Exercise is important for both disabled and non-disabled people, but it is more difficult when you have a disability, and disabled people are less likely to be consistent with exercise because of the lack of accessibility. Doctors are always telling disabled people that we should exercise, and that is true because disability does not exempt you, but telling a disabled person that we should exercise with no guidance is not helpful. Many disabled people are well aware that exercise can help make their life easier, but some people don’t do it because they don’t know where to start, and there are very limited accessible resources. As a disabled person with a physical disability, I do exercise, but it’s not easy because fitness is not accessible and has all kinds of barriers, but it is possible to exercise with a physical disability. Fitness could be more accessible than it is now, but it’s impossible to make it accessible for all disabilities, which is why it’s so important that you know your limits. How do I exercise when fitness is not accessible? In this post, I am going to talk about a few things that I do to make fitness accessible.
Do a workout video– Workout videos are often designed for non-disabled people, and I don’t waste my time trying to find an accessible workout video because it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but you don’t need a video to be completely accessible to get benefits from it. When I exercise, I do YouTube videos that are designed for non-disabled people and not accessible, but I can still do most of them because I know my ability and can modify my workout to meet my specific needs. I love working out to fitness videos, even though it’s not accessible because it makes fitness fun and teaches me different exercises, I would not have thought of on my own, and teaches you the correct way to do them. Before I started exercising to fitness videos, I was not getting results because I was doing a lot of exercises correctly, and it wasn’t until I had a good trainer that I started to see changes. There are tons of free workout videos online, and I highly recommend disabled people look into fitness videos because even if you can only do part of it, that is better than nothing at all.
Never be afraid to modify exercises– People often wonder how I exercise and think that I do something completely different than non-disabled people, but the reality is I do the same exercises as someone without a disability. The only difference is sometimes I have to make modifications that a non-disabled person wouldn’t have to make, or there may be some exercises I can’t do at all. It is not hard to modify a workout to accommodate a physical disability, and even though you see a trainer doing an exercise standing, that doesn’t mean you can’t do that exercise from a seated position. I am able to do a shoulder press and tricep extension while sitting in a chair, even though my trainer is demonstrating how to do these moves while standing most of the time. If an exercise is telling you to do a bicep curl while squatting at the same time, but you can’t squat, then don’t and take that part out and just do the bicep curl. There will always be exercises you can’t do because of your disability and you can’t change that, but you would be surprised by how much you can modify in a workout. People sometimes make exercise so complicated, but it can be quite simple, and all it takes is a little creativity and knowing your abilities.
Try strength training– I love strength training because I use my arms for everything I do, and it is important to have strong arms when you use them to walk. Everyone can benefit from strength training because it’s not just about the physical changes’ strength training gives you and it’s also important for good joint health. You don’t have to lift the heaviest weight at the gym because there are a lot of resistance exercises that use your own body weight that can improve your strength. Cardio is important for disabled people, but it can be difficult because there are not a lot of accessible cardio workouts. Strength training is accessible for a lot of people with physical disabilities because there are so many different kinds of moves that can be done seated, and you can turn a strength workout into a cardio workout by moving quicker or lifting heavier. I am by no means saying that strength training is a replacement for cardio because it’s not, but it can give you some cardio benefits if you are pressed for time. Strength training has given me so many benefits, and I love it because you can easily make it accessible, and it’s one of the few forms of exercise that my disability doesn’t prevent me from doing well.
Create your own home gym- Gyms are great, but often are not accessible for disabled people because sometimes there is more equipment you can’t use than what you can, and a gym membership is a waste of money. I will never pay for a gym membership because you have to be able to drive to access the gym, and there are so many ways to exercise at home without paying for an expensive gym membership. Create your own home gym and invest in some gym equipment, such as weights, resistance bands, and a yoga mat to start your fitness journey. I love working out at home because I don’t have to worry about a stranger touching my gym equipment who just went to the bathroom and didn’t wash their hands. Home workouts keep me accountable because you can’t make as many excuses when all your gym equipment is in your bedroom. You don’t need to have a bunch of expensive gym equipment, and all you really need is a yoga mat, weights, and maybe a bike for cardio. Home workouts make it easy to make fitness accessible because you can buy equipment that you actually benefit from.
Reset my fitness goals– Ten thousand steps is a realistic goal for many non-disabled people, but for difficult for people with disabilities. Walking ten thousand steps a day is sometimes possible for some disabled people, but depending on what disability you have, it can take some time to get there, and that is okay. My Fitbit says I should be walking ten thousand steps a day, but as a disabled person, I know I can’t do that, so instead of overtraining and trying to walk ten thousand steps, I reset my goals and made it a little bit lower. I aim to walk sixty-five hundred steps a day and slowly increase my step count as I get stronger, because it is okay if you can’t exercise like everyone else and need to make smaller goals to accommodate your disability. I don’t like that it is recommended that everyone walk ten thousand steps because it leaves the disabled community behind and makes people who can’t do that feel bad.
Exercise can be hard for disabled people because fitness is not accessible, and we need to stop shaming disabled people for not exercising, but instead show people how they can move their bodies more. Some disabled people are not able to do any exercise, and that is okay, but it can be frustrating for those who can because not all exercises are possible. It sometimes can take hours to find an accessible workout, and not everyone has that kind of time, which is why I don’t look for workouts that are completely accessible but instead modify them to fit my specific needs. I wish accessible workouts weren’t so difficult to find, but they are, and there is not much we can do to change that except advocate for more accessible workouts and hope we create change. Exercise is hard with a disability, but we shouldn’t use our disabilities as an excuse to not exercise. Find an activity that you can enjoy that will keep you moving, and it is okay if it looks a little different from your non-disabled friends. How do you exercise while living with a disability? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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