O.T. Alright all you fitness gurus I need some advice.

walker2.jpg


Rollator? ...I think not!
I'm quite sure the kamis would be happy to fashion the
YCS II (Yvsa Caterpillar Special) for you :D
 
Yvsa... I would higly recommend that you go on a program encompassing many parameters including nutritional, cardiovascular, and stretching.

For general fitness, I would stay off any heavy weight training, as I feel that general body conditioning should take a priority at this point in time. Swimming, Techno Gym type machines, and general calesthenics are a good start. Do have a stress test performed by a cardiologist before you begin to stress your ticker to be assured that all is well, both for you and your better half. :p Warm up before you begin, and put an emphasis on stretching and exercises to gradually give all your major bidy joints as good of a range of motion as possible...

If you decide to swim, again, warm up before getting your proverbial feet wet. Take a maximum heart rate of 220/minute, and subtract your age. I would start out with 70% of this number, first being assured by your cardiologist that your would not be over taxing your heart. Once you advance cardiovascularly, you can gradually increase your ideal heart rate to 75%, 80%, and even higher.

You might take the opportunity to reduce your weight, and take a serious look at what you are presently eating. Bacon, cream cheese and Polish sausage are certainly tasty, but are probably not contributing to your body's general health right now. Exercising, while at the same time eating better will allow you to reduce body fat, and put less stress on weight bearing joints. You can actually reverse hypertension and other cardio pathologies depending if you are willing to make a real health commitment. Get any book written by John McDougall for an overview on proper nutrition... His books are lavishly referenced in the most prestigious scientific and medical journals in the world, and the sheer volume of the references is most convincing to the hardest core Family Practitioner and the ilk who have a tendency to condemn without any investigation at all!

If you smoke, stop. If you drink, then definitely consider moderation, if not abstinence. Your decisions can assuredly add years to your life, and life to your years. By encorporating a Wellness program, I wouldn't be surprised if you find yourself having less pain, more vitality, a much better range of motion, and improved health.

Also, prayer, meditation, stress reduction techniques, tai Chi, Yoga, etc., etc. are very much encouraged too... Thanks for asking the question, and best wishes in initiating a viable program that you can follow and stick to.

Regards-

Dan :)
 
You can get the same cardiovascular benefits from a longer low impact workout, as you can from a shorter harder workout. Sustaining you ideal heart-rate will take about 15 minutes for a good cardio workout, but not hitting that ideal doesnt mean all is lost. There is some formula, which I do not know at the moment, in which you calculate for how much below your ideal heartrate you actually fall, you tack on time to your workout to compensate. So instead of jogging for 15 minutes, you could do a brisk walk for 30 minutes, or a slow walk for an hour, etc... Anyways, thats how my aunt who works in Mayo Cardio rehab explained it. Something is better than nothing, but starting slow is ideal. Better to have a consistent slow workout rather than injure yourself and then be laid up for a while. Though, as with most guys, (thinking of myself most of all), it is real tempting to go macho and try and go for an intense workout. But having injured myself a number of times with that attitude, Ive been working real hard to slow down, and go for consitency rather than intensity. Then again, it is real frustrating if you are used to pushing yourself to your limits, to not do that and to hold back shooting for some long term benefit. Anyways, congratulations on your workouts, keep up the good work.
 
BillTheCat said:
walker2.jpg


Rollator? ...I think not!
I'm quite sure the kamis would be happy to fashion the
YCS II (Yvsa Caterpillar Special) for you :D
Click to expand...
LMRRAO! Bill that thing would make me hurt myself!:D ;)

And thanks again guys. My primary interest right now is just getting to where I can walk a couple or three miles again starting with the help of the Rollator. I know it will take time but I'm really encouraged by what I have done the last two days.

The rain can't make up its mind today so guess I was meant to rest and maybe for a couple of days as it's supposed to rain again tomorrow but I'm rareing to go right now so if it does rain tomorrow I'll probably head for the mall. It's been ages and ages since I've been inside one of them much past the door.

