Meet Ron Baker, our 69-year-old client who through commitment, consistency and a little help from our exercise professionals is staying strong in his pursuit of lifelong health & fitness.
Some time ago, Ron had to undergo replacement and reconstructive surgery after an accident. Accidents can cause you to feel uncertain about participating in life activities. Also struggling with age-related skeletal muscle loss (sarcopenia), Ron sought a solution to help with his rehab and fight against sarcopenia with the hopes of at least slowing it down.
Aging also brings to light certain lifestyle changes. You feel slower than you used to be. You tend to be less confident in your abilities to take care of yourself and keep pace with day-to-day activities. Add to that the physical pain and experiences from surgery. How does one deal with that?
More and more seniors are finding that regular strength training in addition to moderate cardio is helping improve their lifestyle in their silver years. Ron followed the same thoughts and started training with our personal training team.
The big challenges when approaching or starting a new exercise program are:
Goal setting - you need to establish clear short-term targets that accumulate to your long-term goals
Knowledge - you need to know what you’re doing and how it’s helping you achieve your goals
Technique - you need to monitor your technique and ensure you’re exercising in an appropriate and productive way
Commitment & Consistency - you need to be able to bring yourself to the training activity consistently enough for a significant amount of time to be able to achieve your long-term goals.
Ron knew he wanted to learn more about what he can do to help his rehab and rebuild strength through training. Over the time that he has chosen to use personal training sessions with our exercise professionals, Ron has found that his friendly interactions with the trainers and the overall atmosphere of people on the gym floor helped him feel welcome.
Feeling like you belong is a huge mental barrier new exercisers go through. Feelings of judgment, insufficient knowledge and uncertainty can creep up and stop you from having fun on the floor.
Not Ron! Ron took this challenge head-on with the assistance of our exercise professionals to achieve his goal. We asked Ron how he reflects back on his time on the gym floor and what he takes away from his experience. With his time on the Striation6 floor, Ron reflects on seven things that helped him maintain his training commitment over a long time.
He could make the most of his time in the gym - with structured exercises that target specific areas of the body that need the most attention with an overall emphasis on general strength development, his time in the gym was more efficient.
He learned proper technique and new exercises. Without proper technique, you run the risk of incorrectly training and challenging your musculature in ways that can cause pain downstream without a roadmap to diagnosing what caused it. Bad habits and poor exercise execution should always be fixed earlier before you start to increase weight or resistance.
He kept exercises and workout sessions interesting through variety - doing the same thing again and again can get boring for some and cause them to stop the activity altogether. Adding some variety keeps the mind engaged and also challenges the body in different ways so that the body doesn’t get used to the same kind of movement.
He wasn’t getting injured in the gym so he could keep going without breaks in his workout routine - breaks in your exercise routine due to injuries can cause a drop in motivation and also is much harder to reset. Avoiding injuries through attention to technique and doing the right exercises that account for your own physical limitations are essential.
He started seeing that he was achieving the goals he set and that helped him set new milestones. Once you taste success, you want more. The same maxim applies in the gym. Once you start to develop confidence in lifting weights and overcoming resistance, you get the confidence to lift yourself up.
It helped with his rehab following surgery. Guided exercise is a fantastic way to overcome pain or weaknesses arising from surgery. This is why exercise is the cornerstone of any successful rehabilitation process.
A positive and fun environment made him enjoy his time. If it’s not fun, it’s not done. For Ron, having a fun time in the gym helped lift his mood while also increasing his general level of satisfaction with his effort.
When asked about the impact he’s seeing with his life, he was quick to comment on how great he was feeling.
"I'm not slowing down physically as much as some of my friends. In fact, it may sound crazy, but I think I am stronger now than I was a few years ago. "
We believe this confidence comes from his admirable consistency and effort toward maintaining course in his fitness journey.
In the marathon of life, Ron is still in the game, ship-shape, getting stronger and staying active. As he continues his regular strength training regimen, we are happy to join him in keeping pace in life, and when we have a moment, learn a thing or two about commitment and consistency from this marathoner of life.
If you’re struggling with pain, injury, stiffness, or issues after surgery, get in touch with our exercise professionals to schedule a consultation.