Heres a challange

[kirk]

for all of you. :p

Work me out an exercise program for a 54 year old man that hasn't exercied in the last 7 years. :D I'm just kidding. I'll more than likely start a small garden and work it with hand tools. That'll exercise me.

[smasty]

I hear gardening can be quite the workout. That's for folks with all their limbs. ;)

[kirk]

HeeHee. Yeah, Right before my accident I had a 50x70 foot garden and nothing to work it with but a hoe,shovel,pitchfork,and wheelbarrow. It wore me out. Now it would have to be much smaller and in this humid Texas heat I'd have to stop and rest a lot. :)

[thunderdancer]

Go for it Kirk! :)

I can't WAIT to have a garden!
I will have one in about a month, it will be rented but hopefully they'll let me plant food.. if not I will have many pots and I will be in heaven :)

Can I be personal.. How do you get about? Do you have prosthetic limbs? I thought maybe you were in a wheelchair but then I remembered you said you lost opposite arm and leg, so I felt a bit daft thinking that and deleted it :o now I think i'm still daft, coz you could have one of course, electric, I think I should stop babbling...

what about doing exercises with your body as resistance, and stretches?
I guess it must be hard to work your body (like with weights) and keep it equally strong on both sides?

Please ignore my questions if i'm being insensitive :o

If you want some fitness advice I will happily ask my brother, he is sports rehab/phsio trained and works his own consulation business along with personal training, he knows a tonne of cool stuff, I get so much info from him and great tips like if you are doing stretching, you need to do it for longer than 10 seconds otherwise your muscles are actually doing the opposite - contracting (!).

I'm babbling :)

Catch you later Kirk!

[kirk]

Hi Thunderdancer,
Yep, I have a prosthetic arm and leg. I never wear the arm because I can do more without it than with it. The leg doesn't fit well since I've gained weight so I took a hacksaw to it to make it fit. :) I can walk about 9 acres before I give out so I need to exercise more. This coming friday I will post a full body shot (at my week raw mark).It will give you a better idea of what to ask your brother concerning what kind of exercizes I can do.
When I was in rehab, they gave me some long rubber strips to tie around my arm and leg so that I could do resistance excersizes. Guess I should have kept them.

kirk

[Kristi]

Those bands are cheap to get.......I would think lugging around an arm or leg would be a good workout :) . I hear prosthetics are expensive so I hope insurance pays for them......otherwise they'd cost you an "arm and a leg" :D sorry, couldn't resist........bet you've heard that wise crack a zillion times.

Kind of like me......I tell people I never have a bad hair day....unless I can't find it! Also working out and a lovely sparring helmet makes my head very sweaty and I wear the wig all the time (outside of home). I have regular "hair" and workout "hair." When I get super sweaty I go home and Febreeze it. Works like a charm!

[kirk]

:) yep the leg weighs 14lbs. It's a 16 thousand dollar piece of excersize equipment. Problem is, it only excersises my right hip,right lower back, and maybe my lungs. If I just depended on it, boy, wouldn't I look funny :)

[lil]

Kirk:
Where I live (I'm in Canada) there's aquatic exercise classes for physically challenged. All sorts attend (I assist some ladies with cerebal palsy in the class). Some aquatic centres have volunteers who can assist you in the pool or classes.

Many communities have chair exercise programs, for seniors or phyically challanged. I attended one once and whew!, it was quite the workout.

And the bands are usually cheap and are a great way for resisitance execise.

[thunderdancer]

Heya Kirk!

Yeah, a pic - brilliant! I love pics, yep, then I will ask my bro for ideas/recommendations, it's a pleasure.
I'm giggling at the thought of you hacksawwing your leg up heheheee! Now what will you do when you lose weight/get muscular??

I used those bands once or twice in an exercise class, they were a NIGHTMARE! I soooo ached the next day, they are EVIL.

