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Walking is a great place to start; it moves major muscle groups and improves balance. And it's free. You can add hand weights for upper-body workout.
Very gentle yoga (I take a seniors class) will help flexibility. Tai chi also helps balance.
Recumbent exercise bike (the kind with a backrest) is great to build knee strength.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to swim and am terrified of the water so any aqua aerobics are definitely out. I haven't been on a bicycle since God was a baby in Pampers so I'm not sure I even know to balance much less ride a bike. However, I do like walking and even hiking, but thought I should cool it since my arthritis diagnosis.
Should I try walking for short amounts of time to rebuild my stamina and knee strength then worrry about strength training and flexibility?
Believe it or not....I used to do crossfit before I lost my job and I loved it. They made modifications for my weight and right shoulder injury, but I really got a kick of using medicine balls and kettlebells.
Don't give up on aqua exercise just yet. Twenty years ago I could not swim and was absolutely terrified of being in the water waist high. I had someone recommend an arthritis aqua exercise program that was offered at the YMCA. Did not have to join the YMCA, just pay for the once a week 8 week program - so not expensive to try it. They have floatation devices you can use and the exercises were all done in the shallow end of the pool. I could exercise without pain and a few months later I was able to start regular land exercises. ( And if you don't own a bathing suit, some people taking the class were in tee shirts and shorts for the class).
Someone I meet at the classes was also terrified of the water and we got to talking about wishing we had learned to swim as children. Long story short, we asked the YMCA management if they offered a basic learn to swim class for terrified adults ( semi private lessons). They did not, but, found one of their instructors who understood the shear terror adult non swimmers have of the water who was willing to give the two of us semi private lessons. Two 8 week long once a week sessions and I was swimming just before I turned 50. Lost my fear of the water. Life changing experience! ( I took up rock climbing this year (terrified of heights all my life) and totally lost my fear of heights the first time I made it up the 34' high wall. Another life changing experience -but, that is a story for another day.)
The YMCA where I learned to swim actually got so many requests from adult non swimmers after non swimmers heard about our success that they started offering it as a regular class!
many pools are shallow where you can do it all without needing to swim......just enough to your chest to where you can do the resistance and buoyancy exercises - surely Arizona has pools like this - perhaps a YWCA or community center.....shallow end only, no swimming involved....good for joints (low weight bearing).
I'd recommend walking for starters. Alternate your speed in intervals for cardio, and stretch before or after for flexibility. Walking will work on your basic leg and core strength. To add to that, try doing planks for increasing time periods now and then throughout the day. To get your arms into your walk, do it on a dirt path and start using hiking poles - then add some hills and make it more of a hike if you have that option near where you live.
Which reminds me, there was an article I read that linked high mortality with the inability to rise unassisted from a sitting/lying position for older people.
Baby steps are what's needed for someone 5'3" and 250+. Walking just 10-15 mins down the block and back is a start. Do that for a few months while somehow reducing weight (that's a totally different topic).....
If you try anything too strenuous, you'll likely give that up in a short time. One can't undo a lifetime of sedentary overnight - and you can't expect to see results in a short while.
Gotta find activities that you find are fun, not monotonous - have a social component. Involve music somehow or a distraction (audio books). Get a friend to walk w/ you.
Walking is a start. Start off slow, then over time increase the length of time and speed. You have a lot of weight to lose, but the hardest thing to do is taking that initial step. It's important to realize that it isn't going to come off overnight. It requires dedication. Walking is a great, low impact exercise. The key thing though is as your stamina increases, up the speed. Good luck.
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