Well, for me, it's how i'm feeling. If I'm having a good day...then I go balls to the wall. I try to get to the gym 4-5 days a week. I've been known to hit it 6! I do two hours of cardio on Saturdays when my schedule allows...classes...it helps me keep up my intensity. I spin for an hour on Monday, lift and do the ellip or run on Tuesday. Wednesdays are in the air right now since my daughter started playing soccer. But, the park where she practices has a lovely half mile track that I can walk. Thursday I try to get to spin for an hour or lift and do cardio. Friday I either take off or lift and do cardio. Saturday my classes and Sunday I really try to take off.

Sometimes I change it up and do two hours of classes on Monday if I take Sunday off. Wednesday when my husband takes my daughter to practice, I go to turbo kick.

I love to exercise. My knee is jacked right now...have an appointment today to see what's wrong with it. If they give me the go ahead...I'm gonna rock and roll with it.

I find that when I don't exercise, I have more discomfort than when I do. It's worth it to me. I releases all of my frustration and makes me feel "normal".

Do what you can when you can and don't be afraid to push it a little.

I was doing 20 minutes on a bike on a low level 3x a week and do a few resistance exercises on the off days. I really try to listen to my body and if I'm tired, I take it easier.
Love Hugs and Prayers :-)

I also find that when I exercise I actually feel better than when I don't. I try to get to the gym 3-4 times a week to do light weightlifting, and walk on the treadmill. On the days that I don't go to the gym I try to walk for at least 25 minutes. I stretch every day when I first get up.

No as much as I should, however I do walk when I can and do stretching exercises in the morning. Blessings, Kim

I agree with the others. It depends how I am feeling. I strive to get to the gym every other day but I always skip Sunday because that is my MTX day and I am lucky to get clothes on. :-)

At the gym, I do my "sissy" workout which is 20 minutes on the recumbant bike and then about 45 minutes of weight exercises my PT gave me. I am suppose to take lots of breaks between each rotation but I just don't have that luxury of time.

I also do stuff at home such as stretching and core exercises. I spend a good quantity of time in my yard doing weeding and such.

When I'm feeling well, I run 4-5 days per week and yoga at least once. When I'm having a flare though, that can decrease pretty dramatically, sometimes some light walking or biking is all I can do. I find it really helps me catch flares early when I am exercising regularly, I notice changes in my body sooner. Also, I feel better about myself when I keep active - I think part of the reason I get so depressed during flares is because I can't get in that endorphin rush from being physical!

I will be so happy when I get to where I can exercise. Just walking down and back up my stairs to go anywhere wears me out and causes me so much pain that I have become fearful of doing anything more and I am not a fearful person, but again I have to remind myself that it has been less than 2 months since I was diagnosed and I haven't been on anything but Prednisone until yesterday when I started the Cellcept again. I had taken it for only a couple of days before I was taken off and now I am back on and looking forward to recovery one day.

When were you all with PM able to start exercising on a regular basis and did you do aqua exercise of general exercise? I prefer aqua if I don't have to worry about infection.

Brenda~

I'm trying to remember. I do remember being super frustrated. I was diagnosed in June and I think I was released to do yoga and pilates in August. What was frustrating was that I felt like I should be able to do everything...but, was very limited. I did yoga three times a week and walked in the park a couple of days a week. On laundry days though, I didn't do anything but laundry. At the time, we lived in a second story apartment and the washer and dryer were in the basement of the building!

To be honest, I was never really released to do what I...emphasis in "I", until I moved here to St. Louis. My physician here says that there is no literature that supports the theory of weightlifting causing flares in PM patients. Now, I will say that I wouldn't "try this at home" if you're not stabilized on your meds. I had a physician back in Ohio who lectured me every time I went in because she only wanted me to lift soup cans. (not literally, but you get my drift). That never stopped me and I got to the point that I was doing it to prove a point to her. It wasn't hurting me. For me, it was a huge help because the gym is a stress reliever for me. I can take out all of my frustrations on the gym equipment and have some very intense work outs. This is what prevents my flares...not sitting on my ass, or taking a leisurely walk. BUT...that's ME. And it works for me.

So, I guess the short answer to your question is...two months to resume light cardio and light strength training. And probably a good year before I went balls to the wall with the weightlifting again. Not necessarily with the docs blessing. But, i'm not any worse for the wear either.

I do about an hour a day (streching, core exercising, stationary bike). My quads complain when I climb stairs but doing it a few times in a row and the discomfort goes away. Like the other posters I feel better if I do it regularly. I used to walk more but these days I can't seem to find the time.

im still new. diag in feb. okay to try exercise in april, did some aqua pt and yoga with a private instructor and for 2 to 3 months every time i exercised i needed a 2 hr nap. then it started to get beter. did well till july when flare had me nearly on the couch full time. now can do 3 times a week but it is taxing and exhausting. no power naps needed now but i still struggle to fold towels, or put the plates up into the cupboard. I miss the endurance of walking in shops and hiking. i c an do treadmill but it does not translate for me to the real life walking with starts and stops and such. ltreaadmill has some momentum an d i do better t here. i dream of a day i can do what wrknprogress does, but that still seems a ways off.

my goal each day is too use all my energy up so i do some yoga at bedttime. i kn ow if i dont i may not get that energy back tomorrow. it does not seem to add up. at my best i was doing 6 days a week of something but varried the activity day by day.

good luck to you, shawna

Shawn~

Believe me...I was saying the same thing four years ago. remember going on the TMA boards and asking when in the world I could expect to feel any semblance of normal. It was so frustrating. I haven't met too many people who do function at the level I do though either. I'm not sure if it's meds, doctors or that's just not the life they led before PM. I'm a pretty determined person...so, it takes quite a bit to keep me down. I still get frustrated sometimes because I was just touching on the potential I had to do really great things in the powerlifting world before I got sick. But, i'm alive, i'm healthy and doing great.

Be patient...you'll be looking back one day giving great advice to someone newly diagnosed too;)