weights

M

MollyD

Member
Hi Cathe,

I just discovered your programs about a month ago and have been doing my best to work out with them.
My question is this. Is there a big difference between dumb bells and barbells? I am physically challenged with herneated and degenerated disc, damaged knees and hands. I had a metal implant put in my right hand last November. At present I can lift up to 8 pounds which is more than my doctor thought I'd be able to do. I don't think I can manage barbells and in some of your exercises you seem to prefer them. Can dumb bells be used instead?

Also which of your videos would be best for me? I can't kneel down or put any weight on my hands. I'm doing pretty good at abdominal workouts. I'm trying to strengthen my core to help my back and also strengthen the muscles around my knees and calves. I've been loosing muscles there.

Thanks for your programs and your help!

MollyD
 
Wow Molly, you are an inspiration!!!! So many people pass on exercise for such minor reasons.
Cathe has so many great workouts and I am so psyched about her upcoming releases!!! I have always found that you can pretty much do what works for you with her workouts. I also thought I would reply just to "bump" your question a bit.
 
wow Molly
w/out being nosey How did you get this condition? And bravo for working out If you do not want to answer you don't have to
But answer to your ? Cathe says quite often thta you can use dumbels instead of a barbell so go for it
I can't really answer the other ? about which workouts MIS comes to mind for lower body you are standing the whole time for lower body strength training Ilove this it si only about 20 minutes w/out the warm up and is a good place tostart w cathe has an upper body workout too which is great
Ok good luck Lisa
 
I want to thank all who answered my question on weights. I don't think I'm doing anything special, just trying to take care of myself the best I can!
Someone asked what happened. For the back no one knows. One day at work I dropped a pencil. I got on my hands and knees to retrieve it and my back locked. It was downhill from there. That was in 1990. I spent most of the 90's housebound. Because I couldn't move very much my legs began to atrophy and the muscles around my knees stopped working correctly. That resulted in a lot of damage to the knee joints. As for my hands again no one knows why they're damaged. Just that they are. Last November the doctor removed a bone and parts of others that had deteriorated. He took a bone graft from my arm and used that to replace the missing bones. Next he put in a metal plate about the size of a quarter and used that to hold my hand together. It's about 95% healed now and working very well. I had about 8 weeks of physical therapy for it.
When they discovered what was happening to my knees they recommended exercises to strengthen the remaining muscles. That was 3 years ago. I started slowly (about 5 mins a day was a workout!) and gradually increased the length and intensity of the workout. As I did this I found that gradually I was able to add other exercises for other parts of my body though I always have to be careful not to put any weight on my hands and knees (especially the knees!). Some types of exercises are a problem for my back so I work around those. Pushups are a problem but I found that I can lean on a bench and do them by pushing on my elbows instead of my hands.
Oh boy this has gotten long enough to be my biography! :)

Anyway thanks to all for your help and kind words. I'll check out the suggested threads too.

Molly
 
Thank you Gina. Those were very useful threads. I think I'll stay with my dumbbells for now. I find 8 pounds very taxing still so I'm not sure how long it'll be before I'm ready to move to 10 pounds.

Everyone has been so helpful. I'm glad I found Cathe and this forum.

Molly
 
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