low impact work out ideas?

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wellpaintedpassion
wellpaintedpassion Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm looking for some low impact exercises for the gym. I've been walking 4 to 5 times a week but I'm trying to get back into going to the gym. I have rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia so doing a lot of high impact/weights and repetitive motion can be painful and destructive to my joints. does anyone have any suggestions?

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  • SpringFever19
    SpringFever19 Posts: 180 Member
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    If you can tolerate walking, you should be okay with the elliptical, recumbent bike, rowing machines, for a bit. Those are low impact cardio options, however with repetitive motions. Otherwise, begin with easy, light weight lifting. As long as you keep hydrated and your body temp down and begin slow, you should be ok.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    I have Arthritis as well. The common one is swimming....I hate swimming. There are also sit down elliptical things that are suppose to be pretty easy on the joints. All of it is to repetitive for my liking. I like the rowing machine but find my knees bad sometimes.

    I highly recommend taking up 5x5 or some similar free weight strength training program. You can't do a whole lot of repetitions when you're lifting heavy weights so it's great non-repetitive wise. It does wonders for Arthritis and your body's strength firmness and bone density, and is recommended on the Arthritis Foundation page. The title is even:
    How Weight Lifting Can Help Rheumatoid Arthritis
    Periodically increasing weights as strength improves is beneficial for joints - even if you have RA.
    http://www.arthritistoday.org/news/why-lift-weights.php.

    I went on kijiji and managed to get a bunch of crappy concrete weights for free. Also, I can't remember the last time I complained about my knees.

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