Q. I recently had a double bunion operation – both feet, ouch! Before my surgery I walked briskly, up to an hour every day with my dog, and had started weight training. In the two weeks since I had surgery, I have put on 5lb. How do I get back on track, limited as I am by the fact that I won’t be able to walk distances for a few months?
A. This is just the type of situation that causes so many people to lose interest in fitness, and gain weight. You could have been utterly diligent and intensive on your fitness programme and, sad to say, spend eight to ten weeks doing nothing and lose pretty much ALL that you have gained in the previous year of activity.
Matt Roberts discusses the four simple steps back to fitness after a bunion operation
However, after the initial few weeks of an operation such as this, there are ways to exercise safely. The term peripheral heart action (PHA) training is used to describe exercise regimes that give you a cardiovascular workout, from resistance training.
By using the extreme ends of the body, alternating arms and legs in a circuit, we are asking it to quickly supply blood and oxygen to the extremities and therefore increase the respiratory overload, making you fitter and leaner. The following routine would be ideal for someone recovery from foot surgery…
Single Leg Squats: Stand in front of a chair on one leg, with the other out in front at a comfortable level. Keep your raised leg off the floor while bending at the knee so that your bottom just touches down on to the seat, and then return to a standing position. Body weight should be on the heel, with the chest up and back straight. Do this for 10-15 reps or until you feel the leg overloading. Switch legs and repeat.
Shoulder Press: Sit upright, with a weight in each hand. Start with your arms above your head, straightened out. Bend both arms down to 90 degrees, so that your elbows reach a point just beneath shoulder height, and then press back up high above you again. Use a weight that allows you to do 12 to 15 reps (fairly heavy) to overload the muscles in the shoulders and arms.
Shoulder Press: Use a weight that allows you to do 12 to 15 reps (fairly heavy) to overload the muscles in the shoulders and arms (file photo)
Step up: Using a stable chair or bench, put your right foot on the bench for the start position. Step up and down on to the bench, without removing the right foot. Go slowly, so that when you step down you do not pound the floor with the foot. Do 12-15 reps and then change sides.
Biceps/Triceps: With a light-to-moderate weight in each hand, and keeping your elbows close to your sides, do alternating bicep curls at a moderate to fast pace for 30-50 reps or until you feel them starting to ‘burn’. At this point, reach up above you with both hands (and weights) and then bend the elbows so that you are reaching behind your head. Once you have reached down as far as you can, straighten the arms up again and repeat 30-50 times or until you reach fatigue.
If you can, try to integrate cycling or swimming into your routine, once any wounds have fully healed and your doctor says it’s OK.
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Q. My mother has been diagnosed with dementia and I’ve heard that exercise is really important for helping with the symptoms. She used to keep active by walking regularly, but these days it’s not safe for her to go anywhere on her own as she wanders off, and my father isn’t mobile enough to take her out. Is it worth us paying for someone to take her to a class or out for walks? What kinds of exercises can she do?
A. Of all the lifestyle changes we can make that could not only reduce our risk of developing dementia, but could also slow down the disease progression, exercise one of the most important, according to research. Studies have proved that if you exercise, even in middle age, it protects your brain.
The same is true for people living with a dementia diagnosis – 30 minutes of moderate exercise, five days a week, could make a difference. T’ai chi or yoga have been suggested by researchers.
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Dancing is another good one – you socialise and learn new routines while exercising, which is a triple whammy. Exercise reduces heart disease and diabetes risk, which can worsen dementia. Oxygen is fuel for the brain and movement promotes circulation.
Home-care companies should offer packages tailored to your needs, so ring round and say that regular exercise is important to you. It might be a case of finding an accessible class or local support group that offers an exercise session (many do now), and simply getting your loved one there and back.
Nothing is simple when caring for an unwell parent, but it’s worth persevering as something like this can really improve their life.
Alison’s so right…there’s no quick fix for losing weight
Having once said ‘I’m fat… so what?’, This Morning’s Alison Hammond seems to have had a change of heart.
Last week the presenter, 41, admitted: ‘My poor body might not be able to cope for much longer so I have to help it out by taking weight off.’
At 5ft 9in, she recently tipped the scale at 20 stone and hopes to lose eight of those by ‘making small changes to her diet and lifestyle, rather than a quick fix’.
Alison Hammond (pictured) admitted: ‘My poor body might not be able to cope for much longer so I have to help it out by taking weight off’
It’s unfair, but I know from experience that some people struggle to lose weight more than others.
There are obvious areas that can make it more difficult for anyone: stress, poor sleep, alcohol and stimulants such as coffee all contribute.
If you’re making a concerted effort to slim down, be sure you get your whole life in check – and don’t just focus on what you eat or on exercise – to give yourself the best chance of success.
Apparently the average rugby fan watching the World Cup last year consumed an extra 2,500 calories per match by shovelling down beer, crisps, burgers and chips.
If football fans manage the same during Euro 2016, which is highly likely, then England will be doing the nation’s waistlines a favour by doing as well as they usually do.
Good luck though, lads!
Good luck lads! The England team pictured ahead of their first game in the Euro 2016
The average rugby fan watching the World Cup consumed an extra 2,500 calories per match by shovelling down beer, crisps, burgers and chips – let’s hope the same won’t happen during Euro 2016 (file photo)
Weight-loss surgery that permanently removes the stomach should be offered routinely by NHS hospitals to combat the diabetes epidemic.
So said experts from King’s College London and charity Diabetes UK last month.
Here’s a better idea: why not spare patients the indignity of obesity in the first place by spending the £10,000-per-patient cost of the op on helping GPs offer proper weight-loss support and free fitness classes for all?
It would be far cheaper, and probably less painful.