How to Give Yourself an Intense Workout Even if You Have Kidney Stones

Exercising and keeping yourself in good shape is important. However, keeping it up might be a big challenge if you have kidney stones, since the movement of your body may cause pain on certain occasions. The best way to go around it is to engage yourself in low-intensity exercises.

While low intensity exercises are good for your health and should not be ignored, they have their limitations. They don't engage the fast twitch muscles and may not do much when it comes to improving and maintaining one's cardiovascular endurance. Also, intense training has immediate benefits when it comes to preventing diseases that are caused by infection. If you are an athletic person, going full time with low intensity workouts would make you lose your athletic capabilities. 

Is walking still the best exercise?

Walking is probably the most convenient option to those who are experiencing mild to severe cases of kidney stones. The good thing about walking is you can do it at any time of the day assuming that it's not raining. If your job requires you to travel by foot, then you won't have to think about exercising as far as general health is concerned. Now, if your goal is to lose weight and you're already walking regularly, then you only have to think about improving your diet.

Since walking is classified as a low-intensity exercise, it may not be ideal for those who want to develop and maintain strength and power in its basic state. Personally, I only see walking as a means to maintain health. It's important but not helpful in maintaining athletic capabilities.

Before Anything Else

Before trying any kind of exercise, it's always a good idea to tell your doctor about it. Keep in mind that the exercises presented here are suggestions. There might be better options out there.

Increasing the Intensity

Considering how kidney stones manifest, engaging yourself in traditional high intensity training may not be a good idea. It may cause pain, especially for those who are already set to undergo kidney stone surgery. You won't have to worry much about it if your kidney stones are small enough to pass, but they might cause pain occasionally and exercising with high intensity can make it worse. Hence, you have to increase the intensity of your workout in a different manner.

Intense Cardiovascular Stimulation By Walking

You don't have to run as fast as you can or jog for miles just to get your heart rate pumping at its peak. You can actually achieve it by walking. To make it work, you need to add a twist. You have to hold your breath for a few seconds after the exhalation. Do it repeatedly for 5-10 minutes. Feel free to take a break, so you don't put too much stress on your body.

The main objective is to produce a shortage of oxygen, which is normally done by increasing the intensity of your physical activity. You can achieve the same thing with a low intensity exercise by holding your breath after the exhalation.

You can start with a 3-5 second breath hold and even shorten it to 2 seconds depending on your fitness level . There may be times when you have to stop after holding your breath, so you can catch your breath. Feel free to take a 5-10 second break after holding your breath, but you can take your time. Don't strain yourself too much.

Since you are engaged in a low-intensity activity, the chance of experiencing pain from your kidney stones is lower compared to conventional training.

Isometrics

Isometric exercises or isometrics are exercises that involve applying muscular force or tensing your muscles without moving your body. The easiest example I can give is when you are pushing a wall. While the pushing force doesn't make the wall and your limbs move, your muscles are at a stimulated state.

With the lack of movement, you can make your muscles work without increasing the chances of making the pain caused by those kidney stones worse.

Overcoming Isometrics

These exercises involve applying force on immovable objects such as the wall or permanently mounted steel bars. This type of isometrics lets you apply maximum force without the risk of getting injured. Since you are applying maximum force, your fast twitch muscles are also stimulated.

This may not be ideal for those who want to build muscles, but it's good for building and maintaining power.

There are also other types of isometrics, which are yielding and static tension. In my opinion, Overcoming isometrics is ideal when it comes to achieving a high intensity training effect. I'll probably make another post about them in the future. Here are some overcoming isometrics to help you get started.

Wall Push

This may be the simplest form of isometrics, since all you need to do is push the wall as if you're trying to make it move. If it's your first time, put a little limit on the force you are putting, so your body can easily get accustomed to the exercise. To do a set, push, and then keep the force up for 6-12 seconds before releasing. You can shorten the time if it's too much for you. Take a 30 second to a one-minute rest before doing the next set. Doing three sets is a common practice, but you can do between one and two sets according to your fitness level.

Wall Push For The Legs

To do this, lean your back against the wall and then push your legs as if you are moving the wall. You might find it easier to just push with one leg on each set. To each his own.

Pulling a Pole

This is mainly for the biceps and other muscles associated with pulling movement. While there are other more efficient forms of isometrics for this, I'd recommend this for those who don't have any specialized equipment. To get started, stand on a pole or any immovable structure that you can pull. Hold on to it with one hand. Lean back and pull the pole. While you can do this with both hands on the pole, I think you can get a better muscular engagement with one hand.