Back in the saddle again! (plus a slight rant about health)

[untonuggan]

I was doing really, really well with strength training that I learned in physical therapy for fairly incapacitating bursitis and a torn rotator cuff. (Neither is fun, hope that you don't have to deal with them.) Learned how to ride a bike, was up to 3 lb ankle weights, a 3-13 lb free weights, and the blue resistance band (mine go yellow, green, red, blue, purple). Totally psyched at how "able" I felt - I went hiking! - given that I have fibromyalgia and other dis/ability crap.

Then the fates grinned cruelly at me and gave me unexplained dizziness that started when I was doing cardio (oh yeah, I was also doing cardio). Oh dear, the doctors and specialists said, it might be the heat. Drink gatorade. Or maybe it was my heart. Stop doing cardio. Or maybe it was benign positional vertigo that I got from leaning over an exercise ball (I think that explanation for BPV is ridiculous, btw, and that particular doctor an idiot). And on and on, so I followed their advice and stopped doing my exercises temporarily.

I was rewarded with (1) an increase in migraines, (2) a decrease in strength, (3) an increase in pain. Frell.

After a long and annoying summer, I basically decided to just deal with the dizziness if it came up while exercising because no one had shown anything serious.

I am proud to say that a lot of my muscle tone has come back, and I'm up to using weights again. (Started out with no weights so I wouldn't injure myself.) I'm back to the yellow resistance band, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere.

Cardio is trickier because I really do get dizzy, plus I now have plantar fasciitis. Joy.

But I'm back in the saddle again!

I am not sure if I feel really dumb or really smart (intro post)

[commodorified]

Things it took me until I was 41 to figure out:

1) Carrying grocery bags causes fatigue, pain and sometimes injury to my shoulders and back.

2) Lifting dumbells or kettlebells of a similar weight to the grocery bags makes my shoulders and back get strong and feel good.

3) ... maybe it's how I'm doing it?

So now when I need to carry bags home I carry them with my shoulder set, my elbow flexed, and my arm muscles working, as if I were about to do a curl, and while it looks a little bit odd and is actually more difficult than letting the weight just sort of dangle from my hand and hang off my skeleton, I have a lot less pain and a little more muscle.

Having broken the ice...

[commodorified]

Hi, I'm Marna.

I have fibromyalgia, RSI-related soft tissue injuries, scoliosis, and a great fondness for Lifting Heavy Things. Which is a good thing, because if I don't want the fibro plus the scoliosis plus the family history of severe osteoporosis to beat me into a little weeping pile of mush whose spouses have to carry her around in a bukit I'm going to be strength-building all my days on this earth.

My current project is this: I have good days, bad days, awful days, great days. They're not really predictable. I get very frustrated when I have to knock off the lifting for a week or more and it causes me to lose form and balance and then when I start up my form is crap and I feel unsafe and unstable so I have to drop the weight down and and and ... so, I got sick of that whole dance and decided there had to be a better way.

(I do not scorn the Machines, I in fact suspect that people like me are who they are a Godsend for, but I travel enough not to want to be gym-dependant.)

So now I am trying to come up with a strength-training program that I can modify like crazy and can do with lots of weight, some weight, or no weight/bodyweight, so that I can do it most days in one form or another, adjusting speed, reps, etc, and still have it be of some benefit, plus I get to keep the aforementioned form through my flares.

At home I have two kettlebells, 10 lb and 15 lb, and some 5 lb and 2.5 lb dumbells. On the road I can generally scrounge around and find things to work with.

So far I have come up with:

Turkish Get Ups: good exercise even with a soup can. I find completely empty hands lets my form slip.
Gladiator Presses: same.
Planks.
Squats.

It is actually possible that those four are a fairly complete workout, but... suggestions are solicited. :-)

Other exercise: I walk pretty fanatically and am blessed so far with a lower body that will let me do that.

I use an elliptical in winter with a focus on building endurance and enough focus on cardio to help my lungs recover from smoking, which I recently quit after 25 (!!!) years.

Oh, and my partners' partners have 25 lb of toddler. He's very good for my lower back. :-)