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Author Topic: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's  (Read 14452 times)

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Offline Delby

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Hi all,

Before I was diagnosed a year ago, i was actively fit, making sure i attended the gym 4-6 times a week. I used to weight lift a lot and was very passionate about it. I wasnt a body builder per se, but kept my self in good shape and loved the challenge of it all. Since my diagnosis, i have given it all up. Sadly i have watched all the muscle and hard work i have done since i was a 14 yr old, just disappear. I gave it up due to the depression and anxiety i have been dealing with since my diagnosis a year ago. I lost complete motivation for it and was also scared about over exerting or excersing my body.

Physically i feel in good health and wanted to know from all of you that have lived with HIV, what exercise regime i should be taking.

1. Can i still build muscle or am i likely to see huge body changes from the drugs and therefore i wont be able to sustain or even build muscle.
2. Should i limit my exercise, i.e dont do more than 20 minutes cardio or can i really go for it. I'd love to start running again but i'm worried i'll run myself into the ground?
3. What are my parameters now as HIV +. How much exercise should i do?
4. I used to take protein shakes but have stopped since my diagnosis. Would this be beneficial or should i avoid it now?
5. Is it possible to be fit and healthy and to have a good body with HIV (i.e good muscle mass) with HIV?

I just want to thank you all in advance for providing me with advice and experience. I really want to get back into the gym but i'm frightened as i dont want to run myself down. It would be great to hear from you all, and hear about all your different experiences.

All my very best

J
 :)

Offline Suntropic98

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2007, 04:52:54 pm »
Hi Delby!

Ok aside from women, boob critiquing, booty-knockin and nutrion this is my area of specialty.

1st thing is 1st: What meds are you taking? Atripla? Sustiva & Truveda? AZT? That plays a major part on what I dish out to you. Being as there are so many people today on Atripla we'll go with that and I'll give you advice accordingly. K?

First thing you need to remember is that muscle you think you HAD is actually still there, it's just flab....think of that area in between a woman's thighs. God. Sometimes it just looks so tasty and then other times all you want to do is barf. You get the pic. It comes back realitively easy as long as you stay on the right track.

First off, I'm sure you're tired alot and i'm sure you probably have some anxiety, right? Well, this brings us to the very first thing we have to work on before we get to a weight program or diet. It is called vitamins. These are essential to your well being and getting back on track. Here is what I take 2000mg of EsterC, 1000mg of cod liver oil, 400iu of vit E, 800 mg of AL Carnatine and 1 vitamin B complex 1000mg. I also drink 8 oz of monavie a day.....if you're interested in that I can tell you more about it, it's more of an anti-oxident powerhouse and anti-inflammatory drink.....unbelievable. It's expensive though, 4 bottles (1 month supply) is around 130$ Stuff works like lit gasoline on dead grass. This regimin alone will have you feeling better even if you don't work out.

Next, tell me about your diet. What is the ideal (lean) weight you desire? And how much do you currently weigh now? If you have a nutrionist have him/her hook you up to their machine and tell you what your mass indexes are. How tall are you? And do you have any serious physical injuries besides being HIV positive? What are your goals? Do you want to be a jacked up nig that everyone looks at and says "Damn. I wish I looked like him." Or do you want to be that guy who is fit and just looks like he gets a lot of ass? Or are you going for the Lance Armstrong kind of look? I can make you anything.

I completely understand what you're going through...this is normal. I went through it. But there is tremendous hope and light is at the tunnel! Do you hear any fat ladies singing? I don't. That means one thing. IT AINT OVER! Remember that!!!

A good way of thinking about this is that this whole thing is 70% mental 20% physical and 10% genetic. Your mind has to be right. If you think you can do it, you will. And I can be there to push you all the way bro.

So answer my questions and I'll get back with a reply, until then I'm wasting my typing skills. Holla!

SunT



Offline John2038

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2007, 06:01:02 pm »
Hi Delby,

I'm tested + since few weeks, contaminated probably Q2 this year.

So I don't have the experience to advise you doing sport as a HIV poz.

But I have the experience about doing sport before I know I'm poz.
I also have read about doing sport while being positive.

Please find below what I found to be appropriate as +.

I would however highly recommend you to get the approval of your doctor if you are willing to follow some advices below.

1) To avoid

You have to avoid doing too intense & too long & too frequently training.

After a too intense & too long training, the immune system become weaker (typically for the next 2h following the training), and then recover normally.

