If you join a gym, one thing you can do to raise your heart rate is to use the sauna and hot tub. Your body has to work harder to cool you down. But make sure you don’t stay in too long until you know how your body will react. A heart rate monitor is good for this as you can easily see if your HR gets too high. If that happens, you can cool off in the shower and pool and then go back into the sauna for kind of an interval workout of your heart.
Craigslist can be a great source of home exercise equipment. But one reason for that is that people often get bored of it and don’t use it. It’s still worth checking out, but keep in mind that it won’t magically motivate you to use it. It sounds like you’re doing pretty good with the bike setup you have. Can you ride that bike as well, or does your knee bother you on it? Gyms will often have recumbent bikes, which you pedal more horizontally. It may put less stress on your knee. Rowers would also be similar, as your weight is not bearing down on your knee.
One thing you should try to do is still workout your legs. Find a way that doesn’t hurt your knee. What often happens is that something hurts, we stop using it, it atrophies, it’s harder to start using again, it weakens, we injure it, and the cycle goes on and on. Make sure you work out your legs, even if it’s something you have to rotate in with your other workouts.
I’d like to point out that just putzing around in the shallow end of a pool is perfectly normal. We have people with back/leg/whatever problems doing that at ours quite often.
Staff and visitors like the idea of people trying to do something to get healthier. So friendly, positive people all over.
You probably don’t even need a referral, but tell your doctor you want to go to physical therapy. It will be a little expensive, but it will also be worth it. Your physical therapist will know what exercises you can do for the best return and the least danger.
I have a right leg that is barely functional due to Multiple Sclerosis, and can only lift it about 2 inches off the ground on a good day. I also live very rural in a Northern State, so my resources and outdoor time is limited. I’ll tell you what I do, but my expertise comes from doing these things for the last few years:
I go to the pool as often as I can and run in the shallow end, usually during my local high schools’s adult lap swim - don’t worry, he staff and co-swimmers are incredibly supportive. It is a good workout and the hardest par on my leg is getting in and out of the pool. I also occasional add jumping jacks, backwards running and an arms only lap. After quite a while, I generally do an hour 3 times a week (depending on work schedule) and am working up to 90 minutes. Get a good waterproof mp3 player to help pass the time.
I have an inexpensive stationary handbike in my room. Boring but effective.
I have a punching bag - I’ll never get in a ring, but standing there wailing on that thing will get you a sweat in no time.
And this is the surprising thing - I use an elliptical - it took a while to find one that works for me, but I get a good workout with my left leg doing 90 percent of the work and my right leg just going through the motions.
Don’t forget the aerobic benefit of a good weight lifting routine.
I hope his helps - I am still overweight, but this routine has got me to the point I can walk without a cane 80+ percent of the time.
I will discuss this with my doctor but I don’t really believe this is viable.I hope to start a new job next week but currently. I am unemployed and without insurance. Cost would quickly become prohibitive. At my appointment on Friday, she gave me a shot of cortisone in my knee which seems to be helpful. At best, this is a temporary aid but if it will help me survive this factory job I hope to get then in three months I can get some real insurance and that should improve my treatment options.
Many thanks to all for your kind and supportive thoughts.
Ignoring the cost / health insurance aspect: depending on the nature of the knee issues, PT may or may or may not be helpful. I’ve gone through PT for painful knees several times - and both times, the knee was far more consistently painful than when I did not do PT.
So, for my issues, the alternative (occasional bouts of pain) is far better than doing PT (constant pain).
When you have access to a pool, that’s a wonderful option. Saves wear and tear on the body associated with weight bearing, using your arms to scull around will burn calories, and maybe your body will burn a few extra calories just keeping warm.
The tabletop “cycle” vs the exercise bike on a table: the main advantage is it might be easier to reach the hand cranking portion on the dedicated machine, versus having to reach around the rest of the exercise bike’s structure, but on the other hand, the thing you’ve got is already paid for!
Look around for videos of exercises designed for people to do in their office chairs. Mostly stretching and strengthening, but a number of them will get the heart rate up a little bit as well - and they require nothing more than a good chair (ideally with arms), or a surface to lean against. I actually just did an Amazon Mechanical Turk HIT series where I had to do one of these every day for a month - and I think any of them would be great for your situation
I have a bad leg, and working out in the pool is wonderful. It has strengthened my leg, improved my balance and posture, and given me a greater sense of well being. Haven’t lost an ounce, of course, but I do feel better.
Get some resistance bands - they aren’t expensive - and there are many, many videos to help you find a low-impact/beginner routine that you can work your way into. They are easy to use, but make for a more interesting workout. I got back into exercising starting with those as I actually found them fun to work with. Just go on YouTube and search for a beginner or low-impact workout for resistance bands. You can go at your own pace, in the privacy of your home. The hardest part is getting started and staying on it consistently. Maybe joining some kind of online group or starting a thread here (!) to give yourself some accountability might help with that part. Best of luck!
