Leg exercises while recovering from shoulder surgery

[marka 518]

Howdy,

I recently had rotator cuff / bicep tendon surgery, so I'm off the ice for a while.  Figured I'd get into the gym some for some leg strength / aerobic workouts since I can't skate, etc.  Half is just to have something to do, half is to not lose what little conditioning I have / maybe even get my leg strength improved.  I'm 53, in average to maybe slightly below average "old beer league guy" shape (5'10", ~200 lbs), and I've never really spent much time in the gym.  Until the surgery I was skating in games 2 or 3 times a week and reffing a couple nights/days a week.

So far I've just been using the old people sit down stepper machine for 45 minutes or so.  Steady state, heart rate around 115-ish to start and 130-ish by the end.  This has been more comfortable with a sling and easier than either a recumbent bike (knees get up into my sling) or standard bike (harder to get onto / adjust with one useful arm). 

I'm thinking of putting in some actual strengthening exercises, and I'm wondering on recommendations for maybe two or three simple things for a novice that won't involve the upper body or any significant risk of falling.

There's a couple leg press machines there... One that's 'upright' with a seat and you push the seat up with your legs.  Seems very low risk, but its a little awkward in use even with low (I think it said 84 lbs?) weight.  The other one is more like what I see when I google leg press machines, where there's a weight sled above you and you lie on your back and push it up.  I didn't try that one, so no real idea how it will work with me in a shoulder sling.

There's also just a wooden step / box thing.  I'm considering doing step ups or whatever with that, but I won't be able to hold weights and I'm a little nervous about falling if I'm doing it to exhaustion or whatever.

There's also a couple sit down "splits" machines where you can either drive your legs together or apart.

Anyway, I imagine some of you have done this and maybe even gone through surgery like this before.  Curious what you all think.

Mark

Edited March 10, 2023 by marka

[BenBreeg 488]

The step ups would be great, especially if you can move the box to somewhere there is something you can grab onto if needed, like another piece of upright equipment (power rack or similar).

Don't underestimate the steady state stuff for overall health, there are some strong guys who advocate lots of walking (for recovery but also for lower back health).

And lastly, rotate through those other machines.  If they are selectorized vs. plate-loaded that's going to be best I would assume for you.

I look at it this way, even if the workouts aren't the ideal you would be able to do with two good wings, the choice between being as active as possible and recovering on the couch is an easy one.  I have a bunch of nagging things going on (49 years old) and the one thing my ART guy tells me is "keep moving".  Learn to train around things.  The worst thing you can do at our age 😄 is just sit still waiting for things to get better.

[Buzz_LightBeer 959]

12 hours ago, marka said:

There's also a couple sit down "splits" machines where you can either drive your legs together or apart.

That’s a useful machine, I’d focus more on Adduction (coming together) than the abduction. 
 

you may find the most benefit from body weight stuff while your arm is immobilized. Things like TRX squats, particularly split squats with no weight. Once you can manipulate your arm you could toss in a very light weighted vest for resistance. 
some very low step ups and box jumps would be useful. 
 

Also focusing on exercises and stretches to improve ROM in the hip would benefit as well. 

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

Lunges (front, back, side), bulgarian split squats.  Some simple hip mobility, strength exercises like these:

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by MyBoxersSayJoe

[caveman27 208]

Step-ups is good. I do that as I'm recovering from my shoulder replacement. I just set up the box to it's lowest step up height, 20", and do 10 reps with one leg and 10 reps with the other leg as one set and do that 4 to 8 sets consecutively. I do leg press on a pin-selected leg press machine, not the free-weight plate leg press machine. Just use a machine you can do leg presses while holding only one hand grip effectively.  And I use the abductor and adductor machines and the calf raise machine for my leg workout.

Cardio-wise, I use a treadmill. Without being able to run, a walk workout doesn't challenge me cardiovascular-wise but it burns calories if I put in a long walk (an hour or more). You're probably going to lose some endurance conditioning, whatever level that was, while recovering.

Note, I only added doing lower body weight-resistance exercises after my doctor said it was okay. I was doing walking only for awhile. It might be different since you had a different surgery.

[Sputnik20 46]

Look up Kneesovertoesguy on YouTube. Some highly effective exercises that focus on muscles and mobility usually overlooked by most PT, trainers, athletes.