As such, 18% of the marathoner get usually sick (fever, weak, etc) in the 2 next days of a marathon or semi-marathon.

You are not doing a marathon, but I’m giving this example just for you understand what it means.
So after the training, just avoid to get cold, and to meet too much people, and so, especially if you are doing a high volume of training.

2) What is a too intense & too long & too frequent training ?

The short answer is:

- too intense: HR AVG > 80% HRM
- too long: reaching the exhaustion
- too frequently: more than 3 time a week IF too intense OR to long

The long answer is as follow:

Buy a heart rate monitors (e.g. Polar)

1) Evaluate your VO2max and HRM (OwnIndex), and do the recovery test to evaluate your current physical condition.

2) Look at the VO2max table, and found in which category you are (from bad shape to excellent shape)

The start with a 30 min interval training (for e.g. 3 x 3 min) at the following frequencies (accordingly to your VO2max):

bad:  60%, 65% and 70% HRM 
average: 65%, 70% and 75% HRM
good: 70%, 75% and 80% HRM
excellent: 75%, 80% and 85% HRM

You should then take into account the frequency (number of days you are willing to train per week):

5-7 time per week: decrease the frequency range (so if for e.g. you have an excellent VO2max, train in the good range)
1-4 time per week: keep the HR ranges as above.

During your exercise, you must be sweating:
If you loose more than 1kg of sweating per 1h30 of training, you might consider either reduces the training time or the intensity.
Reduce it also if you feel exhausted.

You can potentially reach the exhausting stage if:

- you have to fight too hard with yourself to keep going
- you can not talk while exercising
- you feel having no more power
- smell an odor of ammoniac while expelling the air you are breathing

if the last case, it means that your body is producing cetonique waste, which means that the body have no more glucose and is burning the fat which is producing this waste. Even if you are not diabetic, it’s dangerous - risk of coma).

This 30 min cardio (appropriate when just restarting the cardio) will allow you to estimate your physical condition (and help you to know if you should continue or not), and to have an easy start.
Do so 2-3 weeks, for your body to adapt. Adaptation is essential. Don't over train. Wait your body to be adapted. He will tell you when exactly you can increase your efforts.

After 2-3 weeks, you can increase the cardio duration to 1h.
And 2-3 weeks more, you can train 1h30 (if you feel it).

Every 2-3 days, do the recovery test (watch):
As long as this test indicates that you have recover, you can keep going with your training, or otherwise, take a resting day.

The best training frequency IMHO is 3 days exercising, 1 day resting.

I'm personally doing training as follow (on the same day):
- 1h30 cycling
- 30 min weight training (lower body) or 45 min (upper body): on day the lower, the next day the upper.

3) Nutrition

While you are doing cardio, you are sweating, and while sweating, you are loosing minerals and of course dehydrating.
You need to compensate this lost by drinking while exercising. Typically you will take an energy drink.
But you can also drink water, adding 1 sugar in it (glucose).
And you can also take carbs while training, especially if you train more than 1h.

Before exercising and after exercising, you can take resp. 2.5mg of L-Glutamine, which will help you to recover.

Generally speaking, you should take vitamins, nutrients and minerals supplements.
Avoid taking too much; it will impact your liver. Take a bit more vitamin than the recommended daily intake (I take 50% more as I'm + and do sport frequently).

For the weight training, you know you have to eat high quality proteins (whey) if you want to gain muscle mass.
Typically, between 1-1.6g per kg and per day. So if you are 100kg, you will need to eat between 100g-160g of protein per day.

CLA and Creatin are not bad as far I know, but avoid taking too much Creatin (water retention).

Drink a lot of water during the day (2-3 liter -forget the 1.5L recommendation).
Also, green tea is great as well as frees fat milk (as it helps to ingest the vitamin, and maintain your bone).

You might want to take also probiotics, fibers (oat meal) and omega 3-6-9
Chromium sounds also good.

You should favorite green food and fish (tuna, salmon, hake) and prefer white meet to red meat.

Note

Shake is also a good way to have part of the proteins and vitamins you needs.

4) Resting

Try to avoid any exercise in the 4h before you go sleep, or you will not sleep easily.
If that is the case, then take a cold shower. It should help.

Try also to sleep enough time (e.g. 8h) to ensure your body is recovering fine.


Again, I'm not sure to have give all the bests advices for someone poz.
If I should be wrong, please let me know.
Whatever is the way you want to train, or eat, please get the approval of your doctor first.
Its the safest way to do sport. And each case is specific.


