Needing some exercise ideas

[pacguy]

Hi all, little bit of a back story first. My wife was in a small wreck a few weeks ago and thankfully she came out of it okay. Her right arm though has several inflamed muscles which making using her arm difficult and painful. She's getting physical therapy for it now but would like to be able to come workout with me at the gym. Unfortunately I do a lot of free weights and SS exercises which she simply can't do at the moment. Basically her entire arm from the shoulder down is useless for working out and she can't even have weight placed on her shoulder either. So I'm trying to find things we can do together at the gym and wanted to see if anyone else had any suggestions or ideas.

My list so far:

Bodyweight squats

Lunges

Linear leg press

Sit-ups

Cycling

Treadmill/walking dogs

Stairs

Yoga

Please keep in mind that while she can move her arm freely, moving it a lot and quickly can get painful. That's why I we aren't doing something like dancing or zumba.

I'd appreciate any ideas you guys might have for us. She's been really bummed about not being able to workout with me so I'm hoping this will help some.

[Morrigainz]

Glad she is ok and sending my wishes for a speedy recovery!

I love bodyrock.tv for workouts...most of them are full body, but there might be individual exercises in some of them that don't focus on the arms so much.

Good luck!

[Corbab]

I'd keep going with the cardio stuff (cycling, treadmill) and add some more squat variations to keep things interesting. There are a ton out there that can be done unweighted (pistols, Hungarian split squats, wall sits) if you don't mind a lot of leg days in a row. Are there any of her PT exercises that can safely be recreated in the gym?

[ebm1224]

ouch that is rough. i hope she feels better soon! in the meantime, yeah, i think your list kind of covers it. squats, lunges. maybe step class if she keeps her hands by her sides or on her hips...just be careful about balance...without the ability to stabilize herself with her arms (or catch herself if she falls) it gets a little dicey. how long til she's expected to recover?

[pacguy]

None that I am aware of right now. I took her to medieval times last weekend and just waving the flag around a bunch eventually caused her a lot of pain. And it wasn't more than 1lb flag either so it's not like she was moving a lot of weight.

[bprime]

mobilitywod.com

Once any acute pain is gone from her.

[pacguy]

ouch that is rough. i hope she feels better soon! in the meantime, yeah, i think your list kind of covers it. squats, lunges. maybe step class if she keeps her hands by her sides or on her hips...just be careful about balance...without the ability to stabilize herself with her arms (or catch herself if she falls) it gets a little dicey. how long til she's expected to recover?

They can't give her an estimate on the recovery time because there might be possible damage to the rotator cuff as well. It's going to be a few months at minimum though.

[pacguy]

mobilitywod.com

Once any acute pain is gone from her.

Wow, that looks useful. Thanks!

[bprime]

Wow, that looks useful. Thanks!

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