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Workouts: How Do You Prioritize Stamina?
Yesterday one of our moderators Jenny posted about what lung clearance techniques work for us individually, and it brought up my own anxieties about losing stamina now that I’m not able to dance.
In the last few weeks, I can feel myself getting out of breath even just by talking, and it totally freaks me out because I don’t feel lung or sinus exacerbations are too blame this time… I think it’s me!
I hate being “stuck still” because I’ve always found so much health benefit from movement (even when it hurts), but right now I can’t push through this particular injury… so my stamina is definitely falling. I’ve tried to consider logical options- biking, water, low impact walking- but since sitting and just moving around to take a bath hurts, you can imagine why those don’t seem as easy as they should.
Have you ever struggled to prioritize stamina and cardio health when immobilized? What tactics have you tried?
Basically, I’d love to talk workout and health routines, and see what your journey has been throughout the years?
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1 Reply
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I have never been immobilized for longer than two weeks, fortunately.
Five years ago I broke two ribs after I managed to fall down the stairs and was not able even to lay down in a bed for two weeks from pain. I slept sitting on the couch bent over with my head on a cushion on the table and did not move a lot during the day either. My stamina did not improve from that of course, but surprisingly did not suffer too much either and I got back in shape quickly after the pain allowed me to move again. To prevent getting pneumonia from not been able to breath fully, I asked for an antibiotic home-IV for 2 weeks that worked fine and kept the coughing down to a minimum. I kept moving though those 2 weeks, slowly walking little distances in the house as often as I could. Same thing I did after an appendix operation.
Also this is a time to take some pain killers just to make some movement bearable. I took a combination of paracetamol, diclofenac and tramadol, the first two in the maximum allowed dose and the last as few as possible.
Just carrying your own weight activates the muscles and the breathing enough to keep things from falling apart apparently. You have to allow for some decline in your stamina without panicking though, after the problem is solved your body will remember its former strength and quickly gravitate back to that, no worry.
Also there are exercises you can do with the legs when lying down in bed that require quite some energy and muscle activity. Or just workout the arm muscles. Anything that improves breathing will do for your lungs (even forced breathing itself), don’t focus on movement or displacement of the whole body per se. Take it one limb at a time. Perhaps looking at paraplegic workout routines could be inspiring too?
And don’t forget laughing! It activates a lot of muscles too!
Good luck,
Paul
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