Can we have a migraine friendly workout app please?

So here’s a thing I learned recently and probably should have known before: my TV has lots of apps besides things to watch. I discovered this after being entreated by way too many ads offering me a month of access to Les Mills On Demand, and that came with instruction on how to install the LGOD app on my TV.

I used to be a massive, massive fan of BodyPump. As in 4-5 classes a week. I’d do it every day if I could. Loved it. Turns out I still do, but this body won’t do it anymore.

The whining of my dodgy left knee and dodgy right ankle aside, and the problem of being 40 kilos heavier – which obviously requires some exercise – I’m finding the problem is one of fatigue and nausea. Les Mills classes, like most classes offered in commercial gyms, has loud thumping music, shouty instructors, and flashing lights.

I tried some of the other more calming type workouts like body balance and barre, which were ok, but still a little too… something. I actually find the tinkle tinkle supposedly peaceful meditation type music more annoying than thump thump music of a pump class – but don’t ask me to explain why. It’s possibly because I find those classes very very boring and thus have time to think about the tunes. But I also get triggered by relaxing… I need to keep the blood pressure and blood sugar constant.

Either way, I get about 15 minutes in to any of the workouts I’ve tried before the nausea kicks in, then I get overwhelmingly must sit down tired, and then a basic unremarkable tension type headache kicks in.

Yes, I’ve had plenty of water.

There were a number of other apps I discovered in this whole section I didn’t know existed on my television. But the fitness apps seem to come into two categories: yoga/medication (boring and triggering), and High Impact (triggering on multiple fronts). Also: anything on demand or streamed has the screen triggering potential. In person classes (at least ones that don’t have some kind of light show) are less triggering.

I should say I am aware of migraine specific fitness programs and offerings – my faves being Emily’s movement with migraine. But I want pump for migraine.

One of the main reasons I used to adore Pump is because your feet stay planted but you get a really good workout, and it shapes and strengthens the body. Migraine people often have trouble with balance or dizziness, either on bad days or all the time. There’s also Alice in Wonderland syndrome – the loss of depth perception – that makes any class where you’re moving around, dancing or stepping, a bit dangerous. So aside from my knee and ankle, I could do a pump class with a high level of confidence I wasn’t going to fall over.

Yoga is a lot of changing positions and balance, which I’m not good at, and a whole lot of calm and relax, which is a migraine trigger for me. I used to do a power yoga class way back when I lived in Canberra which was awesome. You kept changing positions, so the need to hold balance positions issue was taken away, plus it moved at pace to decent music (Chill Out Sessions kind of thump thump not twinkle meditative music) so I didn’t get bored. And no relaxing or meditation required! Perfect for me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of good evidence that yoga helps some people with migraine. Adriene, of Yoga with Adriene, is a fellow migraine warrior… and this free workout is informed by her headache dominated experience. There are many migraine yogis around, and plenty of stories of people who have become yoga instructors after their migraine ended their other careers. They could do a whole migraine yogi retreat there’s so many of them, and they’re all awesome.

If you are more like me, where headache isn’t a significant issue, and *relaxing* is a massive migraine trigger, then Yoga may not be your friend. Nor pilates, or body balance, or anything soothing… but exercise is good. 30 minutes of low to moderate intensity exercise, particularly at the same time every day (yes 7 days a week) has been clinically proven to help manage migraine.

So basically I’m left with doing strength workouts by myself. Which is fine, except that I really quite like the rhythm of a class, helping to switch the brain off so the body can just do its thing for a longer and more effective workout.

Do you think if I ask Les Mills really nicely they’d do a migraine friendly group class of some kind?