EXTREMELY low impact workouts to burn calories.

niciivey

I am looking for ideas of some very low impact workout ideas that can still burn some decent calories.

My dad is very overweight and is wanting to start losing some weight. We know that he can do the diet changes necessary but we need some small exercise ideas.

He has bad knees (both need replaced once he loses a few pounds), a VERY bad heart (13 heart attacks,triple bypass, pacemaker/defibrillator implanted because his heart will just stop out of the blue and it will shock him internally without doctors needing to be there with paddles.), he also has a bad back.

He is setting up appointments to meet with his team of doctors to be sure that he knows how gradually he needs to start making changes. In the mean time I am just curious if anyone has some ideas for exercises he can do besides mild walking.

I know he can do this and be successful at it. He is only 49 and the only real big obstacle he has is his heart stuff which will most likely improve with weight loss.

rae_mayer

I'm really not sure if these would aggravate the bad heart situation or not but some activities suggested to me because of my knees were:

Cardio boxing (from a chair)
Use resistance bands for mild strength and resistance exercises
Walking (or even jogging) in a pool
Recumbent bicycle

These were suggested to me by my doctors. That being said, I'm not a professional and it really should be a discussion he has with his doctors. They will be the best at helping him find good exercises that won't adversely affect his health.

niciivey

I'm really not sure if these would aggravate the bad heart situation or not but some activities suggested to me because of my knees were:

Cardio boxing (from a chair)
Use resistance bands for mild strength and resistance exercises
Walking (or even jogging) in a pool
Recumbent bicycle

These were suggested to me by my doctors. That being said, I'm not a professional and it really should be a discussion he has with his doctors. They will be the best at helping him find good exercises that won't adversely affect his health.

Those are great tips! I think he could definitely do the resistance bands and walking in a pool too maybe.

I am looking forward to seeing what his doctors recommend, but I still want some more good ideas!

Thank you!

thepetiterunner

I've heard that doing things in water (water aerobics, etc) can be really good and low-impact. I've never done it myself, but plenty of people have mentioned things about that to me.

Best of luck to you and your Dad!

spottedlee

water....

I do it because it is easy on my joints (I'm 54) I swim 3 or 4 times a week, I also take up water aerobic class,, if no go for either, many people like doing water walk or jogging. I like doing water jogging because it's so easy and there resistance in water to build muscles and it has great calories burn.

Find out from your local pool when is lap swim. If your dad don't swim, he can walk/jog the lap during that session.