Higher Intensity Cardio and Strength Training Options

[whatfaithcando01]

Hi all, I’m 36F, 5’4”, 220lbs. I’ve lost 66 pounds since late June 2023, so roughly 2 pounds per week by following an anti-inflammatory/Mediterranean diet and walking/hiking.

I currently walk or hike for an hour or two per day 5-7 days per week. I genuinely love being outside in nature and enjoying fresh air and sunshine and am always going to prefer that to a gym BUT I think I’ve probably progressed about as far as I can with “just walking” as I’ve shaved about 9 minutes a mile off my speed and a “normal” walk of 6 miles doesn’t tire me out at all or I can go do a relatively strenuous 8 mile hike and it just doesn’t feel like exercise.

I’m also in physical therapy 3x/week so I do a warm up on an arm bike and several exercises with resistance bands. I also have been doing restorative yoga several times a week for the last few weeks.

I feel like I’ve progressed to the point that I need/want to find a higher intensity cardio and would like to add strength training too but I’m very concerned about doing anything too high impact or that could injure me. Over the last 15 months I’ve been diagnosed with TMJD, osteoarthritis, myofascial pain syndrome, and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), thus all the lifestyle changes and everything. My specialists all seem to think movement is the answer to mitigating most of the problems with the autoimmune stuff, but I’m still experiencing a lot of pain despite lots of movement, medication, massage/dry needling at PT, etc.

I think aerobically I could easily jog at this point, but I’m just worried about the impact on my joints. I live in a pretty remote area so I haven’t found a pool option nearby plus I’ve been having issues with my shoulders anyways. I’m not opposed to buying a piece of equipment, but can’t really think of anything except maybe a stationary bike.

Yoga has been helpful for my back pain, but I’m really at a loss for how to improve overall strength beyond that. I think my legs have actually gotten relatively strong from walking and hiking, but I feel like I have zero core strength. The PT exercises are aimed at improving posture and strengthening/stabilizing neck and shoulders so upper body is probably a little better than core but not much. I think body weight exercises might be more approachable than weights, but when I Google body weight exercises for beginners, I just don’t think I can do push-ups and planks and such with some of my neck and shoulder issues.

Anyways,I’m just really unsure what to even consider or research. I can obviously run any of this by my PT, but I’d like to have some specific ideas for that conversation.

 

[lewis1994]

@whatfaithcando01 It sounds like you are already doing amazing!

Your physical therapist can help you continue making progress.

With your circumstances and medical limitations, I would ask them to recommend low-impact forms of cardio and strength-building exercises that you can safely perform.

Not all PTs focus on strength or muscle growth, so you may need to take their recommendations to a personal trainer who can help you with creating and executing a routine.

Feel free to DM if you want to discuss more.

 

[whatfaithcando01]

@lewis1994 Thanks so much for the reply! I had a chance to speak to my PT yesterday and honestly didn’t get the kind of response I was hoping for. He basically was shocked I was doing yoga and said to definitely continue but to do things to tolerance and didn’t really have anything to add or avoid. He did not think jogging was a good idea, basically that it could harm more than help. He couldn’t think of any other higher intensity low impact cardio. He left it as “you’re doing plenty, I wouldn’t try to do much more.”

He’s young and fit and they are technically under a sports medicine umbrella and specifically work with athletes so I don’t think it’s that he’s not familiar with strength and muscle building. I hate to say it but I have to wonder based on his responses if he thinks I’m just too fat or too weak to do more. I’m sure he didn’t mean to, but it actually kind of hurt my feelings.

Anyways, the day before I talked to him, I jogged a little of each mile on my walk and it felt okay. No joint pain while doing it, except the first time my jaw hurt. I think I had good form and I focused on breathing more in the subsequent jogs and it didn’t hurt any more. My low back has been a little sore since, but I think that may be more from the yoga. According to my Fitbit, it did look like I got about a 15% increase in calorie burn and 25% increase in zone minutes so it did seem like an effective bump for such short spurts.

I think the thing I notice with yoga and really just life in general is that I’m really weak around my shoulders. I feel like I do well with poses that require lower body strength/stability, but not upper body. Even downward dog, which I think of as pretty basic/beginner, is difficult. I can get into the pose fine, hips feel good, but I just can’t hold it very long before my shoulder blade area is burning. It’s disappointing because I feel like the exercises I’ve been doing for 4 months in PT are aimed at neck/shoulders and I don’t really feel like the strength has improved there like I would hope.

Any suggestions?