Advice on building muscle?

Blossomforth13

I am heavy (217 lbs right now) and I want to lose weight (obviously), but one of my other goals is to build strength. I was born with congenital muscle weakness, also known by the fancy name of hypotonia. I had physical therapy through elementary school, but none since and I know my muscles are pathetic. A run for me is a slow jog for everyone else, and while I can lift a feed bag for a few feet, I'm going to be winded, and hurting all over, where my 83 year old grandmother powers on like nobody's business. I'm just not sure how to work on building strength, especially in my arms or legs.

jimmmer

I am heavy (217 lbs right now) and I want to lose weight (obviously), but one of my other goals is to build strength. I was born with congenital muscle weakness, also known by the fancy name of hypotonia. I had physical therapy through elementary school, but none since and I know my muscles are pathetic. A run for me is a slow jog for everyone else, and while I can lift a feed bag for a few feet, I'm going to be winded, and hurting all over, where my 83 year old grandmother powers on like nobody's business. I'm just not sure how to work on building strength, especially in my arms or legs.

A beginners progressive strength routine could help, but first you would have to be sure of your medical condition and how you current fitness level plays into that.

First stop would be to see someone like a physical therapist who can advise on appropriate strengthen exercises that will get you stronger rather than exacerbate your condition and also help you to bring up any (relative) weak spots to stop imbalances developing.

If that goes successfully, then you would then look towards a beginners progressive resistance routine that can be fitted around your particular demands.

But first stop: see a medical professional who deals with rehab type stuff and see where you go from there. In the meantime, get your diet in check and keep up and improve your conditioning level (walk everywhere if an option, take stairs, tackle hills). Do only what you can, but make small and manageable increments as time goes by. Your work capacity will improve and you'll drop some weight, this will feed into whatever strength improvements your PT will have you doing.