Question: Any advice on working out…strength training ..after a hysterectomy?
Answer: As for returning to training after surgery such as a hysterectomy, I’ve been there/done that.
Start off slowly.
Work on core strength with planking type things. Here’s a blog post to get you started on building core strength.
You want to reduce stress on the pelvic floor muscles, so no impact moves (running, jumping), no heavily loaded movements like squats etc for the first couple weeks. I highly recommend body weight movements to start.
If you’re not super fit from the start, don’t expect to go full steam for a long time, listen to your doc and progress slowly.
Of course it depends on what fitness level you’re at when you have surgery, you’ll have to back off on intensity of all training, but I was training right after (even tho my doc said 6 weeks, I waited about 3 days). This is because I was in good condition and I knew how to modify and listen to my body.
You will tire faster and rest is very important, allow recovery time and listen to your body. Eat to support recovery. Back off on sugars and processed foods, increase veggies and lean proteins.
Above all, love yourself and give yourself permission to take special care. Do things that make you feel good (not wine drinking ;))
If it’s been a long time since you’ve worked out, a great program to get you back in the game is Functional Fitness. This was developed by Dr Dan Ritchie and Dr Cody Sipes. It’s perfect for anyone returning to fitness after a hiatus, recovering from injury or is in the 50+ age category with not much fitness background.
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Question: I am 76 and bored to tears with elliptical trainers. Stopped playing raquetball at age 60. Do you offer an entry level program that’s suitable for someone my age?
Answer: I highly recommend Functional Fitness. These are follow along videos that are way more interesting and fun than steady state cardio, I hope that helps, you could advance your fitness level and move onto some Challenge style workouts after going up to level 4 in this program.
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Question: I noticed you had a tutorial on how to download your programs and from fiddling too much I don’t remember where I saw that?
Answer: To help with downloading issues, here’s a video to help: http://challengeworkouts.com/
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Question: With your Female Fat Loss Over 40 plan, should I pick 2 workouts a month and alternate between them 3 times a week and then change to another two next month, etc…? Or should I randomly pick a workout each time?
Answer: I suggest cycling thru the workouts, there are 12 so if you did 3 per week you have a month of fresh workouts.
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And just for fun….
It’s quite possible that my son, Sam will need some therapy after this…
I had a charity boot camp where funds raised go towards a team from our church going to Mexico to build houses. Both my daughter, Hannah and son, Sam were involved. We had some corporate sponsors that donated to any one that participated. The theme of the workout was the ‘Little Black Dress’ workout (to get fit to wear a lil black dress of course), so naturally participants were encouraged to workout in a LBD.
If you’d like to donate to this worthy cause, you can do so here:
https://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=32435
My daughter made an ebook to any one that donates. Just make a donation and send her the receipt at ruckuspub1@gmail.com and she’ll send you the download link for 10 workouts and some damaging info about yours truly. Growing up with a fitness mom isn’t all fun and burpees apparently 🙂