Enjoy your training and stay healthy!


NOTE

Personally, I'm strongly convinced that exercising as described above greatly help to stay healthy even being poz.
I'm sure it help a lot.
 
« Last Edit: October 12, 2007, 07:07:04 pm by John2038 »

Offline milker

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2007, 01:40:40 am »
Sun,

did you read the original post? You didn't answer any of his questions.

Milker.
mid-dec: stupid ass
mid-jan: seroconversion
mid-feb: poz
mar 07: cd4 432 (35%) vl 54000
may 07: cd4 399 (28%) vl 27760
jul 07: cd4 403 (26%) vl 99241
oct 07: cd4 353 (24%) vl 29993
jan 08: cd4 332 (26%) vl 33308
mar 08: cd4 392 (23%) vl 75548
jun 08: cd4 325 (27%) vl 45880
oct 08: cd4 197 (20%) vl 154000 <== aids diagnosis
nov 2 08 start Atripla
nov 30 08: cd4 478 (23%) vl 1880 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
feb 19 09: cd4 398 (24%) vl 430 getting there!
apr 23 09: cd4 604 (29%) vl 50 woohoo :D :D
jul 30 09: cd4 512 (29%) vl undetectable :D :D
may 27 10: cd4 655 (32%) vl undetectable :D :D

Now accepting applications from blowjob ninjas™

Offline Delby

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2007, 07:33:45 am »
Hi Sun,

I am currently not on any meds. My last count of July was CD4 504 and VL 41,000. I am due to have my bloods done next month. So no, at the moment I am not on meds, although my doctor seems to think it will be sometime early next year.
Yes I am frequently tired and fatigued but I believe most of that has to do with my mental health. I’m not denying that the virus isn’t causing my fatigue but I know that when I feel positive and hopeful, I seem to gain a lot more energy. I would be interested in hearing more about Monavie.
My diet is porridge (oatmeal) for breakfast, a salad or baked potato for lunch and then usually carbs and protein for dinner. I used to be very mindful of what I ate as it was always in accordance with my weight lifting programme. Pre-diagnosis I made sure I ate 2kgs of protein for every kg of body weight. I’d have about 3 x maximuscle protein shakes a day. But that has all stopped since my diagnosis because I got the ‘whats the point attitude – how is eating well and working out going to help me’. But now I know I need to everything in my power to help my body and I used to exercise as a hobby so that’s why I want to take it back up.
I currently weigh 13 stone but that is over weight for me. I should be about 12 stone. Again this is due to lack of exercise and bad diet because of ‘whats the point attitude’. I am 6ft and don’t have any physical injuries. I just want to gain muscle, not too big and not too skinny. I want extra muscle as insurance against this illness. But basically, as my orginal post stated I don’t know what I should be doing now. What is your regime and how long have you been poz?
Thanks and looking forward to your reply

:)

Offline Delby

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2007, 07:50:53 am »
Hi John,

Thank you for your detailed and informative advise. I found it very interesting and useful although I have some questions related to it.
You mentioned I shouldn’t do a marathon due to strain on the immune system. Although I would probably agree that a marathon is not good for the body whether your + or -, I have also read about + people that continue to run marathons. Does this apply to all types of running.
Would you suggest by playing 1 hr of football (soccer), that I am overdoing it. You suggest stopping or doing less is you feel exhausted, but if your running or playing football then your bound to feel exhausted, that is the nature of competitive sport, so are you suggesting I stop these things? That’s where I’m confused about my parameters. Whereas before, when I was neg, I would push myself through the boundaries. That’s the whole idea of exercise and sport, pushing yourself. So when I was out of breath or tired I’d just push through, something which 99% of people do in the gym or when playing sport. But are you saying now,  as soon as I am out of breath or feeling a little tired or exhausted I should stop?
When you cycle for an 1.30hrs, do you push yourself ? Also, have I understood you right..do you train 3 days consecutively with one day off, followed by the same cycle?
What do you know with regards to building and maintaining muscle mass with HIV? Is this possible in the long term?
Also, with reference to your comments about creatin, I used to take it as a supplement but not since testing poz. It not only retains water but also is very hard on the liver. I think this is to be avoided if you are on meds. Besides you can build muscle quite competently without the use of creatin.
I look forward to hearing back and thanks again
:)

Offline Cerrid

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2007, 06:33:50 am »

You mentioned I shouldn’t do a marathon due to strain on the immune system. Although I would probably agree that a marathon is not good for the body whether your + or -, I have also read about + people that continue to run marathons.