Spotted one Rollator with 10" wheels made especially with the outdoors in mind, but I think I'll compromise and go for the heavy duty model. I always keep coming back to it.:)
 
Congtatulations, Yvsa! Really great news.
I agree with all the advice above, and would add a few additional observations.
Do get a physical exam before starting a program. Dr. Dan knows.
Work opposing muscles. That is, if you exercise your biceps, you must also strengthen triceps to avoid joint problems.
A trainer is money well spent. Find one who is into rehab, rather than just muscle building. It's important that the machines are adjusted properly and that you use them correctly. I see people hurting themselves at my gym all the time, and you rarely see them again after. A good trainer will start you out right from the start. His first question should be, "What are your fitness goals?" If you don't hear that, how can he/she set up a program to fit your needs?
Patience. Don't expect quick results. Sometimes you will backslide, but keep going back, no matter what. Someone once told me, "A day off turns into a week off. A week off turns into a month off, and a month off turns into a year off." That really scared me. Doing a little is better than doing nothing.
Hope this wasn't too preachy.
Brian ;)
 
Bri in Chi said:
Congtatulations, Yvsa! Really great news.

Hope this wasn't too preachy.

Brian ;)
Click to expand...
Thanks Brian and not at all too preachy.:D

I probably should have said all of this at the beginning but it was getting too long as it was......
I'm under three different Drs care and they're always encouraging me to exercise more so I have all of their blessings!
I had to have a complete physical before I could join this particular Health Club because it's affiliated with the St Johns Medical Center Hospital.
They have excellent trainers that are always pleased to help with any and all questions or problems. If they see you doing something wrong they will gently correct you. Lots of affluent people belong there including the Mayor of Tulsa.;)
I'm also in the Continued Cardiac Rehab Program there and my program card has a little red heart on it.
The card is reviewed by my Cardiac Specialist on a regular basis as well.
I did have an episode while working out a few months ago and a Cardiac Nurse was there Right Now.
Wanted to know if I had any nitro and if not did I need any and that led to another prescription and me carrying around a little brown bottle of supplemental nitroglycerine.;)
The health club is a little more expensive than the run of the mill ones but their services make it very worthwhile as well as the very nice and complete facilities.
As Brantoken put it, "I put mine on the top of the list as far as maintanance goes...... It gets first dibs for time and cash flow. ( yes, my yard looks like hell)"
But our yard always looks nice thanks to Barb's perseverance.;)

According to my SilkQuit program I haven't smoked for 2 years, 7 months and 2 weeks and the pulmonory test that I had a while back shows that I have regained all the lung capacity that I had before I started smoking some 30 odd years ago. I had quit 5 years ago for 3 years but started back and smoked for 2 more years before I quit for good.

I seldom drink but when I do I like any of the nice single malt Scotchs as well as good beer.
I only drink Bud, Busch, or Coors to be sociable and never bitch about the beer or the people just not knowing any better.:rolleyes: ;)
I also eat well. read that correctly or right and my cholsterol is well within limits so I don't have to worry about that or take meds for it.
My B/P generally runs 120/65 or so and my resting heart rate is around 75 normally so I'm not in too bad of shape physically.

My problems lies with what my body can do motion wise.
Standing isn't a problem if I can lean on something but it hurts to stand without and it begins to hurt and I get really tired if I try to stand too long even when leaning on something.
I was really surprised that I could walk the distances we walked the last 2 days and especially after such a long time of inactivity!
Our zoo isn't a small one at all! I am going to suggest that they mark the concrete walk/roadways out there in milages so people can know how far they did walk. I'm betting that if one was to walk every roadway that it would be considerably over a mile maybe even over two!
Since one of our kids works there it may just be possible, after all they mark the malls so people will know.:D

