Last week was not good– not in the life of the world, nor my nation, nor me, for that matter. Leaving aside the first two for the moment, I had noticed some pain and buckling of my left knee while walking. The pain was a lot-a-lot worse after driving or otherwise sitting for a good while.
On Tuesday, as I got out of my car, having driven 70 minutes from work to my polling place, I could hardly walk without pain. An extremely nice woman with a seven-year-old child offered to help me walk inside to vote. At first, I demurred, thinking I could do it. But then I took her up on her offer, putting my arm around her shoulder. Together we made it inside, and both carried out our civic duties. Thank you so much, fellow Belmont voter!
Once I got started walking, I could find a way to walk without pain. But it required some experimentation and no twisting of my left knee. Clearly, I’ve got some problem or other (my guess: IT band problems, which I’ve had before). Sigh. This means seeing my doctor and getting a referral to physical therapy. Sigh again.
Honestly, I don’t mind PT. The physical therapists at the practice I go to are very knowledgeable and encouraging, and I enjoy the exercises. However, for me it’s a challenge to schedule and maintain a regimen of at-home exercises in between sessions.
Enter my serendipitous new exercise accountability group.
It just so happens that a friend, who’s in physical therapy now, texted a few folks to ask if anyone was willing to be an exercise accountability partner for her. The response was immediate and impressive.
Isn’t that lovely? I thought so, too. Not only that, but everyone in the text thread added that they could use some help with either their PT exercises (in every life, injuries do happen) or their strength training, or their at-home workouts.
Enter the exercise accountability group, newest edition. Yes, I know, accountability partners and groups are no news to anyone. BUT, in my experience, their theoretical goodness often exceeds their practical efficacy. To be fair, I am often the weak link in the accountability n-tuple, as consistency and follow-through over time are probably my main hobgoblins. That helps explain why, after being set free from PT, newly fixed up and ready to function and maintain on my own, I tend to let daily exercises lapse. Sigh.
But hey, hope springs eternal. And this newest exercise accountability group is getting underway now– today! The first person posted about their plans for the week, and we will all follow suit. Then, we check in with the group as we do the things we planned. I like it– simple yet powerful.
Yeah, I know– what if someone doesn’t post on Sunday? Or doesn’t check in during the week to say what they’ve done? Do we ask them? Encourage them? Put together an online tote board to add up number of workouts or workout time each week? Should we give gift cards to the ones who stick most closely to their proposed plans?
There are some really nice features of being part of an accountability group:
- I’m not alone–there are others going through similar processes.
- I can rely on them for encouragement and support.
- I can, uh, well, maybe ask for help if I need it?
But I’m also aware of the potential downsides (for me) of opening myself up to an accountability group:
- I’m under pressure to make a doable plan and then execute that plan (both hard things for me).
- When I invariably miss some part of that plan, I will have to reveal that information to the group.
- I will have feelings about those revelations, which are not pleasant.
Again, all this is no news to anyone. Many of us feel vulnerable about consistency and follow-through of exercise plans. And speaking for myself, I often feel shame about not being more active, more self-caring, more organized in carrying out my (often very grand) plans for self-improvement.
But maybe, just maybe, an accountability group can actually help with those unpleasant feelings. That is, we/I don’t have to be alone when we/I didn’t get around to doing a planned at-home PT session. We/I can message the group, who will:
- sympathize with us
- share their own challenges with maintaining their plans
- encourage us to get back to it or alter our plan in light of whatever came up, or take a day of rest, all in service of general self care
There’s no shame or embarrassment anywhere in sight.
So it begins. I’ll report back in a month to let you all know how it’s going. I’d say wish us luck, but we don’t need it– we just need each other.
Wow, I’d never come across the idea of an accountability group. My variation has been to have appointments for online or in person meetings for various training. But there are SO many little stretches & strengthening exercises I just never seem to get to – I am going to see if I can find a group like this. Thanks for the idea.
Good luck to you with your group!