Atoq wrote:I have also noticed that the stress function is very reliable, this evening I did some exercise at home and even if the weights are not so heavy (3 kg) it is a good mainteinance traning in addiction to the one at the gym.
I have also started to run to work and alternate it to the biking. Even if it is a short distance (5 km), it is quite up and down and with the backpack is an effort at 8.00 am. But my watch told me that the performance level was poor. I thought they were only giving positive feedback!
Claudia
You're officially one of the extreme workout folks on this board. I only know a few people that bike to work. There are several walkers but they live within two miles. I tried bicycling to work once and my area is not particularly safe for bicyclists even though many do ride here. I have to take it easy with getting back for now as I have a fair amount of work pressure. I am going to take some time off but it still usually means working an hour or two a day in the evening.
A few questions for those that had reversals: how long does it take for the ostomy site to really heal? The skin grew back over the opening but I assume that the darkish looking skin is still underneath and that the layers will eventually shed as new skin eventually forms underneath it. This could potentially take a lot of time. It's sometimes a little itchy or feels like a bit of tugging when I move around and it would be nice when it's back to normal again but I don't expect this for a long time as skin layers take a while to grow.
The other question: when can you do abs work? I am using the machine with 60 pounds but that's a lot less than doing a crunch. I will gradually increase the resistance on the abs machine but would like to be able to do a full complement of abs exercises without working about injury. It may be that I should talk to a consultant on injury recovery and exercise and I have a referral from our fitness center manager (she had abdominal surgery this past spring). I've had several warn me not to rush abs workouts because of the hernia risk.
Update: I did some crunches (30) and I did feel something but it wasn't pain. It's possible that it's the skin that has grown over the stoma opening. I did crunches on a regular basis while I had the bag with no problems.
For those who don't know, the skin grows from below and above the hole and eventually covers what was there before (the hole and surrounding skin). The surrounding skin looked awful (dark color as if the skin was dead or bruised). So it looks like an oval with some scrunching on the ends. I know that the covering skin is just on top of the old stuff and that stuff should either get removed from the body or will slough off as outer layers of skin slough off and are replaced.
I do feel better that I can do crunches though I'm not going to go hog wild (before the cancer stuff and with the bag I'd do 200 of them in a session). So for the exercisers out there with an ostomy, how long did you wait before doing abs work and was there pain or funny-feeling stuff related to the ostomy? I used to use a crunch machine in my 40s and go up to 250 pounds and I did 60 pounds last week (starting at 30). I think that it will take some time working up to about 200 pounds - maybe a year as I'm going to be cautious. I DO NOT WANT to have to deal with a hernia. I know that I could just take more time but I've always found that having strong abs prevents a lot of injuries in other areas of the body and I miss that strength.
The other thing about doing crunches, planks, etc. is that they can be done without equipment which is handy so that I can do these exercises at any time or place where I have a clean floor or mat.