Up a Creek

[Đαηα]

I explained my problem in my Journal.

www.livejournal.com/users/cemetaryangel/15970.html

Any advice at all would be much appreciated!

[Tibo69]

Greetings, Danja:

Have you tried Pilates? Take a look at this website (highlight everything below and press Control-C to copy, then paste into your URL address line, then press "Enter" to go there).

ww4.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/HowToExercises_Pilates_Beginner_Hundred_11142003.xml&catref=cat2570004

I've tried a few Pilates exercises and have noticed a considerable tightening up of my butt muscles, a rounding and hardening of my buns, if you will. I have also noticed a tightening of my calf and thigh muscles.

I don't know if you have stairs available to you, but I have found through direct (recent) experience that walking up 55 stairs three - four times a day has helped me lose (A) a portion of my appetite, (B) 4 1/2 inches off my waist (47" down to 42 1/2"), and (C) some flab off my chest.

I'm a 52 year old male who has been in a mostly sedentary lifestyle for a long time, and though I joined a gym a 16 months or so ago, I stopped going about 10 months ago. The walking regimen is, indeed, healthy and helpful but, obviously, it's not for you.

That's where the Pilates exercises can really help.

Let me know what you think and what your experience is.

Steve Watkins aka
Tibo69

[Steven Barnes]

The discipline of hatha Yoga has many, many branches. An understanding Iyengar or Viniyoga teacher could well perform miracles. The problem is one of finances--but many community centers offer classes for seniors free of charge, and with your conditions, they might well bend the rules. Yoga is, in my mind, the most profound body-mind science widely available to the general public, but you have to be an informed and intelligent consumer. Good luck, and feel free to post more questions.

[stormy]

Tibo69 said:

Greetings, Danja:

Have you tried Pilates? Take a look at this website (highlight everything below and press Control-C to copy, then paste into your URL address line, then press "Enter" to go there).

ww4.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/HowToExercises_Pilates_Beginner_Hundred_11142003.xml&catref=cat2570004

I've tried a few Pilates exercises and have noticed a considerable tightening up of my butt muscles, a rounding and hardening of my buns, if you will. I have also noticed a tightening of my calf and thigh muscles.


I'm a 52 year old male who has been in a mostly sedentary lifestyle for a long time, and though I joined a gym a 16 months or so ago, I stopped going about 10 months ago. The walking regimen is, indeed, healthy and helpful but, obviously, it's not for you.

That's where the Pilates exercises can really help.

Let me know what you think and what your experience is.

Steve Watkins aka
Tibo69

That was a great suggestion, Tibo.

I had to do stair training when I was on the basketball team and I had forgotten how great those exercises were for my body. The weight just dropped off.

Thanks for helping me to remember this exercise.
Stormy

[Steven Barnes]

I might suggest combining two exercises: something like stair training for intensity, and then something like Yoga or the Five Tibetans to re-align the skeletal structure and relax the muscles. Slowly approach your goal, ramping up intensity gradually, as you learn how to use your body with greater and greater efficiency.

Keep us posted!

[Đαηα]

Apologies for my long silence. I've withdrawn from many of my usual activities to think, meditate, rest, set goals, cuddle husband and cats, etc.

Tibo: Thank you for your suggestion. Pilates looks like a promising exercise for the future. However, I have to work up to that. I'm supposed to be doing exercises to strengthen my back. I recently dragged out my handbook from my stint in physical therepy. I'm going to do the exercises circled in there regularly for some time before attempting the pilates to avoid risk. But once my back is strong enough they do seem to be something I can do and I'm very pleased.

Stairs are an iffy proposition. I limp badly on my left side from cerebral palsy, and tire easily, plus arthritis. We live on the second floor of an apartment and I have to climb the stairs. Some days I'm stuck in the apartment because I can't do it. The stairs just exhaust me. Then again, other days I skip right on up and down them dodging kids, neighbors' cats, and people carrying laundry.

Yoga is something that I'm giving some serious thinking to. In about nine months we're moving to Wellington, NZ, where my husband will be going to school for interior design. I'll do some advanced research and find out if there are yoga instructors in the area who teach handicapped individuals and are willing to work with us on the price.

And *tada* we're going to be ordering a copy of 5MM!

My current goal is to lose 84 lbs by my 31st birthday - 15 and 1/2 months from now. That will put me at the ideal weight for my height and bone structure.

Thank you all again.

[Steven Barnes]

A weight loss goal of 1-2 lbs a week is about perfect. Be certain that you are working on strength exercises to compensate for the loss of muscle mass, drinking plenty of water to flush toxins, and meditating to deal with the emotional stuff. Good luck!

Steve