Hello extraordinary humans,

This month I am celebrating a real measurable milestone in my concussion recovery:

I can now “happily” maintain a heart rate for 130BPM on a stationary bike for 25 minutes.

It’s honestly huge deal and something that I am incredibly proud of.

Towards the end of last summer, I unofficially stopped training. Not just aerial, not just things that hurt, EVERYTHING. My exercise intolerance and fatigue from the concussion were too extreme and I was constantly crashing and driving terrible symptom flares. I knew I needed to move (the right dose of movement is crucial in almost all rehab situations) but I also knew I couldn’t train.

So I stopped trying to train or exercise. I spent about 5 months where surviving my coaching days and eating enough food was enough “work” for my body. I walked for short distances when I felt like I could and did breathing exercises, every parasympathetic nervous system intervention I knew of and short, low intensity visual and vestibular rehab. I also spent hours researching concussions, fatigue and how the FUCK to get better. Little by little I started to recover.

I didn’t know it at the time but I was dealing with multi-system melt downs driven by dysautonomia (a disorder of the autonomic nervous system,) visual and vestibular fatigue/dysfunction and neuro-inflammation. All of these things meant that I couldn’t produce energy effectively, use it properly or recover from exertion.

In April of this year I finally had a Buffalo Concussion test run. This is the TOP thing I wish I had know about at the beginning of my injury. I wish I had been evaluated sooner. In some concussion protocols this test is run as soon as 2 days post injury or even used as a diagnostic procedure if they are uncertain that a concussion was sustained. It’s ridiculously simple and not something that I should have had to wait this long to find but hey…here we are.

I was officially diagnosed with dysautonomia and given my first heart rate range to start rehabbing my exercise intolerance and maybe the dysautonomia (too soon to tell on this one). It was 100-105 BPM LOL. Let me tell you that is SLOW!

(It is also one of the most crucial metrics I have ever been given. It explained why every attempt to exercise or move flattened me, 105 bpm is really limiting and I was accidentally putting myself outside a safe range by just walking up the stairs some days.)

Almost 4 months later and I am FINALLY able to feel good work again. 130BPM for 20 minutes is a light leg burn, a lovely amount of sweat and something I never thought I would enjoy in a million years hahah.

I love it, I really do.

The rest of my rehab has begun to sky rocket. Getting the right amount of physical exercise and blood flow has increased my brains ability to rewire and heal.

What my current training looks like is 25 -30 minutes of cardio staying at 130BPM for 20 minutes, with a warm up and cool down at either end. Once I get 7-10 good sessions in (no symptoms in session and no big crashes) then I move up 5BPM and repeat. When I can maintain 145BPM for 20 minutes, I can start introducing intervals and strength training.

Other than the cardio I do about 5 minutes of light body weight or cable machine work. The main goal is to explore what feels safe and easy right now while lightly challenging my cerebellum and it’s communication with my vestibular system. Some of my current favourites are:

​Side plank Cs ​

​Wood Chops​

​Side plank rolls​

All of these have a weight transfer, rotation or shift that stimulates my vestibular system and requires my cerebellum to detect and correct any errors in movement. They are also exercises that were all a regular part of my training before my injury so again, HUGE win to be able to reintroduce these at all. These are all great for improving strength, stability and mobility through the ribs, hips, shoulders and spine - and in my clients programming I often include them in a short accessory circuit or as a warm up for harder strength based work.

It feels monumental to be able to train again even though it looks very different than what training looked like for the majority of my life. I have loved moving my entire life, losing that ability was terrifying and regaining it (even slowly) is incredible and also an immense privilege.

130BPM is a performance goal I never knew I’d care about but I am so glad to celebrate it

Thank you for taking the time to celebrate it with me! I hope your August is going well, and if you are in the northern hemisphere, let’s all soak up that last little bit of summer.

I’ve got some new things cooking for the fall and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Sido

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