GUEST POST
Guest post By Ken Bernard
When you put Recharge in charge of your physical therapy, injury recovery or strength and conditioning you will take charge of improving your physical and emotional wellbeing.
Two years ago this 61 year old man was looking for physical therapy for my shoulder and I found help for my shoulder and much more. I was in average shape for my age. I walked several miles each week, but I did nothing for strength and conditioning. I had the typical aches and pains and the endurance of someone my age. Recharge helped me with my shoulder and at the same introduced me to their program and their supportive culture. We worked the physical therapy for my shoulder and after a trial period of several classes I decided to join Recharge.
I quickly found out that I had not only joined a Modern Health and Fitness program, but I had also joined a family. The members and the coaches are extremely supportive. The members are diverse in age, with the average age of 42, and the members are also diverse in every other way and representative of the surrounding community. Everyone works together to help motivate each other, but with very little competitiveness. It’s mostly about just competing with yourself. The coaches provide support and motivation with just enough coaxing to continuously challenge you to make progress. In my mind the progress is all that counts. I’m not trying to qualify for the Olympics I’m just trying to progress in my strength and wellbeing.
In two years I have gained endurance and I have gained strength and this has all contributed to an improved lifestyle. I think less about aches and pains and more about what I’m able to do now like running without pulling my calf muscle, sitting and then not having an aching back when I stand up and lifting a bag of potting soil that I couldn’t lift before. There is also a shortened recovery time if you do feel something strained. I feel better emotionally and I have a more positive outlook on life. I have often said that when you are my age your body is only going in one direction if you don’t stay fit. It’s not like when you are young and you say to yourself, “I’ll get in shape once I have time”. When you’re over 60 time is running out and it’s now or never.
The classes consist of a wide variety of strength and conditioning movements and exercises taught by a nurturing group of innovative physical therapists. You feel a certain intuitiveness in their programs because the next movement is always designed to feed off the last movement or prepare you for the next. We always start with warm up movements to get your body and heart going and then each day there is a different class with different movements tied to a central theme that runs for each multi-week program cycle. Following the class there is usually a warm down to decompress and stretch out your muscles and cool down your body.
I love the variety of the exercises and how we work on different muscle groups and then add conditioning with aerobic exercises from rowing or walking/running to step-up boxes and lunges. Even some movements you didn’t think your body could manage.
The two most important things I have learned for my body is how to use movements to reduce aches and pains, but then also how there are progressions and regressions for each exercise to increase or decrease the movement or weight of each exercise to fit your ability, but still challenge yourself.
Recharge is now part of my life and I will use what I’ve learned there for the rest of my life.
