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Sitting/standing core muscle exercises for feeble people?

Sasha

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I need to strengthen my core to see if it helps with my OI but at the moment I can't lie flat (acid reflux) and anyway, stomach-muscle strengthening exercises in that position are too much for me, given that my muscles are pretty weak.

Are there any gentler core exercises that can be done standing/sitting?
 

Sasha

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Sit on a balance ball, instead of a chair.

Too much - can only sit for short periods even in a normal chair with full support.

I'm looking for something with reps, preferably, where I can measure what I'm doing and do very little.
 

Sasha

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Actually, Youtube has some stuff if you search on standing (or sitting) core exercises but you have to go for the ones for seniors and even then, those seniors (probably in care homes) are tearing up the turf compared to what we can do :cry: and doing OI-inducing arms-over-head things :nervous: but the exercises look adaptable.

For instance:


and


and I haven't watched this one but thought this guy's 'BEAST MODE - ON' poster was pretty hilarious considering the circs :cool:

 

JamBob

Senior Member
Messages
191
I started doing this mindful yoga video recently (as I have bad OI too and it doesn't involve any standing up) and the boat position at 13:35 definitely works the abdominals and core muscles - the instructor does the pose in several different intensities so you can work your way up to a harder pose.


I read that calf muscle exercises are really important for OI and improving the skeletal muscle pump but I find it hard to do them as they seem to involve standing up!!
 

Sasha

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the boat position at 13:35 definitely works the abdominals and core muscles

I bet it does! That kind of thing is waaaaay beyond me because my muscles have become too weak.

This is partly why I'm looking for sitting/standing exercises - the abdo exercises that use the dead weight of your legs and/or upper body are far too demanding for me at this stage.
 

adreno

PR activist
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4,841
Exercising my core muscles is actually something that can trigger an OI attack for me, not sure why.

For example, I can do pushups fairly well, but leg lifts causes a crash very quickly.
 

Sasha

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Exercising my core muscles is actually something that can trigger an OI attack for me, not sure why.

For example, I can do pushups fairly well, but leg lifts causes a crash very quickly.

With OI, it's important to keep your arms below the level of your heart - so with leg lifts, if you're lying down and raising your legs above the level of your heart, maybe it's the same issue.
 

JamBob

Senior Member
Messages
191
I bet it does! That kind of thing is waaaaay beyond me because my muscles have become too weak.

This is partly why I'm looking for sitting/standing exercises - the abdo exercises that use the dead weight of your legs and/or upper body are far too demanding for me at this stage.


Ah okay - sorry I misunderstood the level you're at. I used to be totally bedbound in the past, it's only after taking steroids that I could even contemplate sitting up/standing let alone doing exercises - and it does take time to just get any strength back.

Scarecrow's exercise looks good - contracting muscles - you could do it in any position (sitting or standing).
 

Scarecrow

Revolting Peasant
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Actually, Youtube has some stuff if you search on standing (or sitting) core exercises but you have to go for the ones for seniors and even then, those seniors (probably in care homes) are tearing up the turf compared to what we can do :cry: and doing OI-inducing arms-over-head things :nervous: but the exercises look adaptable.
Wow! That music's groovy.

I think, even in the first collection, those exercises need vetted for safety. I'm going to try them and will report back.

But I want you to know that my muscles are already sore from testing out the ab exercise earlier.
 

adreno

PR activist
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4,841
With OI, it's important to keep your arms below the level of your heart - so with leg lifts, if you're lying down and raising your legs above the level of your heart, maybe it's the same issue.
Well, it also happens if I hang in my arms and lift my legs...or if I do planking.
 

Sasha

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Well, it also happens if I hang in my arms and lift my legs...or if I do planking.

Not quite sure I understood you but I think you're saying no limbs above your heart... I don't know why that would make your OI worse, unless it's just generally too much for your system and that's triggering some of your other systems to fold.
 

Scarecrow

Revolting Peasant
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OK. Those are more difficult than they look but they have promise.

I worked through the video at the same pace as the old dear (who I suspect is really 25 but made up to look older) and **tried** to emulate the same range of motion.

In general, I'd say that there's potential for back strain if your core isn't strong enough to support you and your range of motion is as great as hers when leaning backwards, so if you're going to try any of those exercises I'd be much more conservative with the backward lean. I notice that the chair she was using has a support at the lower to mid back area. If you don't have a chair like that, be very aware that all of the support for your back has to come from your core.

You've already noticed that the stretch may not be suitable so I'm just going to mention the other four exercises, which I will call (1) sit crunch (2) easy X sit crunch (3)
advanced X sit crunch (4) sit stand.

The sit crunch and the easy X sit crunch are at the same level of difficulty / effort. The X sit crunch requires a little more flexibility and strengthens the obliques. They should both be suitable to start with but keep the reps down. Remember that, quite apart from wanting to avoid PEM, if you don't have much strength to begin with, each rep will fatigue the muscle which will make it ever harder for your core to provide safe support.

For co-ordination reasons, the advanced X sit crunch was more successful for me than the easy version. However my performance in relation to hers was embarrassing. The knee lifts require significantly more effort. One to leave, I think, unless the easy one is not challenging enough.

The sit stand is an OI nightmare.
 
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Sasha

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I think we're going to have to do a lot of picking and choosing, according to current strength, OI issues, etc. etc.

I wish someone would bring out a series of videos of exercises appropriate to PWME who also have OI (the vast majority), each addressing a certain level of function - bedbound, slightly out of bed and so on.

So much of this stuff - even aimed at the elderly and frail, or post-heart-attack patients - is well beyond the kind of PWME who need it, and even then, we're going to have trouble doing reps.

Plus we need to prioritise. I've got so little energy I'm not going to waste it on muscles I can survive without.

As I ranted on another thread, it's no good people just telling us to 'do gentle yoga' and so on - the devil is in the individual exercises.
 

SOC

Senior Member
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7,849
@Sasha,
Connie Sol, the exercise physiologist at INIM told me that many of the exercises at the MS Trust are suitable for PWME. You'd definitely have to pick and choose, but I'd say these are more within our capability than a lot of those recommended for the elderly. :cry:

IIRC, she said no more than 5-6 minutes of exercise at a time, and one minute or less per exercise with rest in between. That's based on my test results, so YYMV, but all of us with exertion intolerance need to be very careful. The trick is not to use much aerobic energy. You want to use primarily your ATP-CP phosphagen system, not glycolysis-based systems. The point is to strengthen muscle while not overtaxing damaged energy systems.

Physical activities that last up to about thirty seconds rely primarily on the former, ATP-CP phosphagen system. Beyond this time both aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis-based metabolic systems begin to predominate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_exercise

She also told me that if I feel I can increase exercise, I should do it by adding weight, not reps. As I understand it, as you exercise longer (add reps), you start to move into more aerobic energy use, so better to use weight and keep the time down.

As I understand it, we benefit from working the ATP-CP system so that it can take over a bit more of the energy-production work. Theoretically, we will be able to do more before reaching our AT if we have the muscle and other benefits derived from exercising in the ATP-CP range.

I confess that I'm not as good about exercising as I should be because it completely messes with my mind to exercise for only 5 minutes at a time. My intellect understands that this can indeed be beneficial, but my annoying emotional mind screams that this can't possibly be doing any good. :rolleyes: Consequently, I'm constantly fighting with myself to exercise. Unfortunately I'm losing the fight. ;)

Maybe we need a 5-minute Exercise Support Group. "Did you do your 5 minutes of exercise today? Hurray, give yourself a gold star! :star:" :p