That's right. Quite fittingly, Abbott has just started a poz marathon campaign in Germany. Applicants get a one-year preparation for the Berlin marathon in September 2008. I just hope they set up enough port-a-loos on the track.

"Boredom is always counterrevolutionary. Always." (Guy Debord)

Offline John2038

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2007, 08:22:14 pm »
Hi Delby,

I haven't the time right now to answer, but I'll soon.

Enjoy doing sport  !

John

Offline aztecan

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2007, 11:04:56 am »
Hey J,

You state you quit working out, etc., after being diagnosed positive and becoming depressed.

May I suggest that part of the depression may be the loss of this activity? I know finding out you are positive is a real kick in the gut, but suddenly giving up such an important part of your life probably didn't help.

I would ask your doc if there are any problems with your continuing with your exercises. But, on the face of it, I don't think there is anything that should prohibit your continuing as you did before.

I would just make sure to avoid echinacea, because it is contraindicated for us hi-fivers. So, read the labels on your health drinks and head back to the gym.

HUGS,

Mark

(Who really should spend more time at the gym)
« Last Edit: October 15, 2007, 11:14:59 am by aztecan »
"May your life preach more loudly than your lips."
~ William Ellery Channing (Unitarian Minister)

Offline John2038

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2007, 02:24:21 pm »
empty (double posting)
« Last Edit: October 17, 2007, 02:27:40 am by John2038 »

Offline John2038

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2007, 03:08:29 pm »
Hi Delby,

the short answers to your questions are as follow:

As long as you:

-  exercise properly:
-  check your heart (heart monitor)
-  take healthy food (incl. supplements)
-  rest enough
-  listen your body
-  are adapted to the sport (volume / intensity increased step by step)
-  perform a medical check-up some time

there is then no limit.
Again, listen your body. He will warn you immediately, telling you your limit of the day.
This limit will change day by day. Just don't forget to take a resting day, but don't tell you something like: feel weak today.
Did it wrong ?
Its normal, poz or neg, we all have our good and bad shape days.
In case of doubts, just check with the doc.

Have you also noticed that the advises above are applicable to both poz and neg ?
If there is any differences, it will be about the signals our body will send to us.
Poz or neg, our body parameters are the same so are the points above.

I can understand that some people are afraid to push their body too far.
Its a personal choice.

But having do a lot of sport (dozen of years -incl judo, karate, kendo, army special forces, alpinism), and despite being poz, I'm still having a very strong feeling that sport is helping a lot staying healthy, especially as poz.

So my rule is: exercise, no limit, just respecting the rules above.

Anyway, if I stop the sport for few days (even one), I just get the signal that says: back to gym !
Feel then much better, stress less, great shape. Well, the best I believe I can do.

I don't want to insist too much, because I have no proof to be right. But my strong conviction is:
the sport is helping a lot to fight the hiv. In a way or another, it just does. A conviction.

Otherwise, I just noticed a lot of common points between our profile (counts, contamination date, sport and others).

I'm maintaining a blog (see signature): it will be very interesting to share our experience.
I can create a free account for you. Just pm me.

Anyone else can also pm me:

I really want to create a strong community of people (poz or neg) doing sport.
To share our experience, focus on something else than just the hiv.
Its also a way to shows that we are here, performing well. It will motivate others. And hopefully, all this can increase the results we get doing sport, and provide great feedbacks.

« Last Edit: October 17, 2007, 04:02:49 pm by John2038 »

Offline mcmaclean01

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #11 on: October 17, 2007, 02:01:52 pm »
Delby,
Follow John's advise, I myself work out intensly, it has helped me deplete my depression and returned my mentality to normality.  Or so they say LOL. I take quite a few Amino Acids, Anti-Oxidants, Vitamins and Minerals and do push myself really hard.  So do follow John's advise the only thing that I would advise you to do is that if your CD4s are below 300 wear disposable rubber glovers under your workout gloves, this being done to avoid getting bacteria and viruses from other people that use your gym.