[kirk]

Hi Lil,
I have a pool in my back yard (that I've swam in only a couple of times). It is indeed a good work out just trying to keep my head above water!:) I have been thinking about fashioning a paddle to strap onto my left arm and right leg. That would help a lot. I use to be a good swimmer and probably should do more of it.
I'm going to go and get some bands for my left arm, its looking a bit sad, not having been exercised for seven years, although, I do have good range of motion in it and thats helped keep the muscles somewhat firm. Now if I could just get rid of this middle age belly.

[thunderdancer]

Hey Kirk!

Sit ups...

GO GO GO

Gimmi 20!

[kirk]

Hey Thunderdancer,
My leg was fitted when I was at a 140lbs. Now I'm at 152 thanks to a week long juice fast. When I sawed it into I was at 165lbs. I had gained about an inch or so in my thighs (probably from sitting all winter in my wheelchair.)
But things are beginning to look up thanks to raw foods and a new commitment to better health and exercize. I told my wife that my long range goal was to make it to a hundred and twenty (healthy and mobile). She thanks I'm crazy.:)

[thunderdancer]

nothing wrong with crazy Kirk :eek: :) :p

[Kristi]

Hey Kirk~

What about hiring someone to come over to your house to work with you in your own pool? Will insurance pay for that kind of therapy? I really hate insurance companies ~ don't get me started. Do you know they would never pay for a single wig for me even as a child because it was deemed "cosmetic."
Oops! I started......sorry. Perhaps if you check with the Y or some health club you can find someone trained in that so you won't have to pay for the other stuff you don't want or can't use.......like you'll ever be doing step aerobics, huh. It could save you money and hassle.

[lil]

You have a pool!! Yahoo!- It's there calling for you. Maybe a waist floatation device would help?.

Best exercises to reduce the stomach is actually butt and leg exercises (squats). Build those muscles up and the stomach will fall in line.

[thunderdancer]

Lil - just wanted to say thanks for the tip on the bum/legs/tum exercises, I didn't know that - altho I had been told to do squats and lunges as well as sit ups :)

[kirk]

Kristi ~ I guess I'll be my own personal trainer. I try not to deal with insurance companies. The upkeep on my property is prohibitive and I try not to spend where I don't have to.

Lil ~ A waist floatation device may just work! Never thought of that. And the squats will work if I wear my left arm and attach it to a pole over my head. That way I could exercize my left arm and keep me from falling on my rear:)

[Kristi]

So where's Vidor anyway (and don't say Texas.)??

Maybe there are some books or internet sites that could get you some ideas on exercises.

[kirk]

80 miles east southeast of Houston. 50 miles north northeast of Galveston. 9 miles east of Beaumont. 10 miles west of Orange & the Loisianna border. On Interstate 10 right below the little bump in the Texas map above the Gulf of Mexico. It's just a hole in the road. I don't care much for big cities.

[Kristi]

Cool. I lived in San Antonio during 3rd & 4th grade. Visited Galveston until a hurricane ran us off.....great vacation timing! I then lived in San Antonio for 6 weeks during basic training for the Air Force. My sister now lives there as she followed in my footsteps.....she just never got out. She's an instructor down there ...... no a drill instructor..... a more regular teacher....actually there's nothing regular about her.....she's quite a character. She and her husband (Navy dude, retired) live on a little ranch just outside the city.

[lil]

TYPO! - Let me correct myself - it's the butt and BACK workouts that can tighten the stomach muscles (not legs...but doing legs doesn't hurt!).

[ConsciousCuisine]

Kirk, I used to be an Aqua Aerobics Instructor. Many of ;) my clients used "Jog Belts". You can see them here:
http://www.swimoutlet.com/subcat.asp?0=209
This company has free shipping. You are so fortunate to have your pool! It is the *perfect* exercise for someone like you and anyone else who has a health concern, injury or is recovering from surgery, Postpartum and Pregnant women, obese individuals...for you in particular, I know it will be healing and invigorating.

Blessings to you, courageous love!

[kirk]

Thanks Conscious Cuisine :)

For the link. Another thing that I've been considering is fashioning some strap on paddles for my arm and leg. At this point without them, my left arm and right leg provide very little propultion through the water. I still get exersize but I don't go anywhere.:)

[kirk]

For sending the Speedo! It will help me a lot.

kirk