I love Zookeeping

[urbpan]

But it's really bad for your back. I've got separate upper and lower back strain injuries from lifting and carrying things, and I can really feel them when I bend and stoop, which is pretty much constantly at work. If health insurance was sane and logical, the zoo would be sending me to the gym to build strength in my abdominal muscles and upper body so that I would be less likely to injure myself and more able to lift and carry. Instead health insurance seems to mainly cover emergencies, like when you throw your back out and have to miss time at work.

I should go to a gym on my own, but it's just too expensive. Also, all these people that go to the gym all the time, when do they actually do it? My dad goes right when the gym opens at 5 or whatever. Other people seem to go after work. I guess there's time if you are willing to sacrifice it, but I feel like we have to grasp for all the time we have already.

Comments

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

It would make sense for health insurance to include gym memberships...I know some places DO pay for gym memberships, but they are usually corporations who have the money to spare, or that's their opinion. I would think having your employees in good physical condition would benefit any position that was so physically demanding like yours...do they offer discounted programs or anything like that to go towards gym membership?
When I was a member at Gold's Gym I only paid $30 a month (not sure if that's too expensive to you or not) and what I did was express my interest in joining to one of the customer associates and just made sure they knew I didn't make much money and wouldn't sign unless there wasn't a sign up fee and if the monthly fee was under $40...you just have to haggle a little and you could find a good deal. Now I'm a member of a private gym (not a big name one) and I'm paying less than I did at Gold's...it's possible to find something that could work for you! :)
I agree you have to grasp the time you have available, but it doesn't hurt to devote an hour occasionally to helping your body, which you are stuck with for awhile :)
When I can't make it to the gym I do home workouts with my Hip Hop Abs DVD set just so that I still make an effort.
I haven't been working for a bit, but I definitely remember the aches and pains...not good times :P

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

It's very important to take care of your back, but on the other hand I do consider time at the gym as time wasted myself. Maybe you should take up a class like a martial art, or maybe something like yoga or pilates? I find when you're in a class you're more likely to show up than to the boring gym, and the other people around you give you motivation and make the time pass quicker. It would probably be cheaper too.

[nutmeg.livejournal.com]

If it is obviously from work and really affecting your ability to work, you could try to get workman's comp to cover physical therapy, which would largely help you strengthen those muscles.

When I was in desperate straights, I did some living room you tube yoga to stretch and strengthen some largely ignored muscle groups and that helped a lot.

I've replaced my monthly visits to my osteopathic manipulation doc (like a chiropractor with a medical degree and more training) with a gym membership. At 40 dollars a visit for the Osteopath vs 30 dollars for the gym, I figured I saved enough money to pay a trainer to show me how to safely exercise the muscles that cause the vast majority of my chronic neck pain and MAN has it helped my quality of life. I know my insurance company covers a gym membership if you visit 150 times in a year they will reimburse you 150 dollars toward your membership. I don't like going to the gym and I do feel like I should be doing other things, but my quality of life has greatly improved with weight training, so I estimate I've gained more time than I've lost.

I hate chronic pain and I hope you can find a way to strengthen your back (and also your abdominal muscles) to help with your pain.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

see a good physiotherapist or chiropractor and ask for excercises you can do at home.

[frith]

The colleagues that go to the gym do so after work. We have a package deal for our zoo that reduces the gym membership fee provided we have a minimum number of adherents (I don't know what the numbers are). Personally, I don't attend gyms, my exercise has to be incidental to other activity, like mowing the lawn and cycling to work. You may want to look into Wii exercise programs. I used to have crippling back pain. My back has been great for several years now. The pain stopped after I took a few months off work for R&R (not the gorilla kind of R&R). Then I traded in my back pain for bursitis in my right shoulder which I have 99% cured, so I traded in the bursitis for two slightly sprained thumbs. There's always something.

[obie119.livejournal.com]

My back went kablooie this spring, and so I started seeing a good PT - the back problem was stemming from a weak core...my PT insurance ran out but I still do the exercises twice a day - once after waking and once before sleeping. It is maybe 10 minutes each time and makes a big difference.

[audacian.livejournal.com]

Insurance make sense? Your wishfull thinking is cute, Jef.

Do you have a Planet Fitness by you? It's kind of a crapshack, but it's $10 a month and they do have some things.

I go right after work - it's on my way home. I only spend maybe an hour there. I'm not exactly busy at night, though, although it does cut into my TV and computering time.

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

I've been doing Crossfit, which really gets results, and you only have to do it 3 times a week, about 45 minutes at a time. Very expensive though.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

crossfit can be very inexpensive if one has the discipline to build a mini-gym at home, and do the WOTD on the www... but getting the training to do the moves is either trial-by-error (do it right, or get hurt), or getting live training for a while.

nothing beats doing it with other people for that extra edge, but lots of people are doing CF at home on the cheap.

for core, for the back, nothing beats a basic set of exercises and stretches one can knock off in the morning. doing them regularly is the trick. note to self: do this more :)

#

[propaddict.livejournal.com]

^^^^I was going to suggest Crossfit. Been doing it (off and on) for 4 years now. It's great, and you can slowly build up your own gym on the cheap, subbing as necessary along the way.

[vodkanoodles.livejournal.com]

Is your zoo associated with a uni? If so you can probably access cheap physio and gym via the nearest campus.. If not I'd pay for a private instructor in pilaties, yoga or some sessions with a PT.. That watcher learn you, your injuries and give you routine to do on your own but make sure your alignment is correct before setting you adrift..
It was the most help for me after breaking my tailbone and spraining my sacral illiiac at work last year.. That said I got to try accupuncture, feldenkraos, PT and yoga through workers comp so was relatively spoiled