Exercise suggestions, please?

[Sparky10]

My body has a weird shape. It is thin except for the flab that is attached to just below my bustline to just above my, um...ok, a couple inches below my belly button.

I don't eat much bread and don't care for rice. It's an unnecessary filler, in my book. I eat as much fresh food as possible, and as little canned or packaged.

When suggesting these exercises, please keep in mind I may have to adapt them to accommodate my leg weakness and poor balance.

I jog (slowly) 4/10th of a mile several days a week, often carrying 3 lb weights. I'm very active all day; fixing fence, yard work, going up and down stairs...but nothing really helps to get rid of this flab!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Hey Sparky,

It sounds like you might need to focus on toning your core a little more. Although I would think that fence mending and yard work are good core builders, maybe they're just not enough. And of course, building a stronger core could very well help your balance. This article looked pretty good.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/a.../a/NewCore.htm
Of the exercises they mention towards the end of the article, you might try the plank exercise, push ups from your knees, the back bridge and supermans for starters. If you can do any of the other ones without putting yourself out of commission for the next week or so, more power to you. Yoga can also be a good core toning workout, in fact you will likely see a number of the same exercises in a yoga book or on a yoga CD.

I've always envied your ability to jog, no matter how slow, particularly since I couldn't run out of the way of a slow bus. But again, maybe you need a little more cardiovascular exercise to help tone things up. Of course, I'm kind of partial to the bicycle, whether stationary, on a trainer or however you do it, but you can also get your heart rate up with an elliptical machine, a treadmill, swimming or probably a lot of other things including jogging if you can eventually sustain it long enough.

I'm about to start a core building and weight training program myself. I'll probably report in occasionally over on "MSers Training in 2013". Feel free to join me, we can share core exercises we find.

Larry

[ActiveMSers]

Sparky, some bodies are just funky. For health and MS, AMF is spot on--core work is great. But for losing that flab, targeting isn't that effective. Basically, you'll have to decrease calories and increase physical exertion, which is a hell of a lot easier said than done. Me personally, I'd work on aerobic conditioning to get max calorie burn. Do it seated if you have to--lots of punches, chops, drumming, anything. And ditch stuff from your diet you don't really need, like cream in your coffee. But don't cut out dessert, just shrink it. We all need at least a little sweet in our life. And one more thing: patience. It will take time....