Training a woman with arthwritis...

[bigbuffstaples]

Hey, i'm working as a personal trainer at a local university gym, and the gym is as well open to the public.

Anyway, i'll keep this short...

I'm soon to be training a woman with Arthwritis (i can't spell it so it's hard to look it up on the net haha), but basically, she's in her 40's and she's not really in the best shape, fairly new to the fitness scene you could say, but i have to set her up on a plan but i have to take it easy on her cause of the arthwritis,,, problem is, i won't know where on her body the pain is coming from until i meet her and it'll be like an on the spot figuring it out and what i should recomend she does....

So.... i know i don't have much info on her, but does anyone have anything i could recomend to her to do for keeping in shape? she's a bit overweight so she's obviously gonna want to do some cardio... and all i have to do is set her up on a program, i won't be tracking her progress or anything, i'm basically teachin her what to do and she's gonna go from there and she can always get another session with me or the other trainers or ask questions, but i heard aqua aerobics are good, but we have no pool at our gym/university..... i don't know if i should have her using free weights at all either... can anyone give me any tips, i don't even know that much about arthwritis... thanks if i can get any info

 

[BronzedGoddess]

I've had arthritis since I was a child, now at 25 it's getting even worse. Since she's probably just interested in health I'd say put her on the eliptical or have her walk on an incline. Does your gym offer Spinning classes? If so encourage her to take a class or two but tell her to buy a padded seat

She can use free weights, she's not going to be squatting heavy ATF so it won't matter much. Set up a circuit training program for her so she gets the benefits of weights with also a bit of aerobic conditioning.

Ask here what joints in particular give her trouble. She should be fine, unless she has severe rhumatoid(sp) arthritis.

 

[bigbuffstaples]

Yeah,,, this is the biggest problem,,,, our gym at this university is SO fucking small.... it has about 4 treadmills, 2 steppers, 2 bikes and 2 olyptical things,,, it's got a set of machines for pretty much every part of the body with cables for lat pulldowns, triceps ones, etc. and the free weights and bars don't even go heavy enough for me to use, but that's not a worry since she's old and brittle hahaha.... Maybe if i can get a little more info somehow before i train her i'll post that up and i can get more answers as to how i should train her that way,,,, we don't offer spinning classes as far as i know but i'll find out about that hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks for the tips so far, i'll come back with more info soon.

 

[chicmuscle]

as far as i know but i'll find out about that hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks for the tips so far, i'll come back with more info soon.

me too

my mom has arthritis and i want to get her into the gym. if i can get her off the see food diet i think she would look gorgiuos. anyways she always complains about heavy lifting and such.

chichy

 

[heavymetalhead]

My wife has arthritis an the gym has helped her tremendously, she started using weight machines and then progressed to dumbbells.

 

[Mrs P]

An alternative to dumbells can be resistance bands, since gripping can be difficult & painful if u have arthritis, resistance training can allow u to hold the handles in the palms of your hands, keeping your fingers extended so that you don't have to grip the handles... Also a medicine ball can allow u to do manyt excercises, u can do lunges, side lunges, bicep curls..

 

[heavymetalhead]

An alternative to dumbells can be resistance bands, since gripping can be difficult & painful if u have arthritis, resistance training can allow u to hold the handles in the palms of your hands, keeping your fingers extended so that you don't have to grip the handles... Also a medicine ball can allow u to do manyt excercises, u can do lunges, side lunges, bicep curls..

Thanks