Training someone who is wheel chair bound

[TheSuaveOne]

I've recently started dating a woman who was in an auto accident that has kept her in a chair for the last decade. We were talking the other night and she mentioned she had interest in losing some weight, but since she can't walk, cardio is very tough for her. I'm thinking some sort of revised upper body routine like circuit training could be the direction to go with her, but I wanted to drop in and find out if anyone had run into this before or had any knowledge of any good websites I could find some information about this about.

Thanks all.

[sittinheavy]

what kinda injury did she have? whats her functioning level if she was a spinal cord injury? check out my journal on here for some ideas. i'll help out the best i can.

[TheSuaveOne]

The extent of her injuries, to be honest, I'm not completely sure yet. She has sensation in her lower body, but cannot move her legs. She can wiggle one of her toes, but that's it. She does have full control of her entire upper body and has a strong core.

[sittinheavy]

The extent of her injuries, to be honest, I'm not completely sure yet. She has sensation in her lower body, but cannot move her legs. She can wiggle one of her toes, but that's it. She does have full control of her entire upper body and has a strong core.

look into a vitaglide or hand cycle for cardio. also, if you can find out her level of injury i can give you more advice on cardio. if she has an injury of t5 or above, she'll prolly have issues with sypathetic nervous system output and might need to supp her cardio with ephedrine to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system.

for weightlifting-how many days a week is she wanting to train?

[Evidence]

They had a wonderful special on HBO Real Sports about horse riding and it's theraputic traits for people with various injuries where they are in a wheel chair. They were showing how the riding motion and keeping the body upright was strengthing the trunk muscles and providing a direct stimulus to the lowerback and core as to mimic a walking motion if you were to be on your own two feet. Do you think this would be something she would maybe enjoy and it's an activity you two can do together. It seemed to really help many people and in some ways provided an activity the whole family could do together where they could't do many things together before. Just a thought.

[TheSuaveOne]

It been years, probably since she did her rehab from her accident. So I am thinking 2 or 3 days a week to start.

[TheSuaveOne]

They were showing how the riding motion and keeping the body upright was strengthing the trunk muscles and providing a direct stimulus to the lowerback and core as to mimic a walking motion if you were to be on your own two feet. Do you think this would be something she would maybe enjoy and it's an activity you two can do together.

Oh, I think we both would...:naughty:

[sittinheavy]

It been years, probably since she did her rehab from her accident. So I am thinking 2 or 3 days a week to start.


you could do a 3 day split pretty easy

mon-chest and tri's
bench press
chest flies
cable cross-overs
tricep rope press
tricep straight bar press over and under hand grip

wed-traps, middle delt, abs
shrugs
upright rows
lateral flies
lateral raises
cable crunches
side bends

friday- back and bi's
seated deadlifts
Wide grip lat pulls
low rows
face pulls
db curls
hammer curls

[TheSuaveOne]

Not sure how confident she is in getting into a gym, so I may try to tailor things to a home gym set up. But great info. Thanks.

[silver_shadow]

no idea about what kind of equipment you could use bro. but... if weight loss is the main goal then diet can have a very profound effect towards achieving the goal. and in fact can even replace exercise.

[TheSuaveOne]

Yeah, I'm already working on that, but she is one hell of a good cook. She made us dinner the other night, I haven't had whole cream added to my steak (part of the mushroom topping) in ages. I forgot how good it tastes, lol.