Swimming my way back to health
I say swimming, but I'm basically doing exercises in the water. My moods and my whole outlook on life have improved drastically since I started going to the gym. I can barely navigate a 4" curb, so I went in knowing that I couldn't use any of the aerobic equiment. I was just looking for a pool with steps and I lucked out because my gym has 2. The regular pool has the usual larger steps found in many outdoor pools, but the therapy pool has twice as many steps to go the same distance. Plus, it has handrails on both sides to aid in entry and exit. I go to the pool 6 days a week. On Mon, Wed, and Fri I work on my legs. Since I can't do normal weight bearing exercises, I walk in the water forwards and backwards in the therapy pool. The temp is kept between 90 and 92 so it's very soothing on the joints. Then, I'll go to the side of the pool, hang on, and do scissor kicks for about 5 minutes. I'll go back to my walking followed by another session at the side of the pool except that this time I'll mimic pedalling a bicycle while floating in the water. I repeat this a couple times and then leave. On Tues, Thur, and Sat I work on my upper body. I'll half-float (I'll be in a semi-seated position) and propel myself backwards using only my arms. I do realize that I'm really using many other upper body muscles when I do this. I'll swim back the length of the pool doing a breast stroke or even a doggy paddle. I just do anything to start getting some exercise. The key is to keep moving against the resistance of the water. I'll take breaks to do exercises at pooolside. My favorite is to face the pool wall, have both arms outstretched against it, and then swing both legs back and then to the rt side, back to the center, over to the left, and returning to the center before repeating this about 10 times. Then I'll do my little swimming routine and again return to the pool wall and hold on while I do leg lifts--I can't do them on land, but I can in the water. I realize this isn't a lot of exercise, but I'm just starting off. I've had only 15 official trips to the gym (due to injury) but I'm getting the hang of it. I feel great after my "workouts" and that feeling stays with me all day. Mind you, I know that I'll always be on my meds (for bi-polar), but this may help me be more stable. I wish I had had the sense to do this sooner. I have to give that credit to my shrink. I had wanted to just take painkillers for my arthritis pain and he suggested that I go get some aquatherapy or aquasize. That man sure is great! Thanks for reading my spiel. I hope I can inspire some of my other couch potato brothers to find something they can do to get some exercise. I used to tell my wife that, if you looked up "couch potato" in the dictionary, you'd see my picture. Well, that's not true anymore. Bob
