121921c

Exercise for Quads

Aerobics are out. I might be able to swing my arms hard enough and for long enough to get out of breath, but I don't want to imperil my rotator cuffs by using them as hard as would be required. I might need them to push a manual chair when my power chair goes down. So I've found several low-stress exercises that build strength. The simplest is to hold my arms out straight to the sides at shoulder height. I started doing that for one minute at a time, and have worked up to 7.5 minutes. Some days I do it twice. My ultimate goal is 10 minutes, but I seem to have reached a plateau. The second exercise is the same, but I do it wearing wrist weights. These velcro on, so I can put them on and take them off without undoing the velcro. I have some that weigh 3 pounds, and some that weigh 10 (~1.3 and 4.5 kg). I cannot yet hold my arms up for very long wearing these. Less effective are some isometric exercises that involve pushing or pulling on parts of my chair. One can also loop canvas or elastic straps over doorknobs, but it's inconvenient to either leave these in place or to store them any place I can reach. So I have a strap but don't use it.