commodorified (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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lifting_heavy_things2011-10-16 04:40 pm
commodorified) wrote in lifting_heavy_things2011-10-16 04:40 pm
Having broken the ice...
Hi, I'm Marna.
I have fibromyalgia, RSI-related soft tissue injuries, scoliosis, and a great fondness for LiftingHeavy 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. :-)
I have fibromyalgia, RSI-related soft tissue injuries, scoliosis, and a great fondness for Lifting
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. :-)
Turkish get-ups are the awesomest
For an overhead push movement -- you could just do an overhead press, of course, but personally I'd be inclined to press one weight and then do a windmill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6651sjanpxI
Just because it's more interesting and has a nice stretching component (without the weight, it's pretty much trikonasana/triangle pose). And I have the attention span of a gnat.
Or you could squat with two kettlebells/dumbbells and press them when you're in the bottom position of the squat, which is called a Sott press and is evil.
For a horizontal push -- your most portable option would probably be a push-up (at whatever level works for you):
http://www.stumptuous.com/mistressing-the-pushup
If you like planks, one nice variation with some stability work in it is: push-up --> side-plank --> push-up --> side-plank on the other side --> repeat as long as arms and desire permit.