My Current Crohn’s Exercise Routine

Working out consistently is crucial for our bodies to stay healthy and happy. We all know this, but as Crohn’s patients, working out isn’t so simple.

Crohn's or UC make it difficult to be consistent

We deal with a million variables every single day. Will today be a day that I flare? Will today be a day I struggle with fatigue? 

Is today that day where I wake up feeling amazing but after lunch, I want to crawl into bed and get in the fetal position and pray the pain goes away? Oh, the uncertainties.

Basically, I think everyone with Crohn’s would love to be able to get into a healthy exercise routine that is consistent and will make them feel better. But due to the nature of our diagnosis, it’s hard to be consistent with exercise.

It is impossible to exercise during an IBD flare

There were a couple of years in my Crohn’s journey where the thought of exercise literally stressed me out. And this is coming from an ex-professional classical dancer. I am an athlete at heart and working out/moving my body makes me so happy.

But when you are in a flare, it is near impossible to muster up enough energy to do two jumping jacks. I mean forget it. It’s hard enough to walk to the bathroom from your bed.

Feeling better these days

However, as we all know, the Crohn’s journey contains many ups and downs. At the moment, I am for the first time feeling my best since I was diagnosed in 2011.

I am finally on a medication that allows me to feel like a functioning human being again. Don’t get me wrong, I am not in remission yet and I still deal with symptoms every day, but I can function. I think you completely get what I mean.

What my Crohn's exercise routine looks like now

And with this level of functioning, I am able to think about exercise again. And lo and behold, I have been able to be consistent! So what does my exercise regimen look like?

Well, I think we can all agree that working out first thing in the morning is near impossible. I am on the toilet in the mornings. And I’m there for quite some time. So I do my workouts in the afternoon.

My go-to is YouTube videos. They are free. Convenient. I can exercise at my own pace and if I have to use the restroom in the middle of class, no biggie.

I pause the video, do my thing and come back at my own pace and resume. It’s the best.

Currently, I am doing a 30-45 minute intermediate yoga class. I am loving a good Vinyasa Flow these days and find that it makes me feel amazing.

My core feels tight, my arms feel strong and I love that my flexibility is challenged. After this class, I do some weight lifting with dumbbells and some kettlebell swings by following another Youtuber.

Trying to hit my goal

It’s great because since the classes are online you get to choose what level and length of the class. I like to work out for about an hour or hour and fifteen minutes 3-4 times a week. And this past month I have been pretty consistent with hitting that goal!

I see my body changing and getting stronger, and that is the best feeling, especially when you haven’t been able to work out in years.

How about you? Do you exercise? If you are able, what is your exercise routine? Share below, we love to hear from you.