When I get to walking better I plan to do as has been suggested and walk one day and weight train as well as using the Nu-Step and other vascular/cardiac machines. They have a nice indoor track but I'll have too see if my Rollator is allowed on it as a lot of people use it for flat out running!
I feel really good about the whole deal, just wish I had rented one of these things a whole lot sooner but just never looked into it. As far as I know there's only one place in Tulsa that rents the Rollators, or at least that's all I found. And their selling price is an arm and a leg and a left nut! They want $279.00 for it, yea right. Not when I can get one online for a hundred bucks less that's bigger and has more capacity!:rolleyes:

Thanks again!:D
 
YVSA wrote:

According to my SilkQuit program I haven't smoked for 2 years, 7 months and 2 weeks and the pulmonory test that I had a while back shows that I have regained all the lung capacity that I had before I started smoking some 30 odd years ago. I had quit 5 years ago for 3 years but started back and smoked for 2 more years before I quit for good.

*******************

Good for you Yvsa! Glad to hear you're up and around. I need to get away from this desk and go to one of the TWO health clubs I belong to (one at work and one near home), but after being online all day and sitting all I want to do is get home and putter around in my shop, or crash and watch a movie or something.

I quit smoking 12 years ago, after 17 years of a pack a day, and although I definitely breathe easier, after all that time I still can't smell worth a damn. I think I permanently wrecked my sniffer! Smoking all the time ranks right up there as one of my dumbest moves, but unfortunately I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was really my only vice (after drinking and gambling and chasing women, and spending all my $ on knives of course! :D .)

I had a standing order with Nat Sherman's in New York for 3 cartons of cork filtered Naturals a month, delivered to my door and charged right to my AMEX. Man, those were some quality smokes! :)

Good ole' tobacco. Now I have to content myself with some Gentleman Jack on the rocks and a toothpick after dinner. Nice to be young and think you're going to live forever no matter what stupid-ass thing you do! ;)
 
Yuh nSuh?

You got two great things working for you:

You want to;

and.....(drum roll please....)


Barb.

Someone to be with when you walk these places is an enormous asset.


Kis
 
Great advice on this thread. I agree wholeheartedly with the advice from BillTheCat and DrDan. Others have great insights too.

I can add a few things. First, don't push yourself too hard at first. There's plenty of time to ride the winds of your enthusiasm. Your body has to adjust.

Here's my approach. I believe in the Medicine Wheel, and the way of our ancients. We have four components, mind, body, emotion and spirit. I believe all four must work together to achieve an optimum point of balance. The body needs the support of the other three directions, the other three directions need to energy from the body. The medicine wheel is also about balance, fire, wind, water and earth. We have to keep these elements in balance through our activities. You need the wind, aerobic activity, and must build a healthy earth (bones) through proper activity and nutrition (water - blood).The fire must be maintained over time, like the torch of the ancients. This means not to burn all the wood at once, but to control it over time, and tend to it carefully, in a way that benefits all sentient beings and Mother Earth.

Very very good to hear that you are active. I wish my Grandfather would have tried to be more active in the years that he could. Because the years that he was not able to get up and move around where more than he had planned. His people didn't call him to come home until many years after he was confined to a bed.
 
Yvsa

I work out regularly... and i can give you some tips:

1) listen to your body.. if it hurts.. its not ready yet
2) i would consider looking into physical therapy type excersizes that are designed to help recoup lost strength...
3) start taking a substance called L-Glutamine... it is a fuel for muscles but it also has other stuff that i think you will need... when anyone works out... their immune system is weakenned.. so this helps keep your immune system strong
4) consistency is key... you really need to make a schedule and follow it if you wnat to get anywhere.

here is a website that i have found most usefull... it has keyword search and everything you ever need to know about training with weights etc... it has lots of info for older people in similar situations to yourself... so dont be intimidated by the picts... also notice the forums... im sure youll find this quite usefull..

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbmaintrain.htm

thnx
stef
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top