Workout exactly as you used to and don't worry about your body mass, your muscles have a very good mass memory and before you know it you will be back to where you left off in no time.  Go for it and put a smile on you face, it works everytime.  I am 6'2" and when diagnosed I was 145lbs, VL 800,000 and CD4 5.  Now I am 195lbs, VL Undetectable, CD4 585.
Kind Regards,
Mark

Offline richie

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2007, 10:59:15 pm »
 What a great thread, and what great advice throughout!  I think Aidmeds should comiit this to the lessons pages!  I've worked out since age 17, and since becoming poz (now age 50) have often had the same questions in this thread.  Working out 1) reduces stress, 2) keeps the body in better working order, 3) resistance training keeps the bones strong, 4) keeps the weight off, 5), etc., etc., etc.)  Of course, as people above have said, listen to your body and moderate as necessary as both HIV AND the meds can have an occasional negative energy effect.  At least when I have low enegy, that's where I place the blame, whether true or not!  ;D

Offline brianbrant

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #13 on: November 16, 2007, 12:35:31 pm »
I'm a reluctant poster.  This is my third or fourth.  Taking a cue from another member of the forum, I'll only comment on things I feel something about, whether emotional or through experience.  Exercise fits the latter category.

I turned 61 Tuesday.  I began lifting light weights when I was 22.  I continue to work out five to six times a week, alternating resistance with at least one hour on the Schwinn Airdyne with no concern about heart rate or peak anything.  I went through that phase two decades ago.  Now I just keep moving, listening to my music.  I'm in a trance and I have to stop myself with an noisy timer to avoid overdoing it.  My average daily commitment is 90-100 minutes.  The only time I have missed a session, which I do in a converted bedroom with basic, solid equipment, is when I have a flu, or post-surgery.  I have always kept a detailed log of my sessions, what modifications I made to a specific routine (I rotate several combinations), my fatigue level, whether I'm fighting a cold, some new aches or pains, or have changed anything about my meds.  It's amazing what you learn over time, and recording religiously adds something to a program that may have been nothing more than my engineer's need for data in the past; with AIDS the information is endlessly fascinating and occasionally useful.

I am absolutely convinced, as is every doctor, nurse or nutritionist, of the importance of this regimen in my continued health.  An exercise physiologist/nutritionist did a thorough examination three years ago - hooked me up to techy stuff and I jumped, walked, ran - the battery of tests she usually conducts on members of her college sports teams.  She was astonished at my conditioning, AIDS or not.  This was the first real confirmation of what this effort has yielded (other than my health and the hunches of my medical team), of a near 40-year romance.

Usually it's a joy to go through my routine.  Sometimes it is a bit of effort.  There have been times I'd rate a session as agonizing.  I have never canceled a routine because I didn't feel well.  I try and usually get through it, and feel much, much better afterward.

Previous posts have given specific, detailed approaches to the notion of adopting a serious program.  I can't add more than my own experience.  Sadly, but not surprisingly, since my diagnosis 18 years ago, I have known only one person who began a routine after he was given his unfortunate positive HIV test results and stuck to it.  Five years later he looks and feels better than he has since his 20s.  He's moving toward 50.  Thats only one out of - oh, top of my head - thirty who insisted they were going to make exercise part of life.  Each instinctively (if not obviously, based on every avenue of research and documentation over the past zillion years) understood the importance of our evolutionary 'mandate.'  We were not meant to be idle, and HIV is the worst time to lay back and stew until we crumble.

This is a late post, I realize, since this thread is so old.  But so am I.  And between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, this 61 year old critter, full-bown for the past 17 years, will hit the weights again, just as he has for nearly 40 years.  Is it life or death?  Ain't got a clue, but my gut says I'm making an enormous difference in my state of health and my state of mind. 

(Oh, and I can wear a tank top without wondering if perhaps it's time to retire this little bit of "show 'em what ya got."  I got... a long, long time before those threads will be donated to the thrift store.)

So, to anyone contemplating the same question, here's my simple answer:  Make a commitment.  Or, don't.


Offline pozniceguy

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #14 on: November 16, 2007, 06:30:35 pm »
Hey Brian.. I fully support your efforts to remain active...I was diagnosed in 1994...once out of hospital and into rehab I have been going ever since.....not quite as intense as you do  but walk at least two miles a day..work with a pro trainer at the gym 3X a week for about an hour....I have never worn a tank to show what I got since I have always been sort of a stick man  but nicely toned and very healthy looking  ( more of a Lance Armstrong shape)   always a shock when people at the gym ask my age  and they do......68..most don't believe that......but I keep on going and don't miss unless dire circumstances or f really foul weather interferes....  Thanks for letting the "young" guys know that life isn't over at 40....or even 50..or 60...

