Core Principle #3 – FREQUENCY

The F.I.T.T principle is something everyone should consider when designing an exercise program.

Frequency
Intensity
Time
Type

These 4 principles are even more important when it comes to exercise for Parkinson’s Disease. Arguably none more so than Frequency.

Because of the damage to the Basal Ganglia, Parkinson’s patients will experience a decreased carry over from one exercise session to the next in terms of memory of choreography, progressions in complexity, and skill acquisition. This means it is vital to do at least some exercise every day.

This may sound daunting but remember we are after quality not quantity in your exercise sessions. So 20 minutes of maximal effort challenging exercise every day is much more valuable than 2 or 3 sessions per week that an hour in duration.

With that in mind:

1. What are the strategies you are using to ensure you are keeping your frequency of exercise high.

2. What are the barriers you face in maintaining this frequency?

Related Articles

September – Stephen Knox

Stephen attends our ARC clinic weekly for PD Warrior group sessions and you will also recognise him from our Thursday online gym sessions.
He is tenacious in his commitment to exercise and fighting Parkinson’s and does an outstanding job putting into words his Relationship with Parkinson’s…
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Past, Present and Future, by Stephen Knox:
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“Writing a story about something that occupies your past, present and future…

January – Julio d’Escrivan

Julio is the perfect example of dreaming big and not letting Parkinson’s Disease put a ceiling on what you think you can achieve. Remember your goals and achievements are specific to YOU. Your marathon might be successfully walking around the block. Your Ironman might be climbing a set of stairs with more confidence. I hope you find Julio’s story as motivating as I did:
I am a composer of music for audio=visual media and a Senior Lecturer in Music and Sound for The Screen at the University of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire…

Responses

  1. Time. I work 3 days a week, have a young daughter and cannot work out in the afternoon as meds are less effective. I like to exercise in the morning when my first dose of medication kicks in but this is an hour after taking them, I can only get up so early.

  2. [This is intended as a comment on Jason’s post about Frequency. For some reason it appears under two posts about Warrior Spirit Awards…]
    Jason, when you write ‘So 20 minutes of maximal effort challenging exercise every day is much more valuable than 2 or 3 sessions per week that an hour in duration’ that hits a spot I am struggling with. After ten weeks I am not fluent in most of the exercises, meaning a lot of attention goes to for example keeping my balance; and that prevents me from reaching 80% effort. So in an exercise session of one hour, I will work maybe 15 minutes at high effort.
    Let me take Heisman as an example. I intend to do it as demonstrated, but struggle a lot with keeping my balance, at the expense of intensity. I can stay on my two feet and make the arm movements more powerful, but then I feel I miss out on the knee lift which I want to master…
    Any thoughts?

Tracker

Tracker

The tracker is designed to help you track the amount of time you spend in scheduled exercise each day. Scheduled exercise is activity you have prioritised in your day for health and to help slow your Parkinson’s down. This might include PD Warrior exercise, fast walking, golfing, going to the gym etc. It does not include incidental activity such as housework & gardening (although we hope this increases too). The aim of the tracker is to help you build an exercise habit and to keep you accountable, so try and enter something each day.
At the end of the 10 Week Challenge you can download and review your overall performance.

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