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[clarentine]

Anyone want to suggest some nice, non-joint-stressing exercises for hand and arm (and shoulder) strengthening? I'm realizing lately that my range of motion issues have affected, negatively, my muscular strength, and this bothers me.

::pines for the ability to scale walls, underappreciated while I had it::

Assumptions to take into account: no gym/pool access. Range of motion is limited, but I'm aware that exercise increases it somewhat. Not adverse to a certain degree of pain. Must be something I can work into an already hectic schedule. Will not be going out to buy One More Gadget (e.g., veteran and survivor of the home gym movement).

Comments

[newroticgirl.livejournal.com]

Do you do any sort of daily stretching? That might be a good place to start if you don't. I do neck rolls, shoulder rolls, wrist rolls to start... I have a whole top to bottom stretching routine I intend to do every day (but don't always manage).

Strengthen your core muscles and you strengthen your whole body... I actually just wrote an article about how "functional" exercise (like things you do around the house: vaccuuming, cleaning, shoveling snow) is the best kind of workout because it doesn't isolate one particular muscle group, it helps the whole body. Resistance training is key for building up muscle.... and boosting metabolism.

[clarentine]

I tried Pilates for a little while, but what my joints can take one day might be too much the next session, or the next, so I had a hard time keeping up with the class's building routine. Which made me sad.

I do stretch--I tend to stiffen overnight--but not in any defined pattern. I've considered doing some yoga at home with a DVD. (Let me tell you, yoga to DVD is a dog's best friend. *g* I think Kay thought I was getting on the floor to play with her!)

[newroticgirl.livejournal.com]

How about something like qigong? Might be less stressful on you than Pilates... (There's some beginner type moves here (http://tags.families.com/qigong).)

[clarentine]

Interesting. Reminds me of what I've seen of tai chi. I'll have to see if some of those shoulder-arm positions will work for me.