#but it helped me a lot and ive gained a much larger range of motion and am in much less daily pain because of it

[violentviolette]

since i started talking about calisthenics and the kind of exercise i do as a spoonie with a lot of chronic pain and bone/joint problems ive gotten a couple questions so i thought it might be helpful to make a post kind of outlining some basics that really helped me get started but that i think often get really overlooked when ppl first start thinking of "working out" and the preconceived notions of what abled society tells us that looks like

so for me its all about engaging ur muscles. this is huge because a lot of us, myself included, arent actually very used to actively engaging our muscles during rest. and what i mean by engaging is literally just having the muscle be active without being clenched up. the more u use a muscle, the more active it learns to be, even when sitting, lying down, or resting. it learns to stay engaged and stay doing its job which is holding ur bones together and ur body in the correct position. but if u arent engaging ur muscles consistently, they get used to being overly relaxed and lose strength and form and then struggle when u want to go and use them. this is often combined with poor posture and a huge problem for those of us whose bones and joints dont like to stay where they are and need extra support, as overly relaxed muscles have a more difficult time maintaining proper form and shape. this also makes everything from traditional exercise to just moving around doing daily tasks much more difficult and dangerous, as its way easier for bad form and posture to cause us injury or pain

but engaging ur muscles is actually a very easy and simple thing, it requires no equipment or special moves and can be done sitting, lying down, or standing up. u can do ur whole body all at once or break it up into different parts throughout the day. there's also variations to make it easier in places as u progress

easiest first step i found to get urself used to this is something called progressive muscle relaxation. which is literally just starting at the top of ur body and tensing and then relaxing each muscle group for a few seconds as u work ur way down. it's usually paired with meditation but u dont have to. i usually do it to music cause i find guided meditations boring. a lot of people like to do it either in the morning or right before bed, as it can often help relieve tension and stress and make it easier to fall asleep. there are basic guides like this one

when ur first starting if u want a little extra help identifying what and where ur muscles are so u know ur tensing the right ones in the right ways. once uve done those enough that things are easy, u can break it down even further and isolate more specific muscles and add those in as well. charts like these

where u look up specific muscle groups (in thise case shoulder/upper body muscle groups) can help u visualize exactly where ur muscles are, what directions they go in and what they're connected to, which can help u in understanding how to move and control them

understanding the muscles in ur body and having good control over each area can help so much more than u think when it comes to everyday things. slow, deliberate movement is really the key to that and once u get used to each muscle group and have identified which ones u want to work on, u can isolate those groups and start doing basic calisthenics.

a great resource for that is a channel like hybrid calisthenics which i really like for learning new exercises with lots of options for variations and low impact. his exercises almost always require no equipment, very little impact, and focus on control and stability which are much more beneficial and friendly for spoonies, chronically ill, and disabled people

but even if u dont want to or cant progress farther, simply engaging those muscles for a few minutes a days every day on its own will still help a lot and can make a big difference for some people