OK, as many of you know, I’m a chronic back pain sufferer. Years ago, execise used to help, but of late, it seems to do nothing more than move the pain to certain central locations, where it becomes intensified. I’ve found that most kinds of aerobic exercise are very jarring to my low back. I would also do a lot of stretching, but that didn’t seem to help, either.
About a week ago, I picked up a couple of yoga videos. Within two days, I had some fairly dramatic pain reduction, so I’m sticking with it. Depending on how much time I have on my hands, I’m doing the yoga exercised once or twice a day, somewhere between twenty minutes to an hour per session.
I’m actually kind of surprised by a couple of things. First of all, I actually manage to work up a sweat. I have a kind of “post workout tired” sensation- not exhausted, but similar to what I used to experience with more aerobic types of exercise.
Once I get my muscles toned and more flexible, and work out the rest of the kinks in my back, I plan to try a more aerobic workout again, but in the meantime, I’m wondering.
I know conventional wisdom has it that for exercise to do you any good, you have to do a lot of cardiovascular exercise. My cardio generally comes from walking from one to two miles a day, five days a week, and after a month of that I had actually gained weight. I think part of the weight gain is related to the fact that I’m taking birth control pills to treat problems related to having a fibroid tumor in my uterus, but I digress.
It’s spring break this week, so I’m not doing as much walking (although being Holy Week, I’m still having to walk to church, though I usually get a ride home). Next week, I’ll be back to walking two miles most days on top of the yoga.I’m just wondering if I stick with the yoga, along with eating a sensible healthy diet, will this help me burn enough calories/fat that I will lose some weight? I’m 5’2 and currently weigh 155 lbs- not a good weight. Of course, once I got home from school most days (the walking comes from the fact that the tech center where I attend class is a mile away from the end of the bus line), I generally tend to collapse and not do a lot of physical activity- being in constant pain can wear a person out.
