If this don't make your booty move, your booty must be dead.

August 10, 2008 6:10 PM

What exercise can I do to keep my midsection and above fit after surgery on my butt?

I had a cyst near my tailbone removed, and it's still very uncomfortable to sit in most positions, bend down, or move my legs excessively. Getting in and out of bed is a blast, by the way.

All of this sitting on an inflatable donut and not doing anything for fear of a sharp pain in my butt is leading to a lot of stiffness. And the gut I was beginning to develop is going nowhere fast.

I was just starting to get into pilates before this, but since that primarily involves seated matwork, it's out of the question. What are some techniques I could do to at least work out my body from the waist up? (Dumbbells are an obvious answer, but I'd like to target my torso, ideally.)

Previous posters who had injured their legs asked something similar, but taking the advice posted there and doing things in a seated position (e.g., cycling) is, egad, exactly what I don't want to do. Something involving standing up and twistin' and turnin' is what I'm looking for, I suppose - I tried inventing some moves of my own, but it didn't feel "right."

FWIW, I'm more or less fit enough to do any nature or intensity of exercise you can suggest, so long as it doesn't involve moving my legs and hips too much.

Disclaimer: I'll ask my doc for clearance tomorrow before I attempt to perform any of your suggestions.

posted by softsantear to health & fitness (8 comments total)

How about swimming laps?

You could also use an ergometer for upper-body cardio if you can find one, but swimming would be overall better.

Also, you can use an assortment of resistance bands while standing or sitting in a chair. I can't find the name of the equipment right now, but my gym has a couple of machines that involve pulleys that can be moved to any myriad of positions - basically letting you do just about ANY exercise you could do with weights but while standing up instead.
posted by matty at 6:33 PM on August 10, 2008

For swimming, you can get floating devices that you put between your legs. That way you won't have to move your legs and hips, but you still get good upper body exercise.
posted by minus zero at 6:47 PM on August 10, 2008

Getting into the pool could lead to a nasty infection if your wound is still in the early stages of healing. Be careful.
posted by Daddy-O at 6:53 PM on August 10, 2008

What about just walking around your neighborhood? I can't really tell if you're saying that any leg movement is terrible, or just leg movement while seated/laying down, but if you can tolerate an hour or 90 minutes of walking a day, that might be a good way to keep your whole body healthy - and you don't need any extra equipment. You can also now get (beta) walking directions on Google Maps, which is nice for exploring your area a little more.
posted by mdonley at 7:42 PM on August 10, 2008

I would get a pair of dumbbells and do butterfly type exercises with them. You could do them both standing up and perhaps by getting a bench and laying down on it on your stomach so your arms can swing free. You can also do reverse situps in this position.
posted by rhizome at 8:12 PM on August 10, 2008

Don't do anything. Heal up a little bit more. Eat a little bit less. This type of question is often unanswerable. You really cannot "not" include a part of your body in working out. Your body is a whole that really doesn't work as well one a part of it is non-functioning or isolated. Sorry, but this would be my best answer. But if I were inclined to tell you to do something, it would be to walk. To try to maintain a modicum of movement.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:08 AM on August 11, 2008

It depends what you mean by "torso". If you mean "stomach" you should know that targeting your gut will not help you lose the weight off your gut. You can't choose where you burn fat. Also, it's hard to do "core" work without using your hips and ass muscles.

You can use dumbells to do this and this. But because you're off-balance, they work "core" muscles as well as arms -- so they might bother your injury, I can't really say. Otherwise, you can do the exercises with two dumbells at once, so you're not off-balance -- then they work "core" less and more your upper torso and arms. Also you can do pullups with a pullup bar for your upper back. And maybe you could try pushups? But again, I'm not sure what you're looking for -- all exercise involves your "torso" one way of another.
posted by creasy boy at 2:10 AM on August 11, 2008

Looks like I have much to learn yet about fitness. Thanks, all.
posted by softsantear at 10:06 PM on August 11, 2008