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Pacing exercise - muscle soreness
tomatoey
Posts: 5,446 Member
I used to be able to work out daily. I've started up again, but this time I have arthritis and my hypermobility has become a burden. So getting back to fitness after time away, I'm scared of pushing myself too hard and setting myself up for another overuse injury (I've had a lot of issues with tendonitis and repetitive strain injuries). What's a good way to ease back into daily activity?
I've been doing 30-50 minutes of stationary cycling, brisk walking on the treadmill with inclines, and swimming, after a little bit of rehab / body weight exercise. I've also been trying to get a lot of just regular walking in, sometimes 2-4 hours on some days after workouts. This may be too much, or is it? I've been doing 2-3 days of proper exercise, and maybe 2 days of the longer walks a week for about a month now, and it doesn't seem that my muscles have adapted - I never quite feel recovered.
Should I expect at least a little continuous muscle soreness all through the week? I don't remember it being this way.
(I am also a little scared of any little twinges that happen.)
I've been doing 30-50 minutes of stationary cycling, brisk walking on the treadmill with inclines, and swimming, after a little bit of rehab / body weight exercise. I've also been trying to get a lot of just regular walking in, sometimes 2-4 hours on some days after workouts. This may be too much, or is it? I've been doing 2-3 days of proper exercise, and maybe 2 days of the longer walks a week for about a month now, and it doesn't seem that my muscles have adapted - I never quite feel recovered.
Should I expect at least a little continuous muscle soreness all through the week? I don't remember it being this way.
(I am also a little scared of any little twinges that happen.)
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Replies
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"This may be too much or is it?"
How could any of us tell you? What does your doctor tell you? Does your doctor say it's too much? How do you feel after doing all that?
Keep an eye on your twinges, in fact. You would probably be an excellent candidate for keeping an "injury" log.
I used to do that for my knee.0 -
I do make note of anything weird, and I stop immediately. I also take a few days off when that happens, until there's no pain at all. I don't know if that's wise, though, sometimes you do have to push through pain, or else you never get stronger, and it's important to retain as much function as possible. It's just a strange feeling to not be able to trust your body, you know?
My GP doesn't know a lot about MSK things. I have a great physio, but I maxed out my insurance. Her advice was to do the prescribed exercises, and do whatever cardio I can do for conditioning. She wanted me to shoot for 30 mins daily at no resistance on the bike, but a) it's boring and b) I feel like I can do a little more than that. 30 mins at no resistance, I might as well be sleeping. Maybe she'd have different advice now. I do plan to see her soon.
I suppose I am asking about what people, ideally people who've had some of the issues I've had, do to pace themselves. What are your green light, yellow light, red light signals?0 -
It's ok to push through soreness and discomfort, but not injurious pain.
I understand about not trusting your body... I have been trying to rehab my knee since April, and it *still* hurts to walk up and down stairs.
If your GP doesn't know a lot about MSK things, get a new GP.
A: It's boring is not an excuse. Use netflix.
B: Start with 30 minutes, see how you do for a couple weeks, add 10 minutes. Try another week or two. Increase gradually.
Pace yourself, build up. With my knee, I babied it at first, then I start pounding on it hard. Some days I feel like I've been crippled. Other times, it feels bullet proof. When it's sore, I ice it and get over it. When it actually hurts, deep set in pain, I let it heal, and I take it easy. What I don't do is stop working out. I listen to my body, but I don't let my knee dictate my life. (usually)
My knee injury is soft tissue though, and has been healing since April. It's definitely not a chronic condition.0 -
You're right, I do need a new GP, 100%
See, I guess part of the problem is, I don't know what injurious pain is with this weirder, older body. One summer, I swam laps daily, no issue. The next, I went twice and got rotator cuff tendonitis. While I was swimming, I felt ok, it was later that I couldn't open the trunk of my car. Things like that happen with the kinds of issues I have
I
A: It's boring is not an excuse. Use netflix.
B: Start with 30 minutes, see how you do for a couple weeks, add 10 minutes. Try another week or two. Increase gradually.
This is mindblowingly boring, you have to admit! Discouraging too, because it doesn't offer the little rewards I used to get from working out - increased heart rate, nice sweat, feeling light afterwards and having an improved mood, a decent calorie burn. Instead it's plodding through something that feels really pointless. And burns as few calories as just walking..
I do what you did - I push myself - because now I'm motivated to lose again, I want to get it done, plus access the rewards I mentioned - with intervals or 4 hour walks, then I suffer and feel I have to stay away. Now that I write it out, it doesn't sound like such a clever way of doing things.
