Workout routine for a mammy

Macha

Hey guys,

Ive finally convinced my mum to join the gym. (another convert muahahahah)

Well she's faily overweight (BMI of 33..eeep) and has osteoarthritis in both knees. I don't trust gym instructors as far as I can throw them so I was wondering if anyone has any advice for what sort of programme I should put her on? I guess as low impact as poss...what about weights? machines first or start her out on free weights?

Cheers!

t-ha

Good work taconnol!

Unfortunately, most of my research and thought goes into how I train myself, and therefore it has limited crossover in specific cases like this. Although I'ld maybe agree with you about the average gym instructor, it may be a good idea to seek out a good professional trainer who may have dealt with clients who have arthritis before.

I would say that swimming is an excellent low-impact exercise, and also that glucosamine sulfate and chondritin sulfate supplementation has helped many people I know with arthritis to maintain more mobility and keep the pain down.

Lastly, I have personally found that the primary way to keep body composition in check is through diet - and luckily bad knees have no bearing on that!

amazingemmet

Elliptical trainer would be a good way to do cardio as they're no/low impact.

Macha

yeah t-ha, i've given her a hooosh onto the GI bandwagon. So her diet shouldnt' be a problem (theoretically....)

Ah yes the eliptical trainer's a good idea.

She's too self conscious to go swimming so that'll have to wait until she's lost a bit of weight and gained some self esteem unf

I've heard of those suppplements (glucosamine sulfate and chondritin sulfate supplementation) are you supposed to take both? or one or other?

millivanilli

its great that you've convinced your mum to take up some excercise, but do you not think something low impact but effective like pilates or even yoga would be better, especially is she has bad knees. Gym workouts tend to strain parts of the body even in fit people. swimming is a great idea too or aqua aerobics. she might be a bit self concious at first, but once she got down her local pool and saw people of all shapes and sizes she would probably be grand. she probably feels more self concious in the gym with all the tiny skinny people around.

Macha

It's taken me over a year to get her to agree to the gym. She's like a horse digging in it's heels about the pool...

As for yoga & pilates, given her high BMI, I think she needs somthing that's going to get her heart rate up & make her sweat a bit... IM not sure how good yoga & pilates are in terms of working up a sweat...am I wrong?

justsomebloke

i would actaully agree with the yoga and pilates as she is more likely to actually stay doing this as there is more company invloved so may keep her more interested also your gym probably has some classes so she could do that aswell as a doing a gym session.

as for the osteoarthritis her best bet is to visit a doctor would would be able to tell her what exercises she would be able to do and if any may help.
But keep her to low impact exercise like xtrainer and swimming but doing some upper body weight exercises would also be good once she is using machines as using free weights may put pressure on her knees depending on her stance where as the machines are generally sitting and designed to maintain a decent posture when doing them

[edit sorry forgot to say, besides going to the gym is your mam going to be changing her diet cause if not whe probably won't see that much results from jsut doing a small amount of exercise]

millivanilli

You're right, Pilates and Yoga don't make you sweat loads, but they can be quite intensive and are a great way for someone who is overweight or who hasn't exercised in years to start off. With your mum's bmi being quite high, any kind of excercise is going to have an effect. All I would say about cardio work is that I would be careful about getting her to do too much too soon. Even walking is a good cardio workout, and when combined with a healthy diet can be just as effective as an intense workout at the gym . You also have to keep in mind your mum's arthritis and current weight. Its not a good idea to suddenly start on an intense cardio workout after doing little or no exercise for years. Pilates and yoga are often used to help people who have injuries and so this could be a safe way for your mum to ease herself into exercise. I started Pilates after a knee injury and it completely cured it, so it could probably help with your mum's arthritis. Its brilliant that you've convinced her to do something about her weight, good luck with it!

Macha

Yeah walking is good, but concrete is one of the hardest surfaces you can walk on (running on the road as opposed to the footpath decreases your chances of having an injury by 10% - not factoring in cars of course ), So I think the treadmill or elliptical trainer would be better for her joints.

Also, its very easy to sit in front of the TV & say that you'll go for a walk just after this show, only walking for 20 mins blah blah. But she'll be going straight to the gym after work so it'll be a part of her routine.

Ill see if the gym has pilates/yoga classes.

Oh and word of advice for all (while Im here)- do NOT go to the Coral Fitness gym in Wicklow,it's a disgrace. Basically a prefab with rusty machines, weight room the size of my cubicle, all yours for the low low price of €9 a visit...