Getting back into better habits, got questions/need advice

[Hope4Life]

Hi everyone,

Im not new here but I havnt posted in a couple years. (been a little rough) bossman and cassie may remember me. I remember talking to you two.

A little bio, im a 24 yr old female, 5'5', 123lbs. I have a genetic disorder know as NF2, I have had 19 surgeries in the past 7 years and 98% of the time I healed great because i was in good shape. Last two OPs were on spine and neck. Neck was this past jan 25th. I had two tumors removed from neck near a location that affects arms and legs. In return for removing those tumors, the left arm and leg went very weak. left hand is functional yet a little slow. But im taking and doing hand therapy for it. its mainly weak.

Now that im in the clear to work out, I really need some good advice on what would work best for me. (I thought it would be wise to list health tho because I do have balance issues as well from the weakness.)

goal is mainly strength and to tone. There is some fat to loose but I dont think a heaping amount of cardio is needed? I want to stay within 120-130lbs. Id need to workout at home to start. I have those elastic bands that work well for me at the moment, and I figured when those become to easy, id consider a gym. Knowing all of this, would you feel a muscle splitting routine or a full body routine would be best? Also wondering if there is any particular reason or or way the muscle groups should be split up into? What groups should be paired or what groups should I avoid pairing? i dont have any cardio yet, unless i can do it with the bands? im working to either get a trike to ride outside(yes, three wheeled sports trike. balance is bad) an eliptical or treadmil for at home. walking outside may not be safe for me. i do need a cane right now but hope to ween off it when i gain more strength. im more focusing on strength over cardio so no worries about that yet. id also like to put in five days a week of working out.

Ill stop here for now and see if I may come up with anything else. Thanks in advance for any advice. Just trying to start off a workout program the right way. ps. I used to work out for a good 5 years before this last surgery. On and off tho. No body builder body but I was in better shape then I am now. So this all isnt new to me.

[Boss Man]

Of course I remember you Amber. I couldn't forget someone as incredibly inspiring as you in a hurry. It's so good to see you back again and CONGRATULATIONS on the progress you've been making, in terms of what you are now capable of doing .

I recall correctly with any luck, you were trying to get into a bit of competitive running when you were last here.

You can do a lot with Rubber bands, though you would be wise to try all exercises listed that require band use, unweighted first, to check you can perform the range of motion fully, before adding any resistance.

There are varying exercises you can do, some of which include bodyweight.

1. Bodyweighted Leg Extensions, done by sitting on a Chair and done one Leg at a time.

2. Bodyweighted Hamstring Curls. On the Forearms and Knees, one leg out straight parallell to your Back, then you bend the Leg at the Knee, until it's nearly at the Butt, then back to parallell. You should then have both Forearms and one Knee for balance. You then switch to the other Leg and do 10 reps.

3. Press-ups done on the Knees for 10 repetitions. If you feel this too much, stop doing it.

4. Rows for Back. place a couple of heavy books on the end of the bands to stop them moving about, then sit down and do the same movement as Cable Rows, working both Arms at once for 10 repetitions.

5. Tricep Extensions. You stand on the bottom of two bands but with your heels not ball and toes, then the bands go up your back, and you do the extensions, for 10 repetitions.

I'd suggest you hold the Bands and lower them behind your back, then try to step on them, otherwise stepping on them first, will make it harder.

6. Bicep Curls. You stand on the bottom of two bands and then do the Curls for 10 reps, both Arms working at once.

7. Shoulders.

7a. Front Raises. You stand on the bottom of two bands, Arms at your sides, fists facing forwards, then move both Arms forwards, no Elbow bend, until they are straight infront of you, then lower back down and repeat for a total of 10 times.

7b. Side Raises. You stand on the bottom of two bands, Arms at your sides, fists facing sideways, then move both Arms to the side, no Elbow bend, until your body looks like a cross, then lower back down and repeat for a total of 10 times.

8. Abs. Planks, done on the Hands and Knees, back straight holding for 30 seconds.

Hopefully that all helps .

It's really good to see you back and GOOD LUCK with everything, you are a wonderful personality and in the past, you have always shown your true light to everyone. I hope we see more of that in the coming weeks .

Nearly forgot. Viasa vie the hand issue. Try Squeezing a sponge or Foam ball several times, as that should help provide a little resistance to hopefully strengthen grip strength and connective tissues in the hand.

[Hope4Life]

hey bossman! yes, i had first spine op and then i had another half marathon to do the fallowing year. that went ok but it was when florida saw some snow fluries besides the freezing wind and the non stop ice filled rain, i got 6 miles. body hardens up in the cold so i fought through a lot of back pain then had to stop.

as for your post on things to do, i have the bands from 'bodylastics' and they have a stopper/strap like you can close into a doorway and a hoop to put the band through. so i wouldnt need the books for the things you listed, is that done all in one workout session or split? and 10 reps but how many sets?

i got a few tips and exercises for hand. not to mention some of this special puddy i do various things with. like playdough in a way but its thicker and has different thicknesses to add to mine to make it harder to work with. they did a grip test. idk what its measured in but good hand is at 44. weak hand started at 18, but after five weeks of therapy went to 24. so you can get an idea of the weakness i have.

i can do the plank on elbows. i havnt tried on hands but would be interesting to see. i have had a few falls lately solely because arm or leg cant support body weight alone. ie. id stumble into something and use weak arm to catch myself but it would give out because its not strong enough to hold weight alone.

\so i think those would be good to start with. the ones you listed but is this daily? do i do splits or how many sets as well? thanks

[Boss Man]

Sorry, I should have been a little more specific.

The list of exercises is done in the order they are numbered.

The 10 reps is for a set only, no more than that. I'd have gone for 2 sets, but it might have been too much initially.

You could go for 2 sets after 2-4 weeks of getting into the workout, and then Planks could be incresed to around 45-60 seconds.

The workout would be done 3 days a week, every other day, so a days rest between workouts.

If you can manage the Planks on your Elbows, then that's fine. You know yourself best.

I'm sorry to read your half marathon didn't workout as planned, but I completely understand the need to have stopped part way through. You did a FANTASTIC job though, to prepare for it and manage 6 miles, which is virtually half of it. Some in your situation would have just given up before the race date, so I am so happy for you that you did that and proved such a lot to yourself and others. What a trermendous effort Amber .

WELL DONE.

Hopefully I've clarified the points I meant to make okay. I was going to put the set numbers in originally, but figured not doing so, would automatically make it apparent it was one set only for each exercise, but clearly not so .

So hopefully lesson learned for me then