Weight lifting and exercise

I think I read a post recently where someone was saying weight lifting is good for Lyme? Before I got sick I really enjoyed lifting weights, but I haven’t for the past few years. In fact right when I got sick I was still going to the gym and would gain a bit of muscle, and then as soon as I didn’t feel well my body would shift to a catabolic state and I would lose a lot of muscle/ weight. I’m a bit more stable now and was thinking about joining a gym to do some light lifting, or even swimming. When I overexert myself physically it usually present as feeling dizzy and brain swelling, so I don’t want to do anything too intense. In fact the few times I’ve tried to run over the years it feels like my head is going to implode and I can’t get blood to my head. The following is dr Zhangs advice on exercise:

Exercises
1. Aerobic exercises are NOT allowed, not even low impact variety, until the patient has recovered.
2. Conditioning: work to improve strength and reverse the poor conditioning that results from Lyme, through a whole-body exercise program, consisting of light calisthenics and/or resistance training, using light resistance and many repetitions. This can be accomplished in exercise classes called "stretch and tone", or "body sculpture", or can be achieved in the gym with exercise machines or carefully with free weights
3. Exercise no more often than every other day. The patient may need to start by exercising every 4th or 5th day initially, and as abilities improve, work out more often, but NEVER two days in a row. The non-exercise days should be spent resting.
4. This whole-body conditioning program is what is required to achieve wellness. A simple walking program will not work, and simply placing the patient on a treadmill or an exercise bike is not acceptable (except very briefly, as part of a warm-up), as aerobics can be damaging and must be avoided.
5.*** Yoga, TaiChi or similar movements that move all joints in gentle motions will help alleviate pain in joints


What do people think about lifting weights with lyme and finding ways to do it without over exerting myself and hindering recovery? It may also provide some sense of routine as weight lifting was a decent part of my life before lyme. Last thing I want to do is stress my body more though.

That’s great to hear you are gaining weight again. I have had similar issues- my healthy weight used to be about 180 pounds and now no matter what I do or eat I can’t get above 160. I will give some light weights a shot and see how I feel.

I have been utilizing our Eliptical machine for many years.
I also do light weights for my arms - biceps/triceps.

Follow up with an Epsom salt bath.

Planning to do short bike rides to the tennis court this spring and hit a few balls.
It’s been awhile!

….. and can’t forget about swimming in the lake in the summer.

The best I've felt in the last 5 years was a couple years ago after I had emerged from a fog of several month's of high dose disulfiram and I felt well enough to join a local gym. Like yourself, I enjoyed lifting weights before I got sick. In fact, I probably made it too much of my identity. I tried not to be a typical "gym bro" but in some ways I probably was. I started light with weights and worked my way up. I started by following those guidelines you have posted. I eventually tried to get to a schedule of two days on ( 1 upper, 1 lower), 1 day off, two days on, two days off. This almost never worked out in reality as I had would have a flare or something. Some days I would feel good, pretend I was never sick, and push myself like pre-sickness. This was mostly a bad idea as I would then experience PEM. I found great progress in Disulfiram -> gym -> sauna after gym.

Aerboic is just a nasty little bugger. I have had aerobic PEM since this started. Back in fall 2020 I tried to start jogging again, 9 min mile pace, and I made it about two weeks, surprisingly, before I crashed. My last run was 3 miles and felt GREAT during the run. I had the lovely runner's high and was enjoying every second of it. A few hours after my run I knew I had messed up. You can feel PEM coming on. Your stomach starts hurting, energy goes away, pain increases, and you know you are screwed. I had a long flare after that complete with Bart marks on my back and gave up the jogging.

We have to remember that this disease damages mitochondria. Pre-sickness I would often push through fatigue. This can help build mental resiliency, but as mentioned by Garzie, this is suppressive to the immune system. When I am able to exercise, beyond walking, these days I try to do LESS than I know I can that way I don't send myself into PEM and I have a better chance at being active the next day. It's about consistency.

I've given up my dreams of chasing lofty strength, racing, athleticism goals. I'm getting too old anyways. For me, it's about recovery and health these days.

I also wonder if sauna use. Like slowly ramping up to very long high heat sessions over time could be a way to regain aerobic exercise tolerance. Just a random thought.

“ Swimming outside is great. My girlfriend finally started liking to take cold baths so we are going for quick swims in lakes, etc soon 😊“



Soon? Is it warm enough where you live?

I won’t be swimming in the lakes here for a couple of months…

i wrote posted this in response to a similar question so i thought i would add it here in case its of any further help

Exercise - what worked for me
1. avoid all aerobic exercise beyond brisk walking - sends me straight into PEM ( even if i run for 100yards !) instead focus on strength exercises - they help build the immune system - whereas aerobic causes the immune system to dip for 1-2 days afterwards. Burrascano in his famous guidelines gave the same advice

2. understand the concept of an envelope or window within which you must train - enough to give your muscles a signal to grow but not enough to overstress them or your system. This is the same as for healthy people and athletes etc - its just with PEM the window is much narrower - so you have to be v careful to train only within your window.

3. stick to fairly low reps - again avoiding the aerobic - generally less than around 20 or 25 is fine - I would say start with whatever weight you can comfortably do 20 reps with - or just bodyweight eg squats or press-ups - as your tendons etc will not be strong if you have been ill for years and you do not want to damage anything - using lighter weights and not straining will help build up strength without damaging yourself.

4. Do not train consecutive days - allow body time to recover. Especially important with Lyme even without PEM. Aim to build up to training 3 times a week - 45mins to 1hrs - all over workouts - but may need to start at 1x per week if your recovery is slow to begin with.

5. focus on doing more reps than last week and doing the entire workout in shorter time (more intensity = better for muscle stimulation) - add more sets as you feel able till you get to 1hrs or your desired workout.

6. Pick a time of day when you feel at your best to do it -it will not feel nice to begin with – so you will need your best bit of the day to help tackle it

7. make sure diet and sleep are conducive to recovery and therefore making progress–

a. general food quality,
b. sufficient high quality protein - approx. 2g per kg of body weight.

BTW, i could not train as my fatigