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MS-awareness

Fitness and Multiple Sclerosis: Overcoming Challenges to Embrace a Healthy Lifestyle

Living with multiple sclerosis (MS) can pose numerous challenges, but maintaining a regular fitness routine is essential for enhancing overall well-being and managing symptoms effectively. Exercise can improve muscle strength, balance, flexibility, and cardiovascular health while boosting mood and reducing fatigue. In this article, I will explore the benefits of implementing an exercise program with specific training methods for individuals with multiple sclerosis, types of exercises that are beneficial, safety considerations, and tips for incorporating fitness into the daily routine of an MS client.

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Exercise and Multiple Sclerosis: Is It Normal to Take a Nap After a Workout?

Physical activity is known for boosting energy. That’s because exercise increases your heart rate and blood flow, making you feel awake. It’s one of the many benefits of working out. However, it’s also possible to get tired after exercise. This is especially common after workouts when you have MS. Physical activity, after all, requires a lot of energy and stamina.

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Functional Movement Patterns in Exercise For MS

You’ve heard the terms functional exercise, functional movement or functional movement patterns… but what do these terms actually mean?

The term “functional movement patterns” is confusing because it is really not a specific term. Trainers, especially those putting MSers on exercise programs, will usually take them through a program of upper and lower body exercises incorporating compound movements that ask your body to do several things at once. They tell you this is a functional exercise routine and that it’s the best way to help you with your MS limitations. Every exercise is NOT considered a functional one. So what’s the difference?

Functional, by definition, means, “of or having a special activity, purpose, or task; relating to the way in which something works or operates”.  In this case, the task is being a functional MSer with the ability to use your body to do what you’d like it to do like you did before your MS diagnosis.

And even though being “functional” is different from one person to the next—for instance, a triathlete needs to be able to run, bike, and swim without limitation or pain, while a homemaker (male or female) needs to be able to do household chores such as lifting groceries out of a car, moving a vacuum cleaner and loading and unloading a dishwasher without limitation or pain—the actual movement patterns required for these activities aren’t really that different.

When you think of functional movement patterns, you should see them as movements that engage your whole body in a variety of different active ways that involve coordinating your upper and lower body with areas that alternate from being steady to moving, and back again.

So where exercises like squats are considered functional because they require full-body coordination, strength, and stability exercises like biceps curls aren’t considered functional because they lack the full-body mental and physical engagement that comes into play with basic motion.

The main difference between functional training and other exercises that work each muscle is that exercises such as biceps curls or leg extensions attempt to isolate that muscle. When doing these movements we’re working individual body parts as separate from the others creating stimulus within those parts. Functional movements put the emphasis on using your whole body at once. 

The focus on functional movement patterns, in theory, is to train your body to move effectively as a fully connected single unit so it is able to sit, stand, bend or change direction effectively when you need it to.  Some of the functional exercises I use are squats, lunges, and pushups. These movements effectively engage the whole body in the exercise although they emphasize specific muscles as the main force of action.

I believe in functional movement patterns and agree there is a place for them in MS training BUT without the individual muscle-specific training it would be impossible to do a functional movement. If your legs are so weak from MS limitations how are you going to perform a proper squat that uses all the muscles in your legs?!  You won’t be able to. This is why specific muscle training is so important. And the only way to get muscle-specific strength is through resistance training. But it doesn’t end there…

You must strength train each major muscle group, individually and specifically to gain the ability to “function”.  I know you keep hearing about functional exercise for MS and how important it is. You are told that you MUST be in a program using functional movement patterns to help your MS limitations.  I HAVE MS and I have been a fitness expert for more than 40 years. The real FACT is that functional movement patterns are secondary to strength training. They are important but more important to your physical abilities are training methods that incorporate resistance exercises with principles that cause “thought-based training” ™ which create muscle fiber activation, neuroplasticity, and brain to muscle reconnection. 

So where am I going with all this?

Please be careful with who and what you take in as being the right fitness information for MS, especially coming from fitness “experts” who do not understand MS.  There is much more to proper exercise for MS than jumping into the next repetitive functional program.  And any trainer who says he/she is teaching you how to place mental attention on your workouts but only tells you to concentrate on what you are doing does not understand the significance of proper focus. It is not just a simple matter of paying attention to your exercises and form. It is the training methods you use that force that focus and concentration that is of key importance in your MS exercise program.  Exercise programs pushing functional pattern movements with no focus driven process or training method behind them other than the standard and cookie-cutter, “do 10 reps of 3 sets”, are of little value in bringing results to our MS bodies.

Continued Education for Fit Pros

Learn what you need to help MSers… check out the Multiple Sclerosis Fitness Specialist online course for fitness and health professionals!


David Lyons, BS, CPT, is the founder of OptimalBody, which touches the lives of fitness enthusiasts of all kinds. OptimalBody has been named The Most Comprehensive MS Fitness Program worldwide since its release. His book, Everyday Health & Fitness with Multiple Sclerosis, was a #1 New Release on Amazon at its release. He is the 2013 recipient of the Health Advocate of the Year Award; in 2015, he received the first ever Health Advocate Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Fitness Inspiration Award in Feb 2016. In 2017, David received the Special Recognition Award from the National Fitness Hall of Fame.

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The Moment of Truth

According to the Advanced English Dictionary, © HarperCollins Publishers, “if you refer to a time or event as the moment of truth, you mean that it is an important time when you must make a decision quickly, and whatever you decide will have important consequences in the future. Both men knew the moment of truth had arrived. (As a sentence example)

We all come to crossroads in life when we are faced with a decision that will change our life’s direction one way or the other. You have to make that decision quickly, without procrastination, and decide where you are headed. Sometimes, if you get old enough like me, these times come more than once. They are said to be our “moment of truth”.

In September of 2017, I started a closed Facebook Group called MS Fitness Challenge GYM for those of us with MS who are doing their best to beat MS through fitness. It is a platform for MSers to be educated on exercise, nutrition and mindset in the battle against this disease. It’s also a place where we can interact, share our goals, talk about our trials and victories and be able to connect with like-minded MSers who want to encourage and uplift each other in a positive atmosphere of health. We currently have, at the time of this writing, over 7,000 members.

Every day, I read a post about how hard it is to exercise and follow a strict nutrition plan from the members enrolled. The member’s post about the limitations, pain and issues of their symptoms that make it difficult to follow through with exercise. And, they talk about the mental blocks to sticking with an exercise or diet program.

I know. It’s not easy having MS or any challenge in life and dealing with our ups and downs let alone trying to push ourselves to get to a gym or work-out at home and follow a diet that is ONLY full of great foods and supplements for MS. I get it!

But what I’d like you to look at is the consequence of NOT getting into a regular fitness routine, NOT watching what you put into your body, and NOT setting your mindset to the positive dial. MS will not go away; it’s incurable (right now). And the disease symptoms will not improve unless you take a proactive stance against it. Exercise, nutrition and the thoughts in your mind has been proven, through programs such as my MS Fitness Challenge and many others, to help MSers in one way or another in this battle. You can read over and over again, in a multitude of platforms, the testimonials from MSers who have switched to an MS-based diet and implemented an exercise routine seeing great improvement in their quality of life. We are not talking cure here. We are talking a better day-to-day existence despite MS. And, really, this translates to any obstacle you have in your mental or physical health. The choice is yours. Do you want to choose the road that takes the work necessary to a more fulfilled lifetime, or let whatever your challenge is tell you how to live? This is the moment of truth.

The first step is getting your thoughts, motivation and determination in order. Your body will not go where your mind doesn’t take it. So fitness starts in the most influential muscle in your body… your brain. Getting revved up and ready to take on your barrier through fitness is a choice that has to be made. It is not something that most have waiting to come out. It is a desire found deep in your thoughts and feelings. You have to dig down and pull it out because there is a serious amount of action that needs to be put into play with the reaction of… “I want to beat MS” or “I’m tired of being obese” or whatever your challenge is.  And once you make this choice in your moment of truth, you do not want to look back.

When your choice to overcome your challenge is made, now it’s time to settle in on the exercise and nutrition programs that will kick start this new truth in your life. I understand the confusion of where to begin; what are the best programs for you; who helps you? This is where research and support comes in and why I founded my MS Fitness Challenge charity. We are the MS cause dedicated to educating, training and inspiring people with MS to live a lifestyle of fitness through knowledge.

So, who’s ready to stand at that fork in your road, look at it hard and tell it you are going down the road to fitness?  I’ve been traveling that road my whole life, without MS and with MS and there is no better path to follow. Your moment of truth has arrived…

Fitness Professionals and Personal Trainers: Improve the Lives of Those with MS

Become a Multiple Sclerosis Fitness Specialist! This MedFit Classroom online course, co-authored by David Lyons and CarolAnn, will prepare you to work with clients with MS to help develop strength, flexibility, balance, breathing, and improve their quality of life.

Multiple Sclerosis Fitness Specialist


David Lyons, BS, CPT, is the founder of the MS Bodybuilding Challenge and co-founder of the MS Fitness Challenge with wife Kendra. He has dedicated his life to helping people with MS understand and be educated on the importance of fitness in their lives. He is an author and sought after motivational speaker, dedicated to helping others by sharing the lessons gained from his life experience.  His most recent book, Everyday Health & Fitness with Multiple Sclerosis was a #1 New Release on Amazon at its release. He is the 2013 recipient of the Health Advocate of the Year Award; in 2015, he received the first ever Health Advocate Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Fitness Inspiration Award in Feb 2016. In 2017, David received the Special Recognition Award from the National Fitness Hall of Fame.

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MS and Circuit Training

I was recently told that a very high percentage of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) DO NOT exercise. As a fitness professional with MS, that blew me away. I wish I could find the actual percentage but I don’t think that’s a statistic high on the priority list for any studies! But with all the time I spend in the MS community educating about fitness, I tend to believe that this is a fact, as I hear so many say they don’t exercise because they don’t know how. This is where I have found my niche to fill the gap.

According to Multiple Sclerosis News Today, The first study on the benefits that exercise can provide to people with MS was published by University of Utah researchers in 1996. The participants improved their cardiovascular, bladder and bowel function, increased their strength, experienced less fatigue, developed a more positive attitude, and suffered fewer bouts of depression”.

With information and proof like this, why don’t more people with MS get into the gym, exercise at home or do some form of fitness program? My answer is lack of knowledge and fear. When you don’t know where to start, don’t understand how to find an exercise program that fits you, or you are not educated on the benefits of exercise for MS, you become immobilized and therefore do nothing. I believe this is the main reason why the percentage of MSers who aren’t exercising is so high.

This is where becoming a MS Fitness Specialist makes a ton of sense. Providing a proper workout plan for those with MS is not just a great thing to do, but a much-needed service.

There is a very good selection of workouts that can benefit people with MS, and one of these programs is circuit training. This type of workout gets your heart rate up and strengthens your muscles at the same time. You will never get bored in a circuit training program.

With little rest between each exercise, you rapidly go from one exercise machine to another to work different muscle groups. Depending on the intensity of the workout, you may use 8 or 12 different machines performing a different exercise and muscle group each stop.

I have my clients do 10-12 reps at each machine, using a time under tension (TUT) pace, lasting between 120–144 seconds, before moving on to the next stop.

To keep things exciting and motivating, you can change it up a bit by switching the exercises you do for each body part. A circuit training workout can be done at the gym with equipment, at home with dumbbells and resistance bands, or on an outdoor fitness trail by alternating push-ups and squats with fast-paced walking, jogging or biking.

You will need 20-30 minutes to take a MS client through the workout. The great thing about circuit training is it is easy to adjust the level of intensity by the rest time spent, the pace you perform each movement (TUT), and the speed in which you go through the circuit. A program like this works all areas of your body so you get an effective full-body workout in a short amount of time, as long as you select an exercise for each muscle group: core, arms, chest, back, shoulders and legs. The cardiovascular aspect of the program is taken care of in the time spent at rest. The less rest between sets and exercises, the more your heart rate will be elevated and the more heart-healthy cardio benefits you will receive.

There are many benefits in a circuit training routine as it is aerobic, low-impact and strength training all wrapped up in one program. You get the benefits of muscle building and toning along with a cardio workout. So, if you’re looking for a full-body workout for a MS client that can be don in 30 minutes or less, circuit training checks off all the boxes. The exercise options are endless as well with the variety of machines, resistance bands, free weights and bodyweight movements that can be incorporated into this style of program. Circuit training is an excellent workout choice for MS once you completely understand how to do it at a level that is safe yet challenging for the client you put through this program.

I want to see the percentage of people exercising with MS to overshadow the percentage that do not. You have a tremendous opportunity to be a solution to avoid in the fitness industry by becoming a MS FitnessSpecialist and working with a community that needs you.


David Lyons, BS, CPT, is the founder of the MS Bodybuilding Challenge and co-founder of the MS Fitness Challenge with wife Kendra. He has dedicated his life to helping people with MS understand and be educated on the importance of fitness in their lives. He is an author and sought after motivational speaker, dedicated to helping others by sharing the lessons gained from his life experience.  His most recent book, Everyday Health & Fitness with Multiple Sclerosis was a #1 New Release on Amazon at its release. He is the 2013 recipient of the Health Advocate of the Year Award; in 2015, he received the first ever Health Advocate Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Fitness Inspiration Award in Feb 2016. In 2017, David received the Special Recognition Award from the National Fitness Hall of Fame.

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What Is an Anabolic Window?

If you’re trying to build muscle, strength training is the best way to do it. Strength training damages the muscles, which causes them to repair and grow. The result is bigger, stronger muscles. Bigger, stronger muscles to someone like us with MS means the strength to move those muscles once we create the brain to muscle reconnection. However, optimal muscle growth goes beyond your actual workout. It also relies on post-workout nutrition. Your muscles need enough protein and carbohydrates to effectively recover.