Working out at Gelbarts Gym
This video is a snapshot of my exercise routine at Gelbarts Gym. The owner, Dave Gelbart, is a personal trainer, a good friend and a ‘mensch’. Mensch is a Yiddish word translated into 'a person of integrity and honour'.
I exercised often prior to my stroke and returning to the gym was part of my feeling like I was getting back to my ‘normal’ self. Post-stroke exercises were mainly in a physio gym as an inpatient/outpatient and with Dave’s encouragement, he showed me how to be able to go to a non-hospital based gym and use the equipment I was familiar with to benefit my general health, as well as my therapy.
He gave me a program focusing on cardio, weights and strengthening my (affected) right arm, so it was beneficial with my physio and OT exercises simultaneously.
Almost everyone knows that exercise is good for their health, and an exercise plan will make a big difference any recovery as it helps in setting and achieving goals- including enhanced self-confidence, physical function, mobility, mood, quality of sleep and fatigue and also reduced anxiety which are common side-effects in stroke survivors.
So, thank you Dave for always supporting me in my recovery. I will be forever thankful for this.
Paul
music: www.bensound.com
https://kasynozszybkawyplata.com was left open from earlier, and it made the contrast impossible to miss: recovery is slow, unglamorous work, while Dave’s focus on cardio, weights, and Paul’s affected right arm shows how much real progress depends on steady repetition rather than a quick payoff. My dad’s own post-stroke rehab was similar, in that the mood and sleep improvements often showed up before he could see much change in his arm. That bit about reduced anxiety being a common side effect is easy to overlook, but it’s probably why those small exercise wins matter so much.