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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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no but keep in mind you will need to increase protein intake to build and keep your muscles.So here is my question : knowing my muscle weakness has not improved at all in the past 18 months, am I at risk of getting worse by doing gym work ?
I am ignoring fitness as a concept at the moment. I have developed a lot of power in my muscles the past few months, with strength exercises, but if I walk 10 minutes on the treadmill, building up a mild sweat, I'm out of commission for 4 days.Or is this muscle weakness just something I have to learn to live with and exercise will be of benefit, because I am improving my fitness level ?
Lucky me, also no pain. Also a woman.I should also say I Have no pain, other than the pain from sitting too much... And I am a woman, if it matters.
must add I'm 45 yo and have just started taking testosterone (in the form of DHEA) because it was too low. Also on Progesteron and Cortisol. Still many symptoms of too low blood pressure.@cman89 I guess you need testoterone to grow big, but you don't need testoterone to grow and improve. I don't have amy, or very little... ;-)
Wow. I have never had that low of a BP before. Honestly, my issues are mostly based with lack of strength and anabolic ability. I have ok endurance and mental functioning is dandy. Again, i'm not really a true ME patient, just a dude with mystery health issues.must add I'm 45 yo and have just started taking testosterone (in the form of DHEA) because it was too low. Also on Progesteron and Cortisol. Still many symptoms of too low blood pressure.
also want to explain that Fit20 is still different from regular weight training. There are no sets or reps, just work that one motion -say chest press- in 10 slow counts, in an even movement. Then move it it the other way, in 10 slow counts. The machines seem like regular machines but are smooth moving and insure the same resistance every inch of the motion and every motion alike. Your heart rate shouldn't rise much.
The idea is you work into absolute (form) failure for chest press in 2 minutes. The same for leg press etc. The weight gets adjusted each week to reach that 2 minute goal. For leg press I'm at 75 kilos, for stomach muscle at 7,5 (for example). Posture and strength and coordination during the day are so much better! I use my muscles to sit or stand, I no longer slouch of my bones.
My BP shortly after these exercises is 107 over 95
which is higher than my normal BP of 95/63 (too low, not healthy)
In cardio I got to 130 easily and a few flukes of 150
I have a very good heart and only a few breaths will bring me back to 110. Still I'll be avoiding this, even though I love these kind of sports.
I know you are on a medication, but have you tried extra salt and vagus nerve stimulation efforts? I know some people have trouble with HR variability, and the Vagus stim can help with that, plus it gives me a bit of a mental boost.@WoolPippi Here is what's working for me so far. (Love your avatar by the way!). After doing very little since I was home sick, about 1 1/2 year ago, I started trying my bike at the end of june. I hadn't crashed since the end of may, and still haven't. I attribute it to the meds I am taking (nimotop) since I am doing relatively more and sleeping less because of a lot of stress, which should have triggered a lot of crashes !
I use a heart rate monitor and I make sure to stay beneath my anaerobic threshold. I try to keep my heartbeat below 120. I bike for about 50 minutes, at about 17km/h (i started at 12km/h and improved over 2 months) and my average heartbeat is about 110-115 for the whole ride. Biking works for me because I am sitting. Just standing near my bike, my heart goes up to 115 !
At the gym, I have to be more careful, because I know I had bad crashes from it. I have orthostatic hypotension, so working hard while standing is not very good for me. I started a new routine when I when back about 10 days ago. I do 2 series of 6 (8 max) reps for each group muscles and I target 2 group muscles + abs every session. After 1 serie, I wait until my hear rate goes down to 60 (my resting heart rate is 46 on good days). It might take 1-2 minutes. Then I do the second serie of 6. This whole thing takes me about 40 minutes, but I am only exercising for about 4 minutes, the rest is rest. I do that about 4-5 times a week, which means 14-20 minutes of exercise per week. Before I stopped I was doing 7 minutes total per week and it was too much. i am still testing my limits, this new routine might be too much. One thing is for sure, I can't get to the point of muscle failure, or I would faint or feel very bad and probably crash. I wish I could because it really gives the best results.
