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How do I best burn calories using my upper body?

Posts: 3 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I’ve lost over 10kg this summer and my go-to exercise has been walking. I’ve typically walked between 10 and 20 kilometers per day, but a little over a week ago I pushed myself to walk 50 kilometers in about 12 hours. Consequently my right knee and thigh got inflamed and my doctor is telling me not to walk for exercise the next couple of weeks. I use two apps to monitor my exercise and they both estimate that I typically burn between 800 and 1500 calories a day by walking, so what are some upper body exercises I can do to keep this up while waiting for my leg to heal?

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Replies

  • Posts: 71 Member
    There is a guy on youtube who post battle rope workouts. He's even got vids on substituting a bed sheet for a rope and most moves can be modified to do seated. It would be a simple search and might be worth your time
  • Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks for the suggestion, battle ropes seem like they would be perfect if I had the space for them.
  • Posts: 1,071 Member
    edited August 2020
    why not do arm cycling? that helped me while my leg was too messed up to walk. if you get a mini or underdesk cycle to do this with, make sure and get a magnetic resistance model i you can afford it - the others i've tried are less than smooth while the magnetic resistance models i've used are smooth and silent. and some have quite decent resistance; you can get a decent burn with enough resistance. i had a deskcycle i used that way, nice bike but the crank rotation is only 7 inches, so i'm upgrading to a magnetrainer with a 10" rotation. i had one before and quite liked it, but i have had several others.

    this isn't the best example of pedaling - i think he's got it too high, and i like using my hands on the pedals rather than using the handles

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYnpYSzT_qE
  • Posts: 3,997 Member
    Try a Concept2 SkiErg

    There's a link somewhere on C2's website where you can find gym locations where their equipment is installed.
  • Posts: 746 Member
    edited August 2020
    If you have a sturdy stool and some resistance bands, plus an anchor point that would be somewhere behind your shoulders when seated you could try seated boxing punches using the bands for resistance.
  • Posts: 34,872 Member
    Even seated speed bag (punching) work would burn some calories, though hard to estimate. Ditto seated high-rep low weight upper body only circuit-like work (though that latter would be a bad idea if you already have a strength routine going).

    There are some surprisingly intense upper body aerobic workouts on YouTube, designed for wheelchair athletes. (I've seen people discuss them, but have never done them myself, so can't recommend a specific one(s), but they're easy to find by searching on YT.)

    I'd never encourage you to take any risks, but I'm wondering about the exact nature of your restrictions. You say "no walking", but are you able to do anything with your legs at all, or is it all off limits? Because of some chronic problems, I can't do regular high-volume walking or (even moreso) running, but cycling and rowing are OK - quite intense leg use, though, in those, just not much impact.

    If you have access to a pool, there are various things that can be done with minimal or no leg stress, too. It takes equipment access, but canoeing/kayaking (especially via a rental, so you needn't carry boats) might be something to put in the mix, if available.

    Hope you're able to find something you enjoy, that helps you!
  • Posts: 3 Member
    Ah, thank you all for the replies:) I asked this question right after my doctor told me I couldn’t walk for exercise, then promptly forgot I’d done so after buying a gym membership with complementary workout guidance sessions, so now I have a program alternating between upper body strength, long distance rowing, and using the concept2 SkiErg as I see was suggested by sgt1372.

    I can walk and stand on my leg, but I can’t do anything that approaches being exercise. If I walk or even just stand for too long it feels like someone starts placing hot or cold metal rods all over the outside of my right thigh. It only feels strange at first, but quickly ramps up to being quite painful.

    As for eating less... that is of course psychologically unappealing, but also I think unnecessary. I’ve been loosing ~0,9 kg per week on average, so even with a more sedentary lifestyle I’m probably not eating above maintenance. And I don’t think loosing 0,9 kg a week is the healthiest pace in the long run so I’m already planning to slow that down to ~0,4 or ~0,5 kg after I hit 90 kg (currently at 95,5).

    I just got scared when I weighed myself after the first three months of isolation and saw that I was 106 kg, as I knew that I’d gained weight but I’d never before been above 99kg and I’d expected being 98-ish kg...
  • Posts: 24 Member
    why not do arm cycling? that helped me while my leg was too messed up to walk.

    This is genius!
  • Posts: 3,831 Member
    Glad you've gotten a good alternative plan at your gym. I just wanted to mention the large number of seated exercise routines available on youtube. Some designed for seniors, some for the mobility impaired, some for the super obese. You could use any of them for your purposes while you heal.
  • Posts: 7,205 Member
    Do YouTube chair cardio. I was doing full-body stuff then started having issues with my legs. If you can use your legs ok check out KymNonStop, she has some good ones. Pahla B has some seated arms only workouts and KymNonStop has a boxing video you can do and modify the legs. Check out wheelchair cardio as well.
  • Posts: 482 Member
    Compound movements. OHP, bench press, dips, bent over row (if you can), pullups/chinups/lat pulldowns are all solid.
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