So maybe it's about accepting limitations and getting the motivation to do the boring stuff... I'm hoping to take the measured approach you're taking now
It's good that your knee's improving, though!0 -
This is mindblowingly boring, you have to admit! Discouraging too, because it doesn't offer the little rewards I used to get from working out - increased heart rate, nice sweat, feeling light afterwards and having an improved mood, a decent calorie burn. Instead it's plodding through something that feels really pointless. And burns as few calories as just walking..
Since you swim too you might want to get a waterproof mp3 player, it's so worth it. Listening to music really helps break up the monotony of cardio.
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meh. I can push a few hundred pounds with it, but is it really improving? >_<
I think, you might want to think, could you reframe a couple things?
Firstly, boring. Well... sure, my bike on a trainer could be boring, instead, I put on some tv shows of movies I want to catch up on. Could it offer the little rewards though? I know when I get on my trainer, I bust my backend and try to get as much work in as possible. When I get off and go up the stairs, I feel jelly legged. Could you work to try to capture that? My bike sessions are 45 minutes. I kick my *kitten*.
As for limitations, well yeah.. we have to, and we have to be in tune with out bodies. We also have to accept that sometimes we have to rest a little longer. Is a 4 hour walk the best use of your time? I know a 30 minute swim would be doing a lot more for me than a 4 hour walk.
I think, with a bit of reframing, setting some reasonable goals, and talking to your treatment team, you could probably put together a really good workout plan. PT might be helpful as well. I dunno, sleepy. Probably not making sense. Not motivated to edit. lol.
Good luck, but just keep an eye on how you are doing, and know how to communicate with others what is happening.0 -
Maybe that's an idea. Otherwise, I wind up giving myself goals that aren't good for me.
Thanks, both of you!0 -
meh. I can push a few hundred pounds with it, but is it really improving? >_<
I think, you might want to think, could you reframe a couple things?
Firstly, boring. Well... sure, my bike on a trainer could be boring, instead, I put on some tv shows of movies I want to catch up on. Could it offer the little rewards though? I know when I get on my trainer, I bust my backend and try to get as much work in as possible. When I get off and go up the stairs, I feel jelly legged. Could you work to try to capture that? My bike sessions are 45 minutes. I kick my *kitten*.
As for limitations, well yeah.. we have to, and we have to be in tune with out bodies. We also have to accept that sometimes we have to rest a little longer. Is a 4 hour walk the best use of your time? I know a 30 minute swim would be doing a lot more for me than a 4 hour walk.
I think, with a bit of reframing, setting some reasonable goals, and talking to your treatment team, you could probably put together a really good workout plan. PT might be helpful as well. I dunno, sleepy. Probably not making sense. Not motivated to edit. lol.
Good luck, but just keep an eye on how you are doing, and know how to communicate with others what is happening.
Yes, I surely can and should try to reframe things
I'm not allowed to do real work.. I naturally want to add speed or resistance, but I'm supposed to be doing no resistance at all on the bike, and not too fast I'm LITERALLY spinning my wheels, lol. I will make use of media to at least tolerate it, that's a good idea.
And yes, you're right again, I have total faith in my PT to come up with something good. I do need to see her.
Thanks so much for your thoughts!
(Oh re the walking for hours - it's just, walking definitely feels safe. But I know it's not a burn, so I'm trying to get what I can from it. You're uncovering a lot of ridiculousness in my thinking that my PT could for sure hack into something productive. Thanks again!)0 -
I wouldn't call it ridiculous, but definitely work with your treatment team. They'll know how best to set things up for you.0
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Perhaps put more time into swimming rather than on the treadmill/stationary bike as it much easier on the joints. You'd be hard pressed to injure yourself in the pool.0
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I wouldn't call it ridiculous, but definitely work with your treatment team. They'll know how best to set things up for you.
Good idea, thanks. Will do
(I'm thinking, maybe if I do one kind-of real workout every other day with at least some resistance or intervals, and then let myself really recover in between, instead of 6 boring ones, that would feel better... I dunno, I'll ask, for surePerhaps put more time into swimming rather than on the treadmill/stationary bike as it much easier on the joints. You'd be hard pressed to injure yourself in the pool.
Thank you for the advice. I try to mix it up fairly evenly so there's not strain from just one activity, because I did actually injure myself in the pool 0 -
If you've been away from it go moderately. With arthritis, you need longer warm-ups. You might consider aqua exercise, which can be rigorous with the right instructor. I go to an aqua boot camp class and am a wet noodle (pardon the expression) at the end and I don't have arthritis.
Also, I'm recovering from a broken leg and was cleared dor all activities except high impact and outside bicycling, but I OD'd at a Zumba JAM yesterday and will be easing off today. So, I say be moderate from experience. ;-/0
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