Exhausted? Movement Helps!

Exhausted? Movement Helps! 
As Featured in Brighter Magazine in December of 2024

Recently, during a functional movement assessment, my client, Amy said, “I don’t want to become a part of the furniture, but I am just so tired, the motivation to get up and move is completely gone.” Amy was suffering from cancer-related fatigue due to recent treatments for breast cancer and was facing an issue so many cancer patients can relate to – how am I supposed to exercise when I feel this exhausted? 

Cancer-related fatigue, or CRF, is often described as an exhaustion like no other and is one of the most common complaints among cancer patients. In fact, CRF is reported by over 70% of cancer patients during cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. Unlike general fatigue, which lets us know when to rest to recover from activities and heal from treatments, CRF causes exhaustion after the simplest of activities, can cause lack of concentration, loss of memory and an inability to begin tasks. Cancer-related fatigue is often not made better by rest, affects multiple areas of daily life and can last long after therapies have ended. 

According to the American Cancer Society in a study published in 2001, the cause of cancer-related fatigue is multifactorial, involving physiological and psychological reactions to treatment within the body. For many years, doctors recommended rest and avoidance of physical activity. However, we now know that inactivity induces further muscle wasting than treatment alone and causes a loss of cardiorespiratory fitness. Yet, since physical activity can produce fatigue and breathlessness, exercise might seem counterintuitive if you are experiencing cancer-related fatigue. 

Physical activity produces adaptive changes in the body such as gains in muscle mass and improves cardiorespiratory health. By moving through cancer therapies, you can actually increase mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, therefore promoting cellular wellness across multiple organ systems. Exercise also increases the presence of Natural Killer Cells, enhancing the immune system and helping to decrease tumor size, according to Deldequie, et al in a study published in 2020 entitled “The Regulation of Metastatic Disease by Physical Activity”. 

The best news is that it is super simple to obtain all these benefits of exercise, even if you feel tired after reading the word “exercise”. At 2Unstoppable, a nonprofit aiming to improve women’s cancer outcomes through exercise, our uncomplicated approach to movement begins with a simple question, what can you do right now? When I asked Amy this question, she said she could walk to the end of her driveway and back and she could probably do a bit more if she tried. The truth is, you only need to start with two or five minutes a day of movement and add a bit more each week, as you begin to feel better. Once you are medically cleared for exercise, you can follow the quickstart guides below.

What Can You Do Right Now? 

If you are starting from a chair: March your legs or tap your heels out and forward for 2 minutes. If you feel ready, you can swing your arms or move them in a way that feels good to you. Try this everyday or every other day. Ready to add more? Move to the edge of your chair, drive the body weight into the heels and power yourself up to a standing position. Sit back down and repeat five times. Continue to progress these movements, working your way up to walking indoors or out for 5-10 minutes per day, eventually building up to 15 minutes twice a day. You can certainly continue to do those sit-to-stands and even add resistance by holding 1-3lb weights in each hand. 

If you are somewhat active: Work your way up to walking 30 minutes per day and increasing your pace, feeling a little breathy for at least 10 minutes of your walk. You can begin to add resistance training with light weights up to twice per week. Strength exercises like bicep curls and tricep-kickbacks can help rebuild upper body strength. 

When you are ready for a more detailed exercise plan, you can seek the help of a Cancer Exercise Specialist through an organization like 2Unstoppable, to help you combat fatigue and other treatment related side effects. While starting exercise may seem overwhelming at first, you will begin to feel its positive effects, even with a few minutes each day. Soon, you will have the energy to tackle activities of daily living and feel stronger overall. 

Struggling with Motivation? 5 Reasons to Get Up and Move

I spent the weekend at the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute. It was my third year attending and as usual, my brain and my body are fried. My first thought when I arrived home today was — sleep, rest, repeat. It is cold and grey out, with some intermittent snow falling. A perfect day for curling back up into bed after a weekend of grueling workouts (get a group of fitness professionals in front of another fitness professional and its burpees for days!) and so much information on how the body moves that my head is exploding. But it is Sunday and that means client emails and session planning. Time to put pen to paper one more time, integrate some of the new moves I learned this weekend and plan for my clients and classes.

As I sat down for the first time in 3 days to plan, I found myself popping back up to move. Tight hips, tight glutes (thanks Helen Vanderberg for the 10,000 squats this morning!) and finding my eyes closing if I stared at the page for too long, forced me to get up from my comfy office chair and move. I figured you might be struggling with movement motivation on this dreary day, so here’s 5 reasons why you should and 5 exercises for when you do move.

1. Restore Energy and Fight Fatigue: Sitting for too long can drain our energy and if we are already fighting fatigue, can make us want to drift off to sleep.
   What to do? Stand up and March for 30 seconds. Continue the March but begin to march wide, then narrow, then wide, alternating this pattern for another 30 seconds. Bring it down to a slow march and begin pumping or swinging your arms. If you have good range of motion, you can sweep the arms over head and then back down to the waist. Do this for another 30 seconds. Either pick up your marching pace and return to alternating between wide and narrow marches or start to march and “stick a knee” to hold a single leg balance for 3 seconds each time. Repeat for 30 seconds.

