Friends,

Proper rest and recovery – who needs it?

In case you’re looking for a quick answer, the answer is…we all do.  Unfortunately, many of us don’t get enough of it.  For a little more detail, keep reading 😊.

Last Friday, I had a rough day with my MS.  What caused it?  In my opinion, it was from doing too much too soon without enough rest and recovery in between workouts.  As we gradually ramp up to our “Day of Endurance” in August, we need to keep in mind that we need to do just that, gradually ramp up.  If we try to do too much too soon, our MS won’t cooperate as nicely as if we gradually ramp up.

So how much is the right amount and how much is too much too soon?  Each of us is going to have a different answer to this depending upon what we’re capable of doing.  We need to listen to our body (we’re all different) and do as much as we can.  If we do a good job of listening to our bodies, we’ll get that right amount figured out.  Let’s pay attention to our recovery time.  We should feel pretty good within 2-3 hours after our workout.  If it takes us 2-3 days to recover, we did too much too soon.  Just like MS is different for all of us, so is our recovery time.  We all need to be patient, it takes time to build up.

A good practice for us to get into as we build up is to:

  • Stretch and get loosened up before our workout
  • Do our workout and stay hydrated during it
  • Stretch and get loosened back up after the workout (good time for massage, rollers, leg balloons, vibration therapy, etc.)
  • Get proper nutrition and hydration right after our workouts
  • Rest and recover – get a good night’s rest

That all sounds good in theory but it’s really hard to do.  For me, I’ll commit to the workouts and do the workouts but I’m terrible at stretching before and after.  I also don’t get enough rest and then I have days like I had last Friday.  I’m fine now again though.  It’s scientifically proven that doing too much too soon doesn’t make our MS worse as a disease.  It just takes us longer to get back to our starting point before we did too much too soon and we don’t make the progress we could as soon as we could.  It’s a really tough balance…you can do it!

Let’s do our best to listen to our bodies, do the stretches, do the workouts, do the stretches again, get the proper hydration and nutrition and get enough rest.  That’s a long sentence, do you see why I say it’s really a tough balance?  Good luck on your journey!  We’re here to help you.

Last week I wrote about “Is it worth it?”  I would encourage you to go back to last weeks e-mail and answer that question for yourself.  If you deleted it, you can find it on our website at this link:  Click Here

Culvers Fund Raising Event – This Wednesday evening – Tomorrow evening

Please join us and encourage your family and friends to come to Culvers on January 18th.  Let’s get together in a different setting, enjoy a meal and companionship together.

We have it posted on our MS-Just Keep Moving Facebook page.  It would also be helpful if you posted it on your personal Facebook page and help us promote it.  Please invite your family and friends.  Can you do that for us?

It will be awesome to see everyone in a social environment having some fun, eating some good food and supporting a great cause as we get together.  I hope to see you there!

Here’s some info:

https://www.culvers.com/restaurants/muskego

We are hoping the funds raised at this event will cover any expenses incurred for the indoor triathlon at Westwood April 2nd and the training leading up to it.  Let’s do our best to have some fun and make this beneficial for Culvers and for us.

Whether you’re a friend with MS or volunteer, please wear your charcoal colored T-shirt to this event.

Kate Born needs three more people with MS for her study @ Marquette University

I realize many of you have already participated in Kate’s study.  Thank you for doing that!  We all benefit from these studies and it’s critical we continue to engage in them.  If you haven’t participated in this study yet, please consider doing so.  Here’s some information:

We miss you John!
As most of you know, John Haupt was involved in a car accident when the police were chasing a teenager and the teenager hit John.

This could have been so much worse.  John ended up hitting his head, breaking his strong leg and totaling his van.  He’s healing nicely but we sure miss him at the gym.  Let’s hope he heals quickly and gets back soon.

Let’s also hope we can have safer streets and get these high speed chases under control.  Here’s a link to a story TMJ4 did about John’s accident.  https://www.tmj4.com/news/project-drive-safer/shorewood-man-battling-multiple-sclerosis-faces-new-hurdle-because-of-a-reckless-driver

A friend of Johns started a gofundme account for John to help him recover and get a new van.  We all know John, he’s always helping others and raising lots of money for many causes but doesn’t accept help for himself very well.  That’s just who he is.  He could certainly use a little help now.

If you’d like to help John during these tough times, here’s an opportunity to do so.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/now-johnny-needs-a-big-push?qid=ffee4bd53c6aa439229bf0317515a01c

No Regrets opportunity for the men of our MS Just Keep Moving Family
Please join us on Saturday, February 4, 2023 as we “Livestream” (on the BIG TV) the No Regrets Men’s Conference.  The event starts at 8:00 AM and ends at 1:00 PM.

The event will feature group worship, compelling messages from leading pastors and teachers, testimonies of how other men have done it and seminars on the topics of most interest to you. Take advantage of this day to avoid the distractions of life and enhance our relationship with Jesus Christ, the solid rock on which we stand.
Here is a link to the event – No Regrets Men’s Conference – No Regrets Men’s Conference (noregretsconference.org)
There is no cost to attend the event, but if you would like lunch, we’ll each be pitching in $10.00.  Please let Cal or Larry know if you plan to attend.

