Best combination of exercise?

[PearlsBeforeWine]

After a couple.of years of bad luck..namely ruptured achilles tendon in both legs a year after slipping a disc... . I'm really unfit and 3 stone overweight. Oh, plus terrified that I bugger up something else.

I'm assuming that low impact is the only way to go? My plan is to

1. Walk dog daily which I do anyway
2. Alternate legs and arms and gym to strengthen muscle
3. Pilates and yoga for flexibility
4. Aqua zumba and cross trainer to get moving while protecting joints.

Does this sound OK? I will prob try to do a class a day an hour of gym and whatever the dog wants, she's normally reluctant after 45mins or so.

You might find proper strength training will really help - lift weights! But get some expert advice and training in it.

Can you talk to a physio? They may be able to suggest some important starter exercises

Strength training. Check out SMART workout by Ben Bocchicchio, I've been doing it years and it's fantastic.

Thanks everyone.

I've got Physio next week so will ask..

So screwed... Daily problem with stiff ankles, bouts of plantar fasciitis... Its like my legs are sized up. I've always been naturally v muscly so it's alarming

Did my Achilles many years ago now, it is def possible to recover. Slow and steady though.
The yoga /Pilates is a great thing to add into the general mix

@MIdgebabe
Thanks.... can I just ask... Did you have a complete rupture and did you have all sorts of random things going wrong with your legs after?

No, it hung together....just. The knees went next. Whereupon the weight did pile on. Lost most of one muscle in the outside thigh/buttock

Ended up on a hospital physio programme that basically developed strength , stability and alignment for every muscle group from your core down. 12 weeks, exercises to do multiple times per day, then the long slow road back to fitness

Daily problem with stiff ankles, bouts of plantar fasciitis

Those two things are likely connected: the insertion of muscles & ligaments around the ankle is complex.

Try doing heel drops to strengthen & load your Achilles (extrinsic exercises) - you can find good demonstrations on YouTube by searching "Alfredson's Heel drops" I'm also a fan of the slightly comic in a dad-dancing sense Brad & Bob "The most famous physical therapists on the internet" They give practical sensible advice.

With PF, you should be working on ankle mobility and stretching calves & achilles. Also when the PF isn't too acute, you need to get your foot mobilised: walk barefoot (not when it's acute) and be really conscious & mindful of how you're working through your feet; roll your foot using a 250 ml water bottle or similar filled with water & frozen - hurts a bit, but the relief is almost immediate.

But strength training. Bodyweight at first - squats and deadlifts. But get someone to teach you to do them safely.

However, you can't out train a bad diet.

But the weight came off for me when I could exercise again...possibly because it is easier to eat healthy if you ain't feeling miserable

Thanks that really helpful.

@MIdgebabe your post makes me realise that I've been somewhat cavalier in recovery.... So thanks. Will commit now to physio.

@awaywiththepiskies
I get frustrated because I get told to wear supportive shoes... But I think a year in supportive shoes has probably weakened my feet. I have high arches and they haven't flattened. I try to walk barefoot and mix it up between heeled boots and trainers and it's getting slightly better but so frustrating... Because it's now at my ankles.

Stretching out my achilles just causes shin splints.... Argh.

But basically I can see ive not taken my rehab seriously enough. And have not much confidence so that's another hurdle. Slipped my disc only getting out of a car and achilles from running uphill with dog....neither of these are taxing activities!

Yeah I've been eating crap for a year, hands up to that. Shuffling around all the time gets depressing... I had xrays and no arthritis at all, which made me feel so much better.

I've decided to stick to aqua aerobics til I see physio next Tuesday.

Hi op, just here to give a bit of moral support! I've got a couple of slipped disks and am just trying to start doing a bit more, having been doing physio religiously all summer and a few months of pilates. My neck is really stiff and sore, my knees ache. I'm late 30's but feel about 50.

OP it sounds as though you have connected problems with alignment and mobility from the pelvis down. Yoga & Pilates will help, but you really might need something like some Alexander technique training to get your skeleton aligned and moving efficiently.

And when you say "supportive" shoes, I hope you don't mean trainers. For Achilles problems (I have one niggly Achilles but it's from when I did pointe work) a little heel is good, just to take the strain off.

But you're finding that it's all connected so I'd say that you need to get the whole lower body situation looked at holistically. I'd bet there's something going on with your spine & pelvis.

No, I mean proper running trainers that I was fitted for in a shop.... And mixing with a heeled boot.

Interesting re spine... Slipped 2 discs...

@Indecisivelurcher
Rubbish isn't it... What are you trying? I found swimming really helped

Get on the erg machine down the gym. Low impact and provides both aerobic and resistance training. A 45 min erg can easily burn 500 plus calories. Look at the row perfect website, lots of tips and tutorial videos. Most gym instructors don't have a clue how to use the ergs.

A good physio will start you at level 1 for each exercise, and you gradually build.

For example, for the heel raises mentioned earlier, I think I went from good toes naught toes, to those with resistance band, to raising up on toes, to the heel drop variant to a single leg variant .

Then there were quad, hamstrings, inner and outer thigh and tummy muscle groups and lots of stability and alignment work

as another poster said, there is a lot about being really aware of your weight distribution and posture, lifting out of hips etc etc

Exercise bike is often allowed very early on. Swimming if you can crawl, but breaststroke can give hip/knee problems

I can run, jump and dance now. You have reminded me how great it is to have that movement!

@pearls, I've been doing physio daily since summer but fallen off the wagon a bit recently, then added a weekly pilates class in, just starting to add swimming in now, if that goes OK I plan on adding my road bike in. But my neck is crook since my swim on Sunday which does not bode well!