Workouts for 300+ lbs

Bump!

I walked. I did that for a long time. 6'3 485 lbs. when I started. after a while I added in stairs and then added in light jogging. my doctor too was against me jogging @ my weight. I've been jogging for over a year now and haven't hurt myself yet. sounds like you have that covered so if you can find stairs inside a building somewhere or if hills to climb. it's a good workout. also helps getting a good pair of shoes. for me it was a huge difference. I was able to go out for longer and further. I also do Zumba. I suck at it. I can't do about 50% of the moves but I do what I can. YouTube has lots of free videos you can check out.

Spare those joints!

You don't want them so abused now during weight loss that you can't use them to the full later when lighter and wanting to run like the wind over the hills!

(bit much perhaps?)

Your walking is great, just keep the pace going up as you get more fit. Remember, it's really more of a workout for you than for someone lighter.

Now, you do have a good idea in there. Throw a 30 sec sprint in. That sprint may not be outright jogging, but the fast walk as you described. Just given enough time (4 min) to recover.
Do that 7 times in a walking session, 3 times a week, for 2 weeks.

Then move to slightly less time on recovery.
You can also make hill work be the sprint. Try to walk up the hill at flat pace (or part of the hill). Equivalent to sprinting really.

Here is a routine from http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/JogWalkProgram.html modified for weight instead of time.
As your weight drops below a level, that is what the intervals move up to.

Weight Run Walk Repeat
start 30 sec. 150 sec. 7
270 30 sec. 90 sec. 10
260 60 sec. 60 sec. 10
250 90 sec. 90 sec. 7
240 2 1 7
230 3 1 5
220 4 1 4
210 6 1 3
200 9 1 2
190 10 1 2
180 12 1 2
170 20 0 1

For your needed strength training, just use the fact that muscle burns fat. The more muscle you can gain, the more 24hr fat burning you have, because metabolism is higher.
So best to spend limited time/energy on the biggest muscles right now, you can add in more later for balance or toning.
Your legs are the biggest, followed by back, chest, stomach, arms. Best to alternate between groups though so muscles get chance to recover, and can be used to the full.

What can you do at home? Scan over these and see what can be done with free weights. And you know empty milk jugs can be filled with water and tied to a stick for weight. Or dumbbells too. And some exercises on here are for the bands.
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Here is decent order to separate the muscle groups, going in order from largest to smallest. Be careful of the lunges for know, unless the above site agrees with your knowledge of doing them. Again, save the knees.
Glutes
Upper back
Quads
Chest
Hamstrings
Lats
Stomach
Shoulders
Lower back
Outer/Inner thighs

Before you do anything, always see your doctor to make sure you can safely exercise without hurting yourself.
I'd suggest just walking and doing some Jack Lalanne rehab workouts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTF9QCb33hw

That's be a good start.

Once you're past this, try something more challenging. Consider buying a set of 25lb dumbells or whatever you're comfortable with:
Start with a program that works all muscle groups 1-3 non-consecutive days a week.
Warm up with 5-10 minutes of light cardio or with warm up sets of each exercise.
Choose 1-2 exercises for each muscle group (see below) and do 1-2 sets of 8-16 repetitions of each exercise. As a beginner, you may want to start with about 15-16 reps until you feel comfortable with the moves and build some strength. After that, you move up in weight and reduce your reps for a different challenge.

Here is a list of muscle groups along with sample exercises. If you're a beginner, you only need to choose 1-2 exercises for each muscle group in the upper body and 3-4 moves for the lower body.

Chest: bench press, chest press machine, pushups, pec deck machine
Back: seated row machine, back extensions, lat pulldowns
Shoulders: overhead press, lateral raise, front raise
Biceps: bicep curls, hammer curls, concentration curls
Triceps: tricep extensions, dips, kickbacks
Lower Body: Squats, lunges, leg press machines, deadlifts, calf raises
Abdominals: crunches, reverse crunches, oblique twists, pelvic tilts

Have fun, experiment and go easy, be patient with yourself and allow yourself one day each week to eat the foods you love,
GOOD LUCK!

I would suggest walking, but as you can't really go outside, maybe marching on the spot. You could aim to do it in front of the tv for the duration of your favourite tv programme, then the time will pass quicker.

I agree. I was just over 300lbs (now just under) and walking is great. I love the elliptical trainer, as its easy on joints. But since you dont have access to gym etc..definatly walking. Until you get fitter. I wouldnt recommend jogging/running until you are used to walking (or marchign on the spot) good luck, fingers crossed for you!

When I started my fitness focus several years ago, I did not meet the criteria you set in the original post, but close.

I found that while diet and exercise where the backbone of my fitness focus, just forcing myself to become more active on a daily basis was a huge component in making my lifestyle change. As a matter of fact, writing the previous sentence is a huge reminder to me that I have been letting that aspect of fitness lag the past couple of months. Possibly this explains my current lack of progress. But I digress

If you can get a cheap pedometer, wear it, see how many steps you take in an average day, set goals to increase it each week that fit in with your lifestyle. It is an easy fun challenge to see if you can get to a certain number of steps.

I wish you luck. I think you are focusing in a thoughtful, holistic way. So much of the underlying energy requires that mental and emotional focus.

Im not experienced but I would say try speed walking on the tredmill...if that isnt avalible to you then just go for long walks/hike and switch it up with straight,uphill and downhill. I have a friend who is probably around 300lbs and she just started marathon training awhile ago..and she swears by it!! best thing though is talk to your doctor for excersize advice. me personally i have been doing yoga for weightloss and i am seeing results in my muscles already....if ur interested i can send u some beginner stuff i do..i swear by it!!!

All movement really helps. Try giving your cleaning some more vigor, dancing, stairs are great, anything really to add movement. I also recommend push ups. If you aren't up to full push ups (and 'm still not) you can modify them to either on your knees or even wall push ups to build muscle strength. Sit ups are also good and there are a bunch of different kinds. I started with being able to do 2-3 a night, but your strength builds up.

Spare those joints!

You don't want them so abused now during weight loss that you can't use them to the full later when lighter and wanting to run like the wind over the hills!

Excellent advice. In the beginning, be careful with your joints. You'll want to use them later.

Get on the cybex arc. Set it to you weighing 50 pounds and no incline and do as much as you can. Work your way up and always keep improving and stay hydrated

Yoga DVD for beginners

BUMP, for hubby

Try Leslie Sansone walk dvd's. She will have you walking 5mph in no time andvworking upper body too, to get you fit enough to start looking at oher higher impact vids.

^^^^This! I LOVE walking with Leslie Sansone! I also have a pilates dvd..but can't remember the name of it! I'm 262.8 now!

Leslie Sansone Walk Fit workout videos.
You can get them for under 10$ at Walmart and they are an EXCELLENT workout! Low impact and they will have you sweating like crazy!