had been made to work
out too hard and they were so sore they couldn’t walk afterwards and are scared
to go back? Who is there to help people who are scared to go to the gym or
workout class because they feel like they are too overweight or too out of
shape? Who is there to help the people that can’t afford expensive personal
training and don’t know how to make sure things are modified properly for them?
The answer in many cases is NO ONE and I felt that It was my responsibility to
create an affordable workout option that answered these needs.
You're probably still wondering, what the heck IS Active Fit? Active Fit is a small group workout class that we hold in
our Chiropractic office that is open to anyone, even if they are not patients.
We run classes in groups of 2 people because sharing the time makes it cheaper
for both of you. Our classes are 30-minute workouts because this is (in most
cases) enough time to get a great muscle ‘burn’ in but also makes it affordable
and easier to fit into your schedule. Every class is either lead by or directly
supervised by a health care professional so that everything can be modified to
meet your movement limitations, health status, and fitness goals. Our goal is
to get you back to doing the things you want to do without putting you at high
risk of getting hurt or being so sore you don’t want to come back.
Have more questions about Active Fit?
Feel free to give us a call (503)855-3375 or email us.
Not sure if this is right for you? The first class is always free, so feel free
to come in and try it! We look forward to helping you on your health and
fitness journey! To schedule you can give us a call or schedule online. Want more information? Visit our Active Fit web page.
No comments:
Post a Comment