How to tone: arms/shoulders/back/legs on a woman??

[windytxmom]

I am doing Barre 3, light weights and building muscle back after being very ill and a couple surgeries. I have osteoporosis & arthritis, was on bed rest for a while so am very low tone. This is what my electro-cardiologist reccomended.

[nms9747]

thanks for the feedback, i appreciate it!

[wackyme]

Originally Posted by Kings Gambit

The smart thing to do is to seek advice from your doctor first to make sure that whatever ailment you have/had that required bone marrow transplant surgery allows for you to get to the gym.

Also, you said "....want to get back into shape" and ".......getting back to the gym...", so it seems that you already have experience, why seek advice from strangers on the internet?

Finally, it really would be foolish for anyone here to tell you what to do in terms of "Oh, do x sets of this, for xx amount of reps, then do this.....etc. etc. etc." because we dont know your medical condition. My advice to you is:

1. Seek approval from your doctor on what you can and cannot do.

2. Seek out a qualified, experienced, certified personal trainer, sit with him/her and go over what your doctors said about your condition and your limitations, then prepare a plan of action to get you back to where you were before.

3. Pay no attention to specific resistance/cardio exercise advice (i.e., sets, weights, exercise, etc.) given here until AFTER you have consulted with both your physician and your trainer.

Dont worry about costs of having a personal trainer, because you really only need to have maybe 5-6 sessions to get you started, and from your personal experience with health, you probably now understand that your health is NOT something that you should be skimping on because its really all youve got. I am confused though because one part of your post makes it seem like you have experience working out, but then another where you say "I dont want big muscles....." makes it seem like you have absolutely zero knowledge and experience in working out. Which is it really?

Lastly, I have personally trained people with conditions like yours so I do have experience. But, I ONLY trained them in Tai Chi, and ONLY after both they and I had conversations with their physicians. This includes people with non-hodgkins lymphoma, breast cancer, HIV/AIDS, etc. so I know what Im talking about.

Seeing your physician before working out is the best thing to do to avoid any complications... and also, must find a good trainer that can really help you with your needs.

[Idlewile]

I love Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones (aka NMTZ) for those areas; basically the entire video focuses on those areas as well abs/core. It's not easy at first but you can cut your number of reps in the beginning and work up to it. The toning I've experienced from that workout is pretty great.