Rules for Aerobic Exercise

Whether it’s on my blog, on the Dr. Fibro Facebook page, or just on my Daily 10 in 20 blog posts, I ALWAYS stress the importance of exercise and you’ve got to know the rules! I know that moving and stretching isn’t always easy BUT check out this study involving 2,276 fibromyalgia patients. This study showed that aerobic-only exercise training has a positive affect on the patients global well-being, physical function, and possibly even on their pain and tender points!

That’s why I recommend exercise to ALL fibromyalgia patients but you MUST know the rules!!!

The exercise you should perform is AEROBIC exercise – NOT anaerobic. Both are important and beneficial but when you have fibro, the anaerobic types of exercise can be too strenuous and you can end up hurting yourself even more. You don’t want to overdo it because that will just cause you more pain.

Aerobic exercise is NON STRAINING and easy on your body plus it will allow your body to get the oxygen it needs to perform properly which is crucial.

The most important thing to remember when performing aerobic exercise to naturally decrease your fibromyalgia pain over time, is that your heart rate should NOT go over a certain number. It’s super easy to figure out this number so please do this simple calculation and even go out and purchase a heart rate monitor if you don’t have one. They’re important!

Okay, so here is the formula:

180 – your age = Heart Rate

Now, if you’re a beginner and you don’t exercise a whole lot, I want you to MINUS 5 more points from that number.  That’s the MAXIMUM heart rate you’re allowed to reach during an exercise, anything beyond that will causes extra stress to your body. Once again, you don’t want to OVERDO it and this will make sure you’re getting the appropriate amount of exercise without hurting yourself.

On the other hand and ONLY if you’re VERY experienced in working out and exercising, you can add 5 points to your ideal heart rate.  The only people who should be doing this are those who are athletically trained and exercise A LOT… most people will not be in the category.

If you start to do this regularly, at least four times a week, you’ll see that in a few weeks your body will be able to go faster and for a longer period of time before you hit your maximum allowable heart rate. It will become used to exertion and that’s exciting! Remember, in my 10 in 20 blog posts how I said that it was HARD for me to run 3 miles in the beginning but now it’s a piece of cake?

Believe me, your body will THANK you for this!

Now that you know how to properly get your body moving, I’ll bet you’re wondering which exercises are purely aerobic. Well, those are swimming, biking, running or walking at a very easy pace.  I know that none of these seem all that exciting but they will get the job done and you’ll feel MUCH better after doing them for a little while – I promise

The benefits to exercising really are immeasurable. Exercising helps your body rid itself of the toxins that are plaguing it.  These pollutants and toxins are inside of your body causing inflammation and they should be leaving through bowel movements or through the skin. NaturalNews.com goes on to say, “Aerobic exercise encourages sweating and sweating is a primary way that toxins leave the body – through the skin…our bodies should be releasing two pounds of toxins every day – just through the skin.”

Wow! That’s a lot of toxins!

The same formula I gave you to calculate your maximum allowable heart rate was also recommended by Tony Robbins. If you haven’t heard of Tony Robbins, you should absolutely check him out, especially his exercise site. He has a great page on Aerobic exercise which you can see here

What are your reasons for exercising?
Leave your reason below in the comment box!