I have been going to spinning classes during the week as part of my MS150 training, and there is one instructor who constantly has us do exercises and says things that really make me think about MS and what it means to people.

In the class last night, we were doing strength workouts designed to improve leg strength and aerobic capacity at the same time. That usually involves pedaling with high resistance and doing shorter duration intervals.

Towards the end of our last interval last night, he started talking about what it means to "quit" and what it means to "fail". Keep in mind that his comments are directed at healthy people, not people with physical limitations imposed by a disease, but I think some of it applies to everything we do as well.

What he did in the interval I am talking about is slowly build up the resistance we were pedaling against until we either wanted to quit or stand up to pedal. As we were doing that, he was saying that we can't know what we are capable of unless we are not afraid to fail. If we are afraid to fail and we quit instead, then all we will know is what we are "willing" to do, not what we are "capable" of doing. Basically, he was saying if we quit before we fail, then we are cheating ourselves out of learning what we truly are capable of.

Then he finally let us stand up to pedal, but he kept telling us to increase the resistance and not be afraid to fail. He turned out all the lights so you could barely see anybody else, and kept telling us about every 15 seconds to increase the resistance again. Finally, as everybody was really starting to struggle, he reiterated again not to be afraid to fail, and told us that the interval was over for each of us when we couldn't pedal anymore.

Then he went back to telling us to increase resistance about every 15 seconds. All you could hear was the music (an updated bluesy version of the old hymn "Solid Rock"), the sound of bikes squeaking and wheels turning erratically as people struggled to keep going. There were groans, lots of hard breathing, and slowly you heard the distinctive sound of bikes squealing as the wheels stopped against the resistance one by one.

All the way along, as I was struggling to keep going, all I was thinking about (besides how bad my legs hurt) was MS...and how it stops people from moving...how the resistance gets to be too much and eventually causes people to fail at what they are trying to do. And I couldn't help but wonder about people who are futher along than me and/or whose MS is worse than mine and what they have learned when they failed?

What lessons has MS taught you about yourself when you realized you couldn't do something anymore...or at least not the way you had before...and how did you adapt and find new ways in your lives? And what lessons have you learned when you tried to do something you thought you couldn't...and succeeded because you weren't afraid to fail?

Sorry if it is kind of a philosophical question and maybe digs at some old mental scars...but I am relatively new in MS compared to many of y'all and the whole experience last night was kind of eye opening for me and it kind of forced me to confront what my future might eventualy hold.

For Jim it was learning that ms was a gift and not a death sentence to his life. For him, it took almost losing his life to understand his purpose here. His faith is what gets him through the day. His hope is to help others learn that ms is just an obstacle in the way of life and it's up to all of us to find our way around the obstacle.

I guess what we're saying is a good attitude and willingness to overcome and try new things gets him through the day. Having good and solid support through friends and family help as well. Treat him as you would anyone else. Don't see his disability, see him for who he is because he is the same person, just reinvented.

Allow the dark side to come out if it needs to, don't hide it away. Have bad days, we all need them, but have more good than bad if you can. Dump the negative whatever it may be and get with only those who share your philosophy. Lean on those who bring you up and never look back at those who try to keep you down.

Wow, Having had the signs of MS for 45 years and been DXed for 35 years. I find that I can't answer your question.

My whole life with MS has been resistence training and Sandy's right, I've kept a good attitude for the most part.

Interestingly enough, that was one of the themes the instructor talked about...letting negative outweigh the positive. He was saying when somebody quits its because they let the thoughts in their mind saying they can't win over the side that said that they could. If you think you can't or if you think you can, you are right.

I already know what Sandy said about Jim to be true. I was in a pretty bad funk right after my dx and caught myself several times abandoning plans I had for the future because I assumed I wouldn't be able to do whatever it was. I had to start kicking myself to break that habit...

Being around my mom has also helped with that, because her mobility loss due to parkinsons came long before her cognitive losses...so I had to get used to the idea that she was still mom and was still the same person...she just couldn't stand up anymore.

Thanks for the answers!

Hello guys, sorry for invading your forum.

I wanted to say thank you. This thread just made my day.

Lets keep being positive, jumping obstacles and never quiting !

It is better to fail than never had tried...

XOXO

This disease is just a never-ending evolution. What I'm evolving into remains to be seen.

But laughing every day, loving every day, and doing your best every day helps!

As my saying at the bottom goes, "With adversity you have two choices: either let it make you bitter, or let it make you better!" All of that resistance makes for a better person.

What lessons has MS taught you about yourself when you realized you couldn't do something anymore...or at least not the way you had before...and how did you adapt and find new ways in your lives? And what lessons have you learned when you tried to do something you thought you couldn't...and succeeded because you weren't afraid to fail?

MS has taught me that when I cannot do something physically anymore, then enjoy watching others do the activity, and be thankful that you had your time. My wife, for example, just finished her 100 mile ride a few minutes ago and she averaged over 15 mph (route maps shown below). That makes me feel great! Wishing I could still do that would not be beneficial.

There have been times when I thought I could not do something because of my MS, but found that unless physical barriers were present, I could do those things. The personal lesson for me is to keep always trying until you fail, and then create a new mental image of what success means for that given task. That has helped me a bunch.

-Vic

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Wow Vic! Tell her congrats from me! That looks like a tough ride. I did 43 miles yesterday and I am definitely feeling it today...

She did her recovery ride the next day (2 hours of lower intensity riding) and she feels great, but.....now she needs new shorts because the ride really ruined her best ones.

As I type this, Tania is going her four hour ride on the indoor trainer since it is so wet outside. I can hear the hummmmmmm of the trainer in the background right now.

I admire her grit. She is one tough cookie.

The funny thing is that throughout high school and college she avoided athletics like the plague! Now look at her...



What does my discussion have to do with MS and how does it relate to your original post? As a person with MS I gain inspiration from her and have the chance to relive on a daily basis what it was like to be that athletic. I really enjoy that and it keeps me sane.

I hope that you next ride goes well. I am sure that it will.

-Vic

Man oh man indoor trainer time is brutal. I have been doing spinning classes at the gym just to avoid having to sit at home on weeknights with the whirr of the trainer going on and on.

Its kind of funny that you mention the athletics part, because I was kind of the same way. I played soccer from the time I was 6 to the time I was 18 and played football and baseball for a couple of years, but when it came to endurance running or anything like that, I HATED it! I dreaded the running days during off-season soccer practice. What I always did without thinking about it as a kid, was ride my bike everywhere, sometimes all day long.

I started liking the idea of riding the MS150 before my first symptoms, but it has really been since I got my dx that I have really gotten into it hardcore. I used to never understand runners who "craved" getting out and running. But I found myself sitting there yesterday wishing I could go for a ride that night. Maybe that is one of the things MS has taught me so far...