Joint-friendly Heavy Weight Series

Debinmi

Debinmi

Cathlete
I'm really enjoying STS2.0, but have noticed some options provided are not necessarily joint-friendly for older fitness enthusiasts. I'd appreciate another, shorter series with only joint-friendly options, using heavy weights. And of course, keep the mobility & recovery options too. I think there's a growing market for this type of program. So many programs geared toward older people are for beginners. I'm not a beginner & want to avoid sarcopenia as I age so heavy weight-training is a must, but with plenty of options for people with joint issues.

So maybe a Total Body, Upper Body & and a Lower Body set.
 
Can you define what would be "joint-friendly"? ie: are squats, shoulder presses, etc. difficult on your joints? (I'm not at that age with joint issues yet, thank goodness - so just curious what kind of resistance training equates to joint-friendly.)
 
Kellyro77 said:
Can you define what would be "joint-friendly"? ie: are squats, shoulder presses, etc. difficult on your joints? (I'm not at that age with joint issues yet, thank goodness - so just curious what kind of resistance training equates to joint-friendly.)
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In UB#2, for the last set of shoulder presses Cathe & crew do Bear-crawl presses while Jen does an optional shoulder press with the weights horizontal - my shoulders like neither so I did an additional set of the previous excercise- weights parallel. In LB#2, the step-over lunges are harder on the hip joint & increases the risk of torquing the knee or hip, and, yes of course Cathe says at the conclusion that if you don't like 'em to do something else. To Cathe's credit, that "scapula plane" emphasis for shoulder exercises in STS2.0 are definitely more joint-friendly. In the Low Impact series Cathe uses "joint-friendly" moves and has premixes that include them. Joint-friendly just means easier on the joints and/or less likely to cause an injury. Of course an injury can occur even with joint-friendly exercises, but they usually make the exercise more comfortable if arthritis or another condition is present.

HTH, Thanks for asking :)
 
Great idea. I use the workout blender to substitute exercises I can't do for ones I can. But not everyone has good enough internet for streaming, so a series would be great. It would also give more options for joint-friendly substitutions in the blender for other workouts, so win-win for streamers and non-streamers.
 
aqua girl said:
Great idea….I would appreciate joint friendly and have no problem with it being heavy weights, because I can adjust mine easy enough…which is exactly what I am doing with
STS2.
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I am with you on the whole joint friendly workouts. I consider myself fortunate, because I do not (and hopefully won't have issues with my knees), but I have learned on this forum that many others have knee issues. My wrists, however, are shot. I also have weak ankles, but have found that adding a tiny bit of impact for short periods of time actually strengthened them to some extent. My wrists are the main thing that prevent me from lifting heavy. I bought a pair of Cathe's wrist support gloves, and if we ever finish moving and I can actually locate which box they are in, I'm hoping they'll help some. Just trying them one time, though, I didn't feel they were going to be enough to help me increase my weight. I have a bad upper back, but that's not really an age thing. It just is what it is. I'm small framed, but throughout life have had to take care of things things that needed a bigger and stronger person to handle it. While I don't yet have bad knees, I often feel a bit of a strain when doing cardio - like I almost torqued them. I think it's actually due to having less agility as I age, rather than the movement itself. Whenever I look up "joint friendly", the results suggest walking. Walking isn't enough to burn off my excess energy. Also, I can't walk fast enough to get my heart rate up, because I can't leave my son home alone, and he's only capable of walking slowly. My searches barely even mention strength training, which is what I'm trying to increase. I have shoulder issues, but I have a feeling that that is related to the same things I did throughout my life that damaged my back, rather than age. My neck (part of the upper back issues) affects me when doing some strength training, so I hold the barbell in front instead of behind my neck in order to modify those moves/exercises. I'm at a high intermediate level for cardo and I would consider myself an average intermediate for strength training that focuses on high reps. I want to start adding heavy weights to my workout, but it just doesn't seem possible, so I'm not even at a beginner level for that yet. I need to find a way to do it that doesn't stress my wrists, which I don't know if that's even possible. I tried strengthening my wrists, but they have a mind of their own.
 
Braille, we sound alot alike. I have issues with my back, shoulder, wrists, now knee, ankles & feet and need to be more careful than I am sometimes......but that doesn't mean that we can't do workouts and do the best we can do, depending on how you feel, limitations, whether it be in cardio or lifting. I always do low impact cardio, no jogging, jumping, running for me! I salute any & all that can do those things....I just know what
I can do. Oh, I forgot neck, got that too. :) Luckily, all of these things usually don't hit at one time!