COVID
We didn’t have any new people test positive for COVID again this past week.  Yeah…3 weeks in a row!  Let’s hope it stays that way.

To all who have reported their positive testing to me…thank you for letting me know and for being socially responsible and staying away until your symptoms are all cleared up.  If you do come down with it, it’s important we let people know that you have been in close contact with so they can watch for symptoms and help stop the spread.

We’ve all been dealing with COVID long enough and are very well educated on it by now.  I’m not telling you what to do but I’d highly encourage you to wear a mask again if you haven’t had it recently.  Let’s make good choices and be safe.

Please stay home if you have any symptoms or know you’ve been exposed to someone with the virus.  Please don’t come until your symptoms go away.  Let’s also give each other some space when talking to one another and continue wiping the machines down before and after you use them with disinfectant.  Again…let’s be socially responsible and stay safe!

Let’s get together!
We’ll be getting together again from 9:00am – noon on Wednesday and Friday mornings at the gym.  I hope you’ll join us!  If we don’t have enough volunteers, please help each other.

Wisconsin Metal Parts – Westmound Building
MS-Just Keep Moving, Inc.
W228N791 Westmound Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186

Prayer Group  We’ll be having our prayer group Wednesday @ 11:00am.
I just love the way we share, pray and laugh together while we witness prayers being answered weekly.  It’s truly amazing!

Thanks goes to God and to everyone that joins us.  Let’s get together to share, listen, talk, give thanks, and pray however God leads us.

MS Just Keep Caring – Our Caregivers support group will be the first and third Friday of each month from 10:00 – 10:30am.  The next one will be this Friday, January 20th.  If you’re a caregiver of someone you love with MS, please join us and share your experience of caring for your loved one.  This has been very helpful for many.  Thanks to all who participate!

 

Friday Morning Bike Rides
Let’s ride indoors all winter so we can pick up where we left off next spring.  The bikes are all set up at the gym.

Our Facebook page is private.  That means you’ll need to join if you want access to all our fun and progress.  We’re now up to 336 members…awesome!   https://www.facebook.com/groups/2639832389489709

Our Facebook page is very active and fun.  Lots of people are doing more and sharing some of their journey on Facebook.  Feel free to join, post and share your experience and comments.  Thank you to all who are sharing!

There were some awesome pictures, videos and comments shared again this past week.

Thai Massage with Ricky Heldt
Ricky will be here Wednesday and Friday again this week doing Thai Massage.  Ricky says he is comfortable to work with you even if you’re not wearing a mask.  Ricky will continue to wear one to protect you.

Many continue making great progress with chronic pain relief, range of motion, walking better and a new sense of hope when Ricky works with them.  Please keep in mind that consistency is key.  Not only with Ricky…with exercise too.  We need consistencyto realize the benefits long term.  We want you to have long term relief.

Ricky has a sign up sheet based on first come first serve.  You can pick the time slot that works for you.  I highly encourage you to take advantage of Ricky’s Thai Massages each day and sign up for your time slot as soon as you get there.

Reiki with Linda  Linda will be here on Fridays doing Reiki.  Many people say Linda’s Reiki work is “magical”.  We’re thankful for Linda offering her gifts and talents to us.  Feel free to let Linda know you’d like to do Reiki with her.  She also has a sign up sheet.

Inspirational Humor with Adam Wollert
We’ll be having our inspirational humor zoom call with Adam again next Tuesday.  Adam is a gift to all of us.

Please join us if you can.
Tuesdays @ 1:30PM
Here’s the link to join us…I hope you do!
Join Zoom Meeting with this link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9431389152?pwd=bWlYbFNaazVnM1M1cWxWMitlODdXUT09

Meeting ID: 943 138 9152
Passcode: 3qP2hu
Phone:   1-312-626-6799

Let’s reach out
I encourage you to share a smile and encouragement with someone.  Perhaps you could call someone that you have not talked with for a while just to say hi and see how they are doing.  We all could use a little extra love and encouragement.

MS is tough.  Let us have faith, remain calm, be flexible, help each other and learn as much as we can about the challenges of each day as we make good choices.

Let’s keep moving and smiling 😊

In God We Trust…we are in good hands
Dan

http://msjustkeepmoving.org/

P.S.  This past weekend, I made it back to the Mississippi River near Dubuque, Iowa again.  I had some more fun chasing the eagles around.  This guy had a little snack in his mouth.

This one came pretty close to me as he circled near the shore.

They would sit in a tree overlooking the river and wait for fish to surface. At one time, there were up to 6 eagles in the same tree.

I liked watching them land in the tree.

The ducks were doing some fishing too.

If you get a chance to go to Dubuque this winter, go by the dam.  I took all these pictures from the car.

It seems like some of you like my cardinal pictures too.  I thought I’d share another one from this past weekend.

For those of you who can’t get out and enjoy nature due your challenges with MS…my heart is with you.  You are with me every time I’m out there.  I enjoy being out there and I also enjoy sharing with you.  I know how hard it is not to be able to get out and enjoy nature.