Weight lifting for a woman with mutiple injuries?

ElGatoBB

Hi all, I would like to incorporate more weight lifting in my routines because I am still struggling t rebuild muscle mass after a severe bout of illness, and because now I am flabby and overweight.

BUT!

One of my arms is half-paralyzed due to a neurological damage I have had since my birth - so not only that arm is weaker, but it also has much limited mobility, so there are some exercises, especially those that involve pressing my arm over the head, or behind my back, that are almost impossible, certainly impossible to do by keeping good form and symmetry.

I am also prone to retina detachment, and my eye-surgeon told me to avoid: 1) hitting stuff with my head, soccer-style, 2) increased pressure, ie. scuba diving, and, 3) lifting heavy weights from the ground/going up the stairs with heavy weights.

So, basically, what's left for me to do, in terms of weight lifting? What kind of strength training could I do that would be safe for me? I need to do something, but I get really frustrated when I bump into lots of exercises I cannot do, for one reason or another. Ideas? If you know of anything I could from home, too, with dumbbells or other objects, that would be awesome for the times I cannot go to the gym.

Thanks!

cordianet

You might start with body weight exercises. You can get pretty strong and fit, with body weight work alone. The cool thing is, it requires very little in terms of equipment.

To start, you really only need to do 4 exercises:
1. An upper body pushing motion
2. An upper body pulling motion
3. A core stabilizer
4. Squats

For the pushing motion, good, old-fashioned pushups are king. If needed, there are progressions to take you from super weak, to super strong. Try Googling "pushup progression" and you'll find lots of references starting with wall pushups, bench pushups, knee pushups, regular pushups,one arm varieties, etc.

For the pulling motion, I'd normally say pullups, but in your case, that may not ever be possible. As a substitute, you might get some exercise bands and tie them to a door-knob, then simply pull them toward you. As you progress, you'll need to think of more creative ways to work this... Perhaps with a suspension trainer?

In terms of core work, skip all the movements that have you crunching or working the abs through movement. The main function of the abs is to stabilize your body and thus abs are best worked in exercises that force them to be still and stressed. As such, my suggestion would be planks. Like pushups, there are progressions available on the net.

Finally, do squats. Lots of them. They are a superior exercise for your entire body and just like the other exercises I've mentioned, there are plenty of progressively difficult variations out there to keep you working hard.

Best of luck!

ElGatoBB

Thank you! That sounds fantastic. I am going to start today. Thank you for the progression thing: I would often give up on push ups because it was just too painful in my injured arm.

How do you do pull ups using an elastic band (I have those in several strength)? I pull towards me in a "rowing" position? Elbows close or far from the trunk? At what height should I place my hands?

cordianet

Yea, it's not going to really be a pullup at all, but because you said you had limited ability to put your arms over your head, I figure a pulling motion that's more of a row would be useful. Ideally, you want to work your back and shoulders as much as possible, so more of a high row toward your shoulders with your elbows out would be better to start, instead of a traditional row toward your gut. Again, only you know what you're capable of and at what angle you'd have to stop. Hopefully as you improve, you'll be able to progress to kneeling and leaning forward toward the door when you do the pulls, thus simulating more of a pullup motion. Only you will be able to judge what angle is okay and what angle is just too much.

Who knows, maybe as you improve we'll have you doing real pullups!

ElGatoBB

Thanks, that's fantastic - that explains it perfectly.

Well, when a trainer tested me for grips he was amazed that in spite of my disability I had more resistance than women who had been lifting for a while, so maybe there's hope