Recently, I was out walking my dog and ran into a neighbor and she asked how I was...(wrong question) I told her whatever was my issue at that time and then I told her, I have a support brace for my ankle, knee, back, elbow, wrists, hands, and said, Can you imagine what I would look like if I had to wear them all at the same time!!! :) Now, that would be a picture!! :) Take care and be strong & proud of all you can do !
 
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Braille said:
I am with you on the whole joint friendly workouts. I consider myself fortunate, because I do not (and hopefully won't have issues with my knees), but I have learned on this forum that many others have knee issues. My wrists, however, are shot. I also have weak ankles, but have found that adding a tiny bit of impact for short periods of time actually strengthened them to some extent. My wrists are the main thing that prevent me from lifting heavy. I bought a pair of Cathe's wrist support gloves, and if we ever finish moving and I can actually locate which box they are in, I'm hoping they'll help some. Just trying them one time, though, I didn't feel they were going to be enough to help me increase my weight. I have a bad upper back, but that's not really an age thing. It just is what it is. I'm small framed, but throughout life have had to take care of things things that needed a bigger and stronger person to handle it. While I don't yet have bad knees, I often feel a bit of a strain when doing cardio - like I almost torqued them. I think it's actually due to having less agility as I age, rather than the movement itself. Whenever I look up "joint friendly", the results suggest walking. Walking isn't enough to burn off my excess energy. Also, I can't walk fast enough to get my heart rate up, because I can't leave my son home alone, and he's only capable of walking slowly. My searches barely even mention strength training, which is what I'm trying to increase. I have shoulder issues, but I have a feeling that that is related to the same things I did throughout my life that damaged my back, rather than age. My neck (part of the upper back issues) affects me when doing some strength training, so I hold the barbell in front instead of behind my neck in order to modify those moves/exercises. I'm at a high intermediate level for cardo and I would consider myself an average intermediate for strength training that focuses on high reps. I want to start adding heavy weights to my workout, but it just doesn't seem possible, so I'm not even at a beginner level for that yet. I need to find a way to do it that doesn't stress my wrists, which I don't know if that's even possible. I tried strengthening my wrists, but they have a mind of their own.
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Braille, I read a post (somewhere) where a woman mentioned she used lifting gloves with hooks on them to help hold heavy weights. I have a pair of my wish list on Amazon hoping they become a prime deal next week- they're about $20. If they don't go on sale, I'll probably get them anyways.

Things that we did in our past contribute to issues as we age .... cartilage becomes compressed, tendons become frayed or torn, synovial fluid leaks out of joints, etc. Inflammation contributes to arthritis, bursitis and pretty much all "-itis". Many foods in modern society also contribute to the inflammation too. Strong muscles help support the joints & the tugging on the tendons in training help prevent osteoporosis/penia.

I think you're right that when you research "joint-friendly" it's sort of like they think you're frail and suggest things that actually would lead to de-conditioning if we followed their recommendations when we've been active. They're great for people who haven't been active or exercising tho.

For cardio, you might consider bicycling or spinning ... bikes usually go on sale in late summer & fall. Spin bikes might go on sale during Amazon Prime days. Low Impact..high intensity if you want it or low/moderate if you want it. Swimming & water aerobics are great cardio options if you have access to a pool.

Like aqua-girl says, we need to focus on what we can do, use accessories/tools to help us keep going & modify as we need.
 
Debinmi said:
water aerobics are great cardio options if you have access to a pool.
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Aahhh……something near & dear to my heart!!!! Hence….aqua girl :). The Wellness center I used to go to had 2 indoor pools, and when I was married, we moved to a house that had an outdoor above ground pool, and I was addicted to aqua step….step workouts done in the water…I cannot stress enough how much I loved that…. I actually
still have my 2 Speedo aqua steps, can’t part with them…..just in case…. I took classes
at the center first and continued on my own for years…I have a waterproof iPod shuffle
and made up my own workouts….You can do most all step moves under water, but it
has to be slower bpm, example: if land step is like 125 bpm, aqua step needs to be at a
tempo of between 100-108 or so bpm. But boy, did it get my heart rate up…but you
kept kind of cool, cause from chest/waist down you were in water. Debinmi, you
shouldn’t brought up water stuff, it’s hard to get me to shut up on that topic:). For
toning, there are water weights, I’ve used tubing in water, waterproof ankle weights…
I will be quiet now :)
 
