INSIDE BUDDY GROUPS: Connection, Accountability and Support - a podcast by Co-hosts: Brooke Slick & Jodi Feltham

In this week's episode you'll get an exclusive look at one of the many advantages of being part of the MS Gym Membership Community. It's called Buddy Groups and it may be just what you've been looking for.

Before I do that, I want to back this up a little bit and add a little more clarity as to the difference between The MS Gym and the MS Gym Membership Community.

First, the MS Gym is the world's largest online provider of FREE neurologically-based exercises and movement methods designed to use the power of neuroplasticity to re-train the brain to move differently in order to correct unhealthy movement patterns and improving communication between nerves, muscles, and joints. All of this FREE information is easily available on The MS Gym website, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

Second, The MS Gym Membership Community, which currently has over 1,600 members, is a prescription-based opportunity with such benefits as MS-specific movement plans and exercises tailored specifically to your needs. Programs such as Sitting Strong, Movement Camp, Companion Guides, and BGB Bootcamp, in both standing and sitting versions, are just a few of the detailed, customized programs that you won't see anywhere else and are specifically designed to reteach your brain how to build alternative neuromuscular pathways, basically, to work around the nerves damaged by MS so you can get your life back.

Another fantastic benefit is the new MS Gym app where you can access all of the programs I just mentioned anywhere you go. Right from your phone.

At the core of the Membership Community is a private Facebook group called The Members Only Corner where members from around the world can interact with each other for advice, support, and direction. It's from this community that Buddy Groups came to light. It was a perfect opportunity for members to form small groups of like-minded individuals to meet up through video software such as Facebook Messenger and Zoom to chat and even exercise together. A buddy group can be based on your location, whether it be a part of the US, the UK, Australia etc, your interests like travel, knitting, crossword puzzles and the like, or it could be based on your MS-rooted problem area like foot drop, balance, wheelchair challenges, or dexterity. It can truly be whatever you want it to be. If you're interested in creating or joining a buddy group and you're already a member of The Membership Community, just do a search for #buddygroup in Facebook's Members Only Corner (MOC) and you'll find all the instructions and guidelines you'll need. It's all right there for you. Easy peasy.

Here's the fun part and the reason for today's episode. I was fortunate enough to have the members of  the original buddy group, the MSfits, agree to allow me to interview them all at the same time. I wanted to know exactly what goes on behind the scenes. What a typical buddy group session looks like, and sounds like. What are they talking about? What are they doing? How long do they last? I wanted to know it all and that's exactly what I got!

EPISODE NOTES:

-What is a Buddy Group?

-The difference between the MS Gym and the MS Gym Membership Community

-The Members Only Corner

-How Buddy Groups connect

-Finding your people

-Which software to use

-What happens during these meetups

-How often do you meet

-Using the programs from the MS Gym to exercise together

-Making an effort to stay organized, but leaving room for fun

-Cheering each other on

-Checking in each day

-Finding motivation from each other when you thought you couldn't

-Becoming a family

-It's not always about commonalities

-Dedication to getting better

-The length of meetups

-Sharing the good and the bad

-Using tips and tricks from the MS Gym programs

-Finding comfort in connection

-Meeting in person at The MS Gym Summit

-Avoiding isolation through Buddy Groups

-Giving a Buddy Group a try even if you don't think you need one

-Being accountable for each other

-The conversation is not always about The MS Gym

LINKS:

Join The MS Gym Membership Community

The MS Gym

Host: Brooke Slick

Further episodes of The MS Gym Podcast

Further podcasts by Co-hosts: Brooke Slick & Jodi Feltham

Website of Co-hosts: Brooke Slick & Jodi Feltham