You might wonder what my time with mum has to do with training, but let me clarify it for you.
It started when we first got together on her current bi-annual visit to Australia. I hadn’t seen her for those couple of years, so it came as a shock to me to see her move the way she did. She considered herself to be a reasonably active woman, not owning a car and getting around on her bicycle instead to run her errands and visit friends. She also spent time holidaying on those same two wheels. What had happened as a result was that she got so comfortable on her bike and in her thinking to go with it that she didn’t see the need to walk. The end product of that was that she had lost her ability to walk in a ‘normal’ and fluid pattern. Hips were constantly aching and stiff; and walking for any distance became very uncomfortable. She is only 73, way too young to give up what we should be able to do almost by birth right.
I had the privilege to spend a full two weeks with her after I had given her some gentle exercises to do every day as homework. According to her she did the ‘homework’.
Our time here at Health Wellness Lifestyle Studio was invested in corrective drills to wake up her middle and hips, and served to set her on the road to walking again. However, when we went on a trip to Melbourne which placed her in the position of having to walk more than her previous usual, the first few days were still challenging.
Spending some time teaching her about using her middle, muscle activity and length/shortness in some common body positions greatly improved her everyday activities-picking things off the floor, doing up shoes and getting her bottom half dressed. Then it came down to practising. Little bits, through out the day.
My mum is an amazing woman. She is a very keen learner and extremely teachable. Once she saw that there was hope, she was not willing to give up and blindly accept that once you got stiff and can’t move any more, that is how it had to stay for the rest of her life.
On our last day in Melbourne she walked faster because she could. She was on her feet for a huge portion of the day and at the end still going pretty strong.
It is exciting to see how there can be such a difference with some basic coaching and a little persistence.