Training with a Disability

I have a disability. Unfortunately, it means that I go through periods of time where I’m in the hospital or confined to a bed, or otherwise impeded in my daily life. And as anyone knows with a disability, sometimes these facts of life can lead to depressive moods. When it comes to exercises, there are certain movement patterns and exercises I simply cannot perform - not because I lack the desire but rather because they would exacerbate health problems I already have. I know I’m certainly not the only person with these issues. My point here is not say, “oh look poor me”. I just want to acknowledge that there are millions upon millions of other disabled persons around the world who struggle not just in their day to day lives but will certainly come up against a bigger more strenuous wall of challenges if they ever try to exercise or get into training. I think that every disabled person should train. And that is what this article is about.

First, there are numerous universal benefits to training and exercise. A lot of these are physical - you build muscle, reduce fat, look better than you otherwise would have, reduce the likelihood of all kinds of sicknesses, increase your lifespan, lower hypertension, etc - but though the physical benefits are wide-ranging, I think the mental and spiritual benefits which are equally diverse and powerful, tend to get overlooked. As for these, training, at least for me, is an almost meditative experience. I don’t meditate - I don’t focus just on my breathing or on the absence of thoughts. However, when I workout, my focus is entirely on the movement, the feel of weight on my back, the contraction and elongation of my muscles, or each brace and breath. I don’t have time to contemplate my day or replay conversations in my head or worry about tomorrow’s important presentation. I can’t let feelings of depression swim over me. Its just me and the barbell and the pit of the squat or the lockout of the bar on a bench press.

But its not just the meditative and consequent mood boosting aspects. After completing a workout, endorphins and feel good hormones flood your body for hours afterwards. I’ve found through the years that if I am experiencing minor aches and pains, often a workout can leave me feeling fully alleviated - all without a pill or a tablet or anything beyond the movement patterns and challenges of the exercises.

All these benefits of training can be found by normal people as well as those with disabilities, but I would argue that for those with added difficulties the marginal benefits of exercise are even greater than those for normal folks. For example, if you’re having trouble breathing due to any number of diseases or conditions, increasing your lunge capacity, heart strength, and body’s ability to send oxygen throughout your body, can profoundly increase your quality of life. Whereas a normal person, might not be experiencing breathing trouble and will only notice the marginal benefits of an increased Vo2 max whenever they decide to walk up four flights of stairs or run around the yard playing with their kids - not when they are sitting in a chair talking to friends.

So if you’re disabled, I would encourage you to take on the challenge of training. I know its not an easy challenge, its not a small one, its can seem big a insurmountable. But the good thing is, you can always start small and slowly over time build up from there. For instance, just start with something you can do, if its walking, then walk 5 minutes a day, if you’re confined to a wheelchair get some dumbbells and do 1 set of bicep curls for 20 reps each day. In the beginning, it doesn’t have to be inconvenient - in fact it shouldn’t be - otherwise you are doing it wrong. You just have to get started. And as you progress each day, slowly being able to walk further or curl more weight for more reps, and you notice some of the benefits I mentioned in this paper, then you can build up. Training is a lifelong journey that never ends, which means its all about the journey and the challenges along the way - enjoy them!