Why does keeping fit hurt so much?

Sorry C is DH

He helped because he's an ex army PTI so knows a bit about exercise.

If you haven't done any exercise for a while, even the mildest effort hurts. Don't go for the "no gain without pain" as you can easily pull muscles and damage your body. Gentle exercise that builds towards something more robust is the way to go. Slight aches – but nothing that counts as real pain – that disappear within a few hours are okay.

If you have a local 'Zumba Gold' class I'd recommend that. It is dance type exercise designed for the more mature person and gets you moving but you can gradually increase the effort you put in. Most classes I have been to are great fun.

Do make sure any video you watch has a warm up section, or you could do yourself harm. And ideally there out to be a wind down section with gentle stretches. The same with walking start off slowly and finish off with stretches.

Good for you VQ

I have agoraphobia so going out alone is impossible. Also I had a PE teacher who's hobby was humiliating me and it's scarred me. I associate being sweaty and out of breath as being disgusting (her favourite word to describe me). I'm beginning to accept that it's just a sign that your body is working but I still find it difficult to be sweaty if anyone is around.

The videos allow me to exercise alone (I do them when DH is at work). That way I can sweat and get out of breath without anyone seeing.

My abs are achey in a tired but OK way not a damaged way.

I enjoy getting sweaty and then having a nice relaxing shower.

One of the videos I use has a poster up saying 'Sweat is fat crying'. When I start to feel disgustingly sweaty I think of that and it makes me feel better. Like you I also love the shower afterwards.

Beware! Exercise is by definition abnormal repetitive actions. These can be bad for you!!! - especially at our age.

Start very very small indeed. Don't try and break out in a sweat to start with - just get your body used to doing the movements briefly and slowly. It may feel as if you are doing nothing at all to start with, but that is fine. If you build it up very slowly you will eventually get a benefit - if you do it too quickly you could potentially do yourself a permanent mischief and be worse off.

i.e. - of it hurts, you are doing too much or doing it wrong - back off!

vampirequeen are you sure you couldn't try some little walks outside on your own? Starting off with very short ones? Big deep breath and all that?

I know it's hard. Really I do.

I've taken to walking much more these past few weeks and feel better for it,my pal does 5 mins walking then 5 mins at a slow jog and she has lost quite a bit of weight doing this and toning up her bottom half in the process she does this twice a day and I may decide to join her

First time at gym I could barely move for days afterwards and that was the assessment/ taster session
I did go back three times but hated it, so took up walking, literally to end of road and back then extended it so can now do 6-8 miles on a good day (and no, NOT every day, week or even month!) just when I feel like it.
I know Vampirequeen just how scary that sounds but even a walk to the end of the road twice a day might be possible? Then go a little further and so on (the boredom of doing it drove me forward!)
Good luck!

PS: wearing a pedometer makes it easy to see how far!

I can't go out alone at all. I know it's daft. I haven't been out alone since 14/11/2011. I can be that precise because that's the day I had a breakdown at work, came home and never went back.

I'm not pushing the exercising. The 2 mile walk is enough to up my breathing and heart rate without becoming uncomfortable. The abs and upper body are harder but I don't do more than I'm able. In fact today I spent more time laughing as I am totally uncoordinated and trying to follow the instructor whilst holding two tins of baked beans was, at times, hysterical. Also there was an exercise...a sort of push up..when I found that my elbows simply refused to bend. I showed DH when he got home and he said, "Didn't you consider simply changing the position of your hands?" Well of course not I was following the instructor to the letter

I bought two Alpine walking poles a year ago, and found that I never used them outdoors but that they are very good for encouraging me to walk around the house when the weather is too bad to go out.

If I am holding them, then I am in "walk mode" and I spend fifteen minutes a day by the clock or kitchen timer just walking briskly round each room in turn. I reckon that is the equivalent of about a mile. I would feel a bit of an idiot just walking in and out of rooms, but with the poles I am being purposeful.

Perhaps that would be a mild way of getting exercise.

I'd be careful vampire. Last autumn I was feeling ultra fit because I'd been going to the gym quite a lot. I went away for a couple of weeks and was determined to keep up my fitness regime so did lots of exercise in the living room of where we were staying...push ups etc and ended up with mild sciatica for ages afterwards

You could try vampire. Just let the panic wash over you till it subsides.

You cannot be Gransnet's resident agoraphobic for ever.

I have a problem going for walks these days. Ever since one of my knees gave out on me when I was in a town centre years ago and I couldn't walk properly for several months. I do still go out but there is a mental block that I have to overcome first. I'm ok going shopping etc it's going for a walk from a to b and back again that's a problem..as if there's a piece of elastic pulling me back to where it's safe and I have to pull against it [I know that sounds strange]. I use walking poles but can't when I'm walking the dog.

It's not daft vamp, is there a friend who would accompany you?
Or drag OH out for 5 minutes? I do wish you well x

You could try vampire. Just let the panic wash over you till it subsides.

You cannot be Gransnet's resident agoraphobic for ever.

Do you mean this to be as sarcastic as it sounds to me? Do you think I don't try? Have you ever had a panic attack that results in an ambulance being called? Have you ever passed out due to hyperventilating? Have you ever walked into the path of a car because you've dissociated and are no longer aware of where you are?

I go out every day with the help of my DH. We go to places we know I will feel uncomfortable in. I hate going into town so we go at least once a week. I hate crowds so we seek them out even going to Hull Fair last October. Just because I don't leave the house alone doesn't mean I'm not fighting it.

No. It was not meant to be sarcastic. I was hoping you might be open to some encouragement. I do know what agoraphobia is like. I always told myself that even if I did pass out - so what? I would come round again. I don't think you would be run over.

Anything is better than being a prisoner to panic.

I apologise for trying to help you.

I don't want to be nosy about medication that you might be on vampire, but several people I know take citalopram for panic attacks/agrophobia and it really does help. Alas, it's difficult to come off it once you take it but it's changed the lives of those people.

I didn't read jingl's post as criticism VQ but she has a point and seems to know what it feels like to be agoraphobic.

Do you really want to be like this for the rest of your life? Or is there a part of you that hopes or plans, one day, to tackle this?