Brain tumor survivor Need Help with strength training

[CoeCoe1985]

Hi, I'm CoeCoe. I am a brain tumor survivor and have had two surgeries to deal with that and a birth defect on the back of spinal cord around brain stem . Needless to say I can't lift much weight. However I do need to get stronger, even though this did happen 11 years ago, I still have repercussions to deal with. I work a job that has me straining upper body, twisting, bending, and lifting heavy boxes quite often and trying to reach high places. It is a bit of a struggle so I thought I need to start building strength up. However with that being said body is often sore and feeling strained after work. I don't want to do a heavy strength training program, just something continuous to get me stronger. But I am afraid of injury and that definitely cannot happen as job would not be very understanding and I don't need any injuries to upper body. So can anybody help me? Any suggestions as to how I can work out at home and not get injured there or at work from over exhausted muscles? I don't work full time but it is still a difficult situation. Can anybody help or give suggestions please?

[Boss Man]

Firstly, I want to say thank you for telling us about this. I appreciate admitting such difficulties may have been hard to discuss and you should be proud of yourself for doing that as I am of you also .

Secondly, what I would suggest is doing bodyweighted exercise, as that way there's a level playing field so to speak. Sometimes people start telling us about having 1-2 pairs of dumbells and that means more stimulation of certain muscles relative to their size than others.

For instance, using 5lb dumbells for your arms versus your legs or back.

A bodyweighted routine can be done 3x a week, every other day and can be useful for assessing your own range of motion.

This kind of system should be okay for you.

Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps#

Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps

Good Mornings, 2 sets, 10 reps

Vertical Flyes, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bent Over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps

Planks 30-40 seconds

If you are not sure what any of these entail, then please just ask and if you perform anything and feel there's too much discomfort or pain, after a few seconds of starting any particular exercise, discontinue that exercise and then we can try to workout what alternatives might suit you better.

GOOD LUCK and best wishes to you. I appreciate it must be very difficult sometimes and I won't be crass enough to say I know what you must have been through, or understand it, as I don't, but I often find the difficult words like yours that people post, have a certain beauty to them. I try not to consider them as some kind of tragic tale of woe, because I think that's a bit crass in itself and doesn't take in to account the bit of strength, courage and heart needed, to share the experiences someone has been through, with strangers.

I am glad that you appear, by your words, to be over most of the emotional, physical and mental taxation you must have been through before and you certainly seem to be a lovely, warm and engaging Lady, so again I wish you luck and say that whatever we can do to help, please let us know and if we can we will certainly try.

[CoeCoe1985]

Thank you so much for the encouragement and information. Your understanding and support means a tremendous amount to me. That makes a ton of sense and doesn't sound exhausting like the idea seems. I will definitely start doing that. I do have one uestion, should i be using small weights at all? Or just own weight and nothing else? I have tried that before and i was supprised how effective that could be. Thanks so much!!

[Boss Man]

I'd go bodyweighed for now, as you need to at least assess range of motion and make sure all the exercises can be completed, with as little to no discomfort or pain as possible.

Adding dumbells or other synthetic weight to the situation, could cause unwanted reactions, if your body cannot tolerate the forces applied.

Once your body has gotten used to its new way of operating, for around 4 weeks, then you could consider dumbells, or even something as simple as two small books of about equal size, as a cheap homemade solution to buying dumbells and possibly a couple of slightly bigger equally sized books, so the bigger ones would be used on large muscles and the smaller ones on small ones obviously, but certainly stick to bodyweighted or the forthcoming 4 weeks and then see how you feel about adding some resistance into the equation.

[CoeCoe1985]

Thank you so much!

[Boss Man]

No worries. GOOD LUCK with everything and if you need anything else or want to comment on other poeple, as even one word can mean so much, then feel free and we will be here as a community to try what we feel is our best to support you with whatever you wish to do.

Thanks for getting in touch and best wishes. I'm sure you can achieve what you want and I am sure you will do things that continue to make you proud of yourself .