No need to be quiet aqua girl! One of the beautiful things about these forums is learning from each other - your enthusiasm may inspire someone to give it a try!. Years ago, during a bout of plantar fascitis (sp?), I took a water aerobics class before work since it was too painful to jog. It was quite aerobic; I can't say I loved it but it certainly was effective!
 
yep, I did regular water aerobics too, but aqua step was my love….aqua jogging also in deep water….only jogging I ever did! Another little story I won’t forget:)….the center had a water workouts workshop one time and 2 instructors came, Jeff Borden & Greg Sims (probably never heard of them, but back in the day they made lots of VHS workouts. And of course, I purchased them, watched them and practiced at the pool.
Anyway, the workshop was supposed to be for the center’s instructors, but I asked if I could participate since I had so many of their workouts and they allowed me to….during
one of the classes, we were doing our thing, me included, and Jeff pointed me out, and
shouted out, “You should be teaching this class Monday morning”. I got some “looks”
from the instructors that were taking the class, cause they knew I was a member and not
an instructor, but I didn’t care, that made me feel good & go harder With a grin on my face! Oh yeah, after class, I told Jeff I was just a member :), he said he still meant it!
 
Debinmi said:
Braille, I read a post (somewhere) where a woman mentioned she used lifting gloves with hooks on them to help hold heavy weights. I have a pair of my wish list on Amazon hoping they become a prime deal next week- they're about $20. If they don't go on sale, I'll probably get them anyways.

Things that we did in our past contribute to issues as we age .... cartilage becomes compressed, tendons become frayed or torn, synovial fluid leaks out of joints, etc. Inflammation contributes to arthritis, bursitis and pretty much all "-itis". Many foods in modern society also contribute to the inflammation too. Strong muscles help support the joints & the tugging on the tendons in training help prevent osteoporosis/penia.

I think you're right that when you research "joint-friendly" it's sort of like they think you're frail and suggest things that actually would lead to de-conditioning if we followed their recommendations when we've been active. They're great for people who haven't been active or exercising tho.

For cardio, you might consider bicycling or spinning ... bikes usually go on sale in late summer & fall. Spin bikes might go on sale during Amazon Prime days. Low Impact..high intensity if you want it or low/moderate if you want it. Swimming & water aerobics are great cardio options if you have access to a pool.

Like aqua-girl says, we need to focus on what we can do, use accessories/tools to help us keep going & modify as we need.
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Braille said:
I'll have to look into those gloves. I don't think I've heard of them before, so I'm definitely curious. I've tried stationary equipment and we have a lot of it, because it works well for my son. I don't have the attention span for it myself though. It just doesn't suit my "workout personality/style". Swimming isn't an option, because I always have my son with me. He can't swim, so when we go to the gym's pool, I'm assisting him. He loves his pool time. After reading some research on joints, I actually started bringing a bit of impact back into my workouts. To my surprise, after doing it for a month or so, I noticed my ankles were stronger! Now, I haven't sprained either ankle for 3 years!. Ankle sprains used to be a regular thing for me, and every time they happened, it set me back on my fitness goals, because I couldn't do regular workouts with the injury. I'm going to check out those gloves. I can't even picture them in my head. You've got me curious now.
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Braille said:
My wrists are the main thing that prevent me from lifting heavy. I bought a pair of Cathe's wrist support gloves, and if we ever finish moving and I can actually locate which box they are in, I'm hoping they'll help some. Just trying them one time, though, I didn't feel they were going to be enough to help me increase my weight.
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I have a pair of wrist support gloves, not Cathe's, just a local brand. I found they do help as they keep the wrist in better alignment. It is harder to bend the wrist wearing them. However, because of that they can be a hinderance when moving to pushups or hands and knees exercises or when stretching at the end. I do prefer them over standard gloves though.
 
Ladies, get the heavy weight lifting gloves with the straps it will help tremendously.
It takes a little practice using them but they work so well and reduce a lot of the
pressure when lifting heavy in STS 2.0. I wouldn't be able to lift with my carpel tunnel
if I didn't have them. Good Luck everyone.
 
Thanks for the link to the DMoose gloves. I may have to consider getting some. I'm a bit torn right now between the benefits of all this heavy lifting improving my grip strength versus being able to go heavier without my forearms feeling like they're on fire all the time. I suppose I could get a pair and then just alternate with them. Sometimes use them in a workout, sometimes not.
 
Debimini, thank you so much for the link for these hook gloves. I think this is just what I need. I have arthritis in my hands and my wrists are weak. I watched several videos regarding these hook gloves and ended up ordering a pair. I am so excited to try them! Very good reviews as well.
 
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