Where to start with an obese, older person

[Admles]

My mother, 52 years old, is obese, and has finally asked me to help her lose weight and get healthy again.

First thing we did is clean up her diet, mostly by following Berardi and the FAQs, slowly introducing her to better foods etc, and she is starting to lose weight slowly but surely.

She now wants to take up exercise to speed the process along.

She doesn't want to go to a gym, or a personal trainer, as she doesn't feel comfortable with that, and I want to help her before she gets any older.

She has access to a treadmill, rowing machine, boxing bag, skipping rope, barbells and dumbells.


Where should I start with her?

Would walking be a place to start?

Any advice please, the doctor has told her she's borderline diabetic and needs to lose weight and exercise NOW!

 

[vince89]

Firstly, good job on helping your mum.

Secondly, if she is obese you probably want to start with low impact stuff such as walking and some light rowing to avoid injuries and get her conditioning and work capacity up.

 

[hudday48]

I'm in the same boat.
Does your mother have knee pain (common in the obese)? I cataloged what exercises she will be capable of.
Half turkish get ups (unable to stand up because of knee pain)
med ball presses
leg raises
assisted dips
partial pushups
partial squats
wall ball
bench press
push press

Aerobic:
exercise bike, swim, ellyptical, walking
I'm skeptical of rowing because of her knee pain otherwise I would definitely put this in.

Then every night we do a little workout.
Good luck man.

 

[Sellsword]

Swimming is the obvious answer. Failing that, that rowing machine who mentioned would probably be the best bet, but make sure she maintains good posture while using it, otherwise there can be a risk of back-strain for people who are out of shape.

 

[BayAreaGuy]

Where to start? Slow as possible.


You don't want to push her too hard like on all those tv shows and then turn her off to excersising.

Anyone who's out of shape would hate working out at first, but anyone who's in shape loves working out. So you've gotta go slow and build up her cardio and endurance at the right pace- not to fast not to slow.


A good idea would be to dynamic stretching first followed by warming up with the jump rope, and then maybe hit the punching bag and lift the barbell lightly, finished off with walking on the treadmill as long as she can. Progress to jogging in the future.

 

[dfoster]

If she's obese, her heart and blood pressure should be checked before she starts. I assume the doctor already knew these and OK'ed her exercising. For an obese person, I'd start first with just walking on the treadmill or soft surface - concrete or asphalt surface may be too hard for her right now. Then when her knees and ankles get stronger, a little slow jogging. When she loses more weight and gets a little stronger, she can do floor exercises and progress from there. But make sure her heart and blood pressure are OK'ed by the doctor first.

 

[takeahnase]

Start off with walking.

 

[dfoster]

A good idea would be to dynamic stretching first followed by warming up with the jump rope, and then maybe hit the punching bag and lift the barbell lightly, finished off with walking on the treadmill as long as she can. Progress to jogging in the future.

Dude, rope jumping and punching the bag are all high impact exercises. We're talking about and elderly woman who is obese. Her ankles and knees gotta get stronger first before any kind of jumping is done. Same with punching the bag, her shoulders, elbows and wrists need to get a lot stronger before she can do it without risking injuries, not to mention you'll have to teach her technique.

 

[vince89]

Dude, rope jumping and punching the bag are all high impact exercises. We're talking about and elderly woman who is obese. Her ankles and knees gotta get stronger first before any kind of jumping is done. Same with punching the bag, her shoulders, elbows and wrists need to get a lot stronger before she can do it without risking injuries, not to mention you'll have to teach her technique.

+1, if shes really 'obese' like you say and not just overweight she'll probably find jumping rope impossible and even if she can do it - it will destroy her ankles and calves most probably.

 

[w0cyru01]

http://rosstraining.com/blog/2008/04/21/large-fella-on-a-bike/

 

[JinKazama]

cant go wrong witha treadmill

im actually tryin to help my mom lose weight too

 

[Admles]

Thanks for all the input everyone, it seems to be that going slow and steady on the treadmill, gradually building up will be the way to go, then adding some light, high-rep weights down the track.

 

[BayAreaGuy]

Don't forget the ab reps. I forgot to put that in.


Oh yeah, it was a bad idea to mention the jump rope and bag in the routine for that age.