How to do seated aerobics
Seated aerobics is aerobic workout training that you do when you are disabled. Maintaining emotional health is one of the most important aspects there is when you are living with a disability. Adding regular exercise to your daily routine can enhance your independence, increase your mobility and help maintain your body weight. Regular exercise can also help combat depression. To help keep you motivated, try exercising with family and friends. Exercising with family and friends is also a great way to maintain personal connections.
For optimal results, a combination of aerobics, strength training, stretching for flexibility, and balance techniques should all be part of your regular exercise routine.
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- Aerobic activities: Participating in aerobic activities will strengthen your heart and lungs and boost your endurance. Wheeling yourself around your neighborhood or propelling yourself with your feet are fun activities to do. Another fun activity to try is hand-cycling. Using a hand-cycle, you sit just as you would sit in a wheelchair. If you are using a recumbent hand-cycle, your torso reclines and your legs are out in front of you. Hand-cycles have three wheels, instead of two. Using only your upper body, you pedal and steer the hand-cycle. It is important to always wear a helmet, as you should when using any type of bicycle. Taking a water aerobics class, if possible, is another fun and beneficial aerobic activity you may want to try.
- Strength training:
Strength training can rapidly increase your upper-body strength. Stretching rubber tubing with your arms is a great and inexpensive strength training exercise to perform which may help to decrease pain and reduce muscle plasticity. Hand-held weights and weight machines can also help you build your upper body strength. - Stretching for flexibility exercises:
You should also perform flexibility exercises in your daily routine. All your major muscles should be stretched daily in your upper body, shoulders, arms, and back. Muscles and joints that are non-functional or disabled should also be stretched just like their counterparts. You or a family member, who has learned the proper techniques, can passively move limbs, if you are unable to move them on your own. - Posture and balance exercises:
Many times people confined to a wheelchair have a compromised posture. They may slouch or stoop, which can create pain in the lower back muscles and also impair breathing. Try keeping your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent at a 90 degree angle, align your ears with shoulders and hips. This will help to keep your blood flowing freely. Keep your back straight and supported in a neutral position. Try to change position at least every hour or so, because blood flow can be compromised holding a posture for a long period of time. A large ball, also known as an exercise ball, is another balance exercise that improves posture.
Keep an open mind, be creative and most important, have fun when exercising. See if there are any wheelchair teams in your area for soccer, basketball, floor hockey and bowling. Tennis can be played in a wheelchair, golf can too. Use a modified club, gripping aid or teeing device. Consider skiing. You can use a mono-ski, which has a molded seat attached to a single ski. Hand-held outriggers are used for balance. A bi-ski is another option. A bi-ski has a seat mounted to two shorter, wider skis. Another option you may want to try is cross country skiing. You push yourself along the trail, in a molded seat, using ski poles with tips that dig into the snow.
Contact your doctor before you begin any new exercise or exercise program. After you have received your doctor's approval, start off with slow activities such as stretching. Increase the intensity and length of workout routine gradually.