Nick
remember the good times...honor the past but don't live there
Le stelle la notte sono grandie luminose, nel cuore profondo del Texas

Offline brianbrant

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #15 on: November 17, 2007, 10:42:49 am »
Thanks, ND.   And thanks to the others who emailed me with such kind words.  Being new to the forum is a process of learning the ‘lay of the land,’ and not becoming unwelcome based on my style and manner.  I tend to lecture and pontificate, I realize, and I’ve never been able to curb that dog, so I stopped trying long ago.

Back to the exercise issue…

After posting my comments, I realized a fundamental flaw in my argument.  When I was diagnosed, I had already been working out every morning for more than twenty years.  Even when I traveled, the moment I checked into my hotel room I scanned the place for chairs, eyed the height of the bed, and mentally adapted the place to become an exercise facility.  I had wrist and ankle weights in my luggage, and could usually find a convenience store nearby where I’d snare a couple gallons of milk.  I’d replace the milk with water in case my manhandling caused a rupture in the plastic: it’s easier to mop up water than milk.  My business partner thought I was nuts when he called me one morning at 7 and I told him I had already been up two hours!

Being newly diagnosed is a harrowing ordeal, especially if you’re feeling like shit.  Beyond the physical and psychological assault, introducing meds to your system throws you ten steps back while you’re praying for just one step forward.  Been there, etc.  For me to suggest an exercise routine will pull someone from the multi-faceted depths of HIV/AIDS hell to the glorious heavens of robust health is absurd.  I realize this.  You’re not adopting an ‘I-promise-I-will-floss’ nick into your day, nor is this a grand, dramatic gesture with accompanying audience applause.  Exercise is an immense commitment and a completely private affair.  It becomes part philosophy, part religion, and part naďve hope.  It may take months and possibly years to see a satisfying physical change, which is why so many abandon their efforts within a sort time.  Aesthetics should not be the primary goal when you’re fighting HIV, but ‘merely’ feeling better isn’t enough for many who give the workout routine a shot.  As Billy Crystal used to say, (in character): “It is much better to look good, than to feel good.”  I won’t deny it… I spent years learning how my body was changing, and constantly adjusted what I was doing.   I liked feeling terrific, but a pleasing, balanced symmetry merely required keeping track of what did what, and modifying my routine month by month, year by year.  Forty years later, I still make incremental adjustments. 

When someone tells me they’re going to buy equipment and set up an exercise room, I advise them to save their money and buy used.  Grab a greensheet or pennysaver and look for bargains offered by two types of people: 1) The guy (or woman) who had the best intentions, but quickly realized exercise = effort and gave up after a month of busting their asses without visible results; 2) Beautifully worn, solid equipment used for decades by a guy (or w) until he (or s) dropped over dead, mid-rep.  At 87.  Still smiling and sweating and sporting a tiny wink ‘o the eye.

In closing this (typical) blathering addendum to my first post, I am this moment recalling a televised ‘natural body’ physique championship which took place somewhere in Japan.  I spotted the program on ESPN twenty years ago and I was spellbound: Senior men’s division – 65 years and older.  The winner was a spectacular specimen of 75 who proudly hefted the giant trophy above his head, walked to the second-place winner, bowed deeply, and graciously handed the prize to him.  At 86 years of age, this amazing old gent looked thirty years younger with a tight, dancer’s body, while his glowing face hinted the subtle lines and creases of a wisdom which clearly came from a Zen I’ll never, ever know.

Offline John2038

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Re: Exercise/Weight Lifting - need advise from the experienced and LTS's
« Reply #16 on: November 21, 2007, 05:26:58 pm »
Just to mention this interesting article

Aging: Walking Faster and Outpacing Death

Researchers who followed the health of nearly 500 older people for almost a decade found that those who walked more quickly were less likely to die over the course of the study.

The findings, the researchers said, suggest that gait speed may be a good predictor of long-term survival, even in people who otherwise appear basically healthy. The study was presented at a conference of the Gerontological Society of America.

In a related study, appearing in the November issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the researchers also found that people whose walking speed improved reduced their risk of death.

“We don’t know why,” said one of the authors, Dr. Stephanie A. Studenski of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “Did some of these people exercise? Did some of these people have health conditions that were treated and improved?”

The study presented at the conference reported that nine years after their gait speed was measured, 77 percent of those people described as slow had died, 50 percent of those considered medium and 27 percent of those considered fast.


So how about exercising if just walking faster is Outpacing Death .. :)

 


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