I have a few methods I personally use. I occasionally meditate alternating deep breathing with extended vibrational "Ohm" chanting. The ohm chanting really helps with headache if that has come on, and the deep breathing acts as a calming agent. Compounds like caffeine and nicotine can help via acetylcholine release, but one must be careful with these compounds, for obvious reasons. The method I use most on a current basis is ear clip attatched to a TENS unit. I am sure there are better ones out there, but I use a healthmate forever unit that looks like a TV Remote. I originally used it for muscle stim but I bought an ear clip that I put on my lobe and pinna. If you Google it you can find good info.@cman89 How do you do vagal nerve stimulation ? I don't like salt very much but I try to eat more.
Sorry about that. Here is a link to the company's website: http://www.healthmateforever.com/collections/healthmateforever-devices@cman89 Sorry, but this is all gibberish to me... Tens unit, healthmate forever unit ? Do you have some kind of,picture I can look at ?
I have a question about this. Strength training works well for my upper body and core. I mean it takes me 2-4hr to do what an ordinary person can do in 30min but I suffer no ill effects. I can work these muscles to failure and regularly (but slowly) gain strengthSo: power lifting yes
I have a question about this. Strength training works well for my upper body and core. I mean it takes me 2-4hr to do what an ordinary person can do in 30min but I suffer no ill effects. I can work these muscles to failure and regularly (but slowly) gain strength
OTOH I find exercises that recruit the big muscles (eg. Squat, deadlift) seem to take too much energy. If I do them I only seem to be able to handle them with light weight. I don't think I am able to do these to failure....
Can you do the big muscle exercises like squats and deadlifts? Or do you have a problem with them too?
Keep in mind also that larger muscle groups recruit much more neuromuscular activation than smaller muscle groups, along with requiring more energy, some lifts, like squats , can also affect your blood flow as well, so that may cause issues. In normal bodybuilding curcumstances, Squats and deadlifts should be a huge part of a regimen, but thats assuming everything is responding as it should. Obviously with us, its not...I have a question about this. Strength training works well for my upper body and core. I mean it takes me 2-4hr to do what an ordinary person can do in 30min but I suffer no ill effects. I can work these muscles to failure and regularly (but slowly) gain strength
OTOH I find exercises that recruit the big muscles (eg. Squat, deadlift) seem to take too much energy. If I do them I only seem to be able to handle them with light weight. I don't think I am able to do these to failure....
Can you do the big muscle exercises like squats and deadlifts? Or do you have a problem with them too?
Can you do the big muscle exercises like squats and deadlifts? Or do you have a problem with them too?
what are the supplements?I can mantain weight training if and only if I keep up on my supplements. Those give me the support to avoid crashing down. As always, listen to your body and rest when/if needed, start with anaerobic exercise, and keep aerobic exercise to a minimum. This can help reduce excessive cortisol release, along with promoting anabolism , as long as you have enough proper hormone functioning left. The supplements "save" my mitochondria, and the rest is how I address the hormonal side. I am looking at trying some hormonal supplements myself, but that also has to be gently approached. If you feel yourself being much weaker coming back after a few days rest, then rest more. DO not keep pushing it unless you have supplemental help already occurring.
@panckage I never work any muscle to failure, because unfortunately I have a lousy lactic acid buil-up 24/7, so after about 6-8 reps, I am starting to feel bad.
I do squats and deadlifts with reasonable weight for 6-8 reps, then rest until my heart rate goes back to just a little bit above my resting heart rate, then I do my second serie (I do 2 series of 6-8 reps for each muscle group, in 3 different days, 2 on / 1 off). It takes me about 40 minutes to complete my 8-10 series of 6 reps, which amounts to about 4 minutes of exercise for 35-40 minutes of rest. But I am still getting results, so you should try your legs, but very slowly and reasonably.