A few general fitness questions

nesf

I'm thinking of getting back into training again but was looking for some constructive tips about how to go about it.

Some basic info about myself.

At the moment I'm overweight, my fitness level isn't good, and I'm carrying some old injuries and complaints that I have to be careful about. My weight has improved alot over the past 6 months. I was at my heaviest at just over 17 stone around november last. (I hit this weight due to drugs I was prescribed. I have since been taken off most of them, but I'm still on some of them.) I'm down to about 15 stone at the moment. I'm only 6'1" so I really would prefer to be at least a stone lighter. I walk alot each day, around an hour or two. To give you an idea of what my body type is like, the lightest I've been in the past 5 years was 12 and a half stone. This was after I came out of hospital after an illness that had caused me to burn off any fat or muscle in my system. At 12.5 stone my ribcage was extremely pronounced, I was unhealthily light at the time and was advised medically to gain weight, so I've a fair idea of the weight range I want to be in.

I used to do martial arts for about 7 years and my training in that kept me in shape, but about 5 years ago in a kickboxing competition I got a knee in the spine and messed my back up a bit. I was in alot of pain afterwards, and with the total change of lifestyle with moving upto college, I pretty much gave up on training and fitness (there were other factors, but I really don't need to go into them here). I also got my jaw dislocated quite badly in that fight, which still annoys me to this day (a tip for the young ones, if a guy is over 6 stone heavier than you and doesn't have any fat on his body, you really don't want to be in a compeditive full contact sparring match with him).

My back still isn't good. All the muscle on both sides of my spine is constantly tensed, and if I spend too much time on my feet in a day I get agonising pain from the muscles at the base of my back. This also happens if I try to run or jog for longer than 5 minutes. I've tried massage therapy and physio for my back but it didn't help. The muscles in my back are just unyielding, even after an hour of proper deep massage they are still rigid and tensed. I've been told there isn't a whole lot that the doctors can do beyond giving me pain killers which I don't use.

My knees have never been good, when I was quite young a combination of falls and accidents left me with quite weak knees that are prone to acting up, but they are doing fairly well lately.

Even though I have been out of training for a long time I still have alot of muscle left on my legs (I took up mountaineering for 2 years a while back and it left me with strong legs and forearms). My upper body is nowhere close to where it used be, my back is quite strong, and my chest is ok but my biceps and triceps are quite poor. My forearms are still well developed though.

The only "training" I get these days is from walking. I spend about an hour to two hours walking every day. I'm not totally sedentary, but I'm not far off it. I'd like to get back into shape some bit, but I'm unsure where to exactly start. The aerobic style training I did when I was younger is not suitable for me now with my back. Also being an asthmatic doesn't help. Although that has improved alot in recent years.

I know what I need to do with regard to diet (or at least have some idea), and I know I need to at the very least cut down severly on my smoking if not quit altogether. But I would appreciate some advice on what kind of training to look into considering the particular problems I have.

At the moment I'm looking at a combination of weights and cardio, mainly focussing on rebuilding muscle with the weights (obviously) but specifically I want to see if working on my back will help me. I've been told that weights may help my back, and that at the very least that weights can't make things worse. Cardio, well, I have to avoid jogging and running, but maybe bikes and rowing machines would be the way to go? I'm also looking at getting back into a good stretching routine every morning to help loosen out my back and regain some of my flexability.

Would anyone have any opinions or suggestions for me? Cheers for reading.

GreeBo

nesf wrote:

At the moment I'm looking at a combination of weights and cardio, mainly focussing on rebuilding muscle with the weights (obviously) but specifically I want to see if working on my back will help me. I've been told that weights may help my back, and that at the very least that weights can't make things worse. Cardio, well, I have to avoid jogging and running, but maybe bikes and rowing machines would be the way to go? I'm also looking at getting back into a good stretching routine every morning to help loosen out my back and regain some of my flexability.

Well Im thinking swimming, swimming and more swimming!!!
If you can swim this would deffo be great for you, non impact and load bearing so your back and knees should be ok. Also with your increased stretching in combination with swimming might be good for your back.
Id try to avoid going mental with the weights, you want to tone/shape rather than bulk up right?

rainbow kirby

I'm going to agree with the suggestion of swimming. Also some cycling sounds like it would be good for you. Also have you thought of making a return to martial arts? Possibly one of the Chinese styles - a style of kung fu or a good tai chi class? (Not particularly good for weight loss, but good for your general health and wellbeing?)