2. Hydrate Your Connective Tissues and Relieve Achy Joints: When we sit, our hip flexors tighten, our low back might bother us, our connective tissues begin to harden and we get stiff. When we stand up or try to move, it might hurt or make us feel older than we are.
   What to do? Stand up, put on some upbeat music — whatever your jam is and make sure the song is about 3 minutes long, if not longer. Crank up the music and dance. Start by moving slowly then build up to tempo, or close to it, with whatever moves make you feel good. Don’t forget to sing along and just let yourself be free for the length of the song.

3. Reduce Stress: Work and Life can be stressful. We all have moments where it seems easier to curl up on the couch than to move. But moving can release the feel good hormones, get the dopamine flowing and flush out higher levels of cortisol.
   What to do? Stand up and walk — walk around your house or even better, walk outside. Even if you only have 5 minutes, go for a walk.

4. Restore Mobility: There’s no doubt that the more you move, the more you repeat a movement, the easier it becomes because the joints are warmer.
   What to do? Stand up with your feet wider than your hips and hinge your upper body at your hips (hip hinge). Soften through your knees and do a soft squat — meaning you are bending in a way that doesn’t hurt anything and isn’t necessarily taxing any muscles. Begin to circle your bottom, swaying in the legs from side to side. Think “hip rotations”. Your arms can be where they are comfortable or you can swing them as you make the rotations. Be sure to go to the right, around to the left and then start again from the left back to the right.

5. Hydrate Yourself: If you’ve been hanging out at your desk or the couch or wherever you have decided to plop yourself for the last few hours, you probably need more fluid. Staying hydrated helps lubricate our joints and helps us move better.
   What to do? Resist the urge to summon your children, spouse or partner to retrieve you a glass of water. Stand up and walk around your house 3 times before heading to the kitchen to get your glass and fill it with water. After you fill it, do a few marches or a few squats.

Bottom line? Just get up and move. And if you have classes or a training with me this week — you’ve got some new exercises coming your way!

Wondering what your glutes look like? Pictured here: Gluteus Maximus, layered on top of the Glute Med and Min. That white clay? Your IT band.

Facebook - is anybody out there?

It was going well, my relationship with social media and Facebook in particular. I joined Facebook back in the days when you could “poke” someone or buy things for people’s farms — the simple, look at pictures and catch up with family and friends days. Over the years, Facebook became bigger and it became a great way for me to spread the word about trainings, classes and any cool new tips, for free. I was sure to keep all my posts happy, non-political and mostly about fitness on the business page and about my family on my personal page. You know, just followed the basic rules of posting etiquette.

When the world shut down back in March of 2020 and I moved my business online, I began to rely heavily on my Facebook Business Page to connect with clients, add videos and advertise online classes. I was encouraged by every business guru under the sun to “push things out via Facebook, Post at least 3x per week, Build your audience” etc. I’m not a sale-sy person so I didn’t abuse my audience by posting obnoxiously or filling their feed with ads. Instead I formed casual connection with clients and reached out to potential clients when the time seemed right.

Then, in mid-November of 2020, I received an email from Facebook. Someone had tried to log into my account from another computer with the wrong password. They warned that if this wasn’t me, I should log on and change my password. I saw the email at 10pm and after a long day of training and teaching classes, I said to my husband, “I’ll deal with this in the morning” and went to bed. The next day was hectic as well, so by that evening when I sat down to search my brain for a new password, I discovered that my Facebook page had been temporarily disabled. I filled out the appeal form, uploaded a photo of my drivers license and clicked “submit”. I was about to launch a new online service for my clients, so I crossed my fingers and hoped that my account would be restored in a few days. After all, Facebook was a great way to advertise.

It’s now March of 2021 and as I sit here to write this, I still can not log into my personal Facebook account and therefore, I can’t log into my business account. I can’t post about my new online services, I can’t reach new clients on social media. When I do attempt a log in, I still get the message “We have received your information, if we still deem that you are not old enough to be on Facebook, your account will be permanently disabled because it violates our terms of service”. Four months of waiting for Facebook to review my information.

There seems to be no way to reach Facebook — I’ve tried. Any emails found through a google search seem to be defunct or are not answered. I sent a letter, complete with copies of my drivers license to their “Community Standards” department. A phone call gets you no where, it just rings. The company that connects people doesn’t want to connect with people.

Yet, I can connect to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. I can’t connect my Facebook business page to my instagram — they tell me “oops there’s been an error”. I can still log into Spotify — also connected to my Facebook log-in. I still receive daily emails from Facebook “You have 620 notifications since you last logged in”, “It’s so and so’s birthday, log in to wish them a Happy Birthday”. Friends and Family tell me they can still see @coachstaceyruns but they can’t see my personal account anymore. My book club had to revote on books because that was under my account.

None of it makes sense. I’m just a small business trying to connect with customers where most customers are — Facebook.

So, if you were wondering why @coachstaceyruns hasn’t been updated in awhile or you were missing out on some of the videos, now you know. If you are somehow able to help me solve this issue, please comment below. For now though, keep visiting the website and new things will be coming soon!

Sleep Much?

Sleep. Lack of it effects everything, yet it’s the rare person who says “yes, I wake up feeling refreshed every day!” Can you say that? I know I can’t. Not on a regular basis, anyway.

First, it’s the pillow, I just can’t find the right pillow. Then, I get hot. That’s a combination of me being over 40 and having a furnace in the form of a dog snuggled against my legs. And that’s on a good night. A bad night, I might have trouble falling asleep or I wake up at 2am and can’t get back to sleep because my mind is racing. When I don’t sleep well, my brain is foggy, my runs are terrible, my energy is lacking and my body is sore. I know I’m not alone, so what can we do to change this? To get a better night sleep, one that helps us feel ready to tackle the day, what is it that we really need to do?

You’ve heard the advice —don’t exercise in the evenings (but make sure you exercise daily!), lower the temperature in your house at night, turn screens/devices off two hours before bed, avoid the afternoon cup of coffee, avoid alcohol, make your bedroom a relaxing place to be, etc. Probably, some article or study states, don’t sleep with your dog who puts off an inordinate amount of heat.

So, what if you have tried all of these things and you still aren’t feeling on top of the world when you wake up? Just like a good exercise plan, a good sleep plan has to be tailored to you and your lifestyle. In my case, lowering the temperature in the house helps as well as investing in “cooling” bed linens. Since I wake up early, I go to bed early even though the rest of my house is awake. I tried keeping a journal near my bed, for those nights when I’d wake up with my mind racing. Not wanting to disturb my sleeping husband by turning on a light, I never used the journal. Instead, I’ve been finishing my daily to-do list before going to bed. Class plans are done for the next day, emails are sent, important phone calls made. This way, I can sleep a little longer in the mornings and I wake up less at night, thinking about things. I still follow the general advice, just tailored to me. It’s starting to work, I do sleep better most nights.

Getting enough sleep can help you maintain or lose weight, have energy without the need of stimulants, aid in muscle recovery and digestion. It can decrease brain fog, increase productivity and enhance memory. It can help the body heal. There is no doubt that a really restful night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health. It’s not something we often put a lot of effort into — we just say “gosh, I wish I could get more sleep”. So, here’s a challenge: For the next 14 days, focus on your sleep. Try the expert advice and try some things that you know work for you. Get the combination right and before you know it, you will have formed some really awesome sleep habits and you will conquer your day!

One Small Change - Still a Relevant Post!

I first wrote this blog post in April of 2018. That seems like a lifetime ago now, but this post still rings true. We’ve been stuck inside due to a global pandemic since mid-March of this year and so many of us are struggling with working from home, missing the gym and wondering where the energy to continue to make healthy choices went. We are dealing with a lot and maybe your health and fitness have fallen by the wayside because of this new “normal”. Making choices about how to move forward, get back to some resemblance of normal is overwhelming. Deciding to do something healthy for yourself shouldn’t be. Reread this post and take away one key thing — it’s the small changes, small things, that make a big difference.

————-It's Tuesday. Monday has come and gone and with it, your goal of "start my diet" or "start new exercise routine" still sits on the shelf.  

It's Tuesday. All is not lost. Brush off that goal and ask yourself, what is one small change I can make today? What can I realistically fit into my day that will help me develop new habits and get back on track?  

That one simple question can lead to a healthy habit and within a few days, you will start to notice positive changes.  By simply replacing your Diet Soda with a glass of water, you've made a change -- a change that took no time at all out of your day.  What if you stash a pair of sneakers and socks under your desk? You may just take that lunch time walk you've been meaning to add to your schedule. 

Making healthy changes doesn't need to include a complete diet overhaul and visiting the gym 5 times a week for hours at a time. It can start with one simple change, a change that you can easily fit into your busy day. Before you know it, that extra glass of water a day will lead to eating more vegetables and fruit. Taking that lunch time walk will lead to hikes or longer walks on the weekends and maybe an interest in a new class at the gym.  Healthy habits snowball into more healthy habits and the positive changes begin to happen before you even realize what is happening. 

In a world of before and after photos and fad diets, we often forget that making small changes have a lasting effect.  They are sustainable changes.  Why do we often fall off of that new diet or  new training schedule? Because it can overwhelm or leave us feeling guilty for "cheating" or not being able to make it to that training run.  Those feelings cause us to spiral -- "this diet will never work, I will never run that half marathon in the time I want because I didn't run this week". Instead of spiraling, ask yourself why am I having trouble following this diet? Why am I having trouble meeting my mileage goals? The answer may be that the diet or the training plan doesn't fit your lifestyle, maybe the diet is too restrictive or the plan includes more workout days than you can physically complete. Maybe things needed to change too quickly. 

So take a step back, figure out that one small change you can make today and take it one day at a time. Once you latch onto one new habit, the rest will follow. It may be a little slower than you like but it will be sustainable and help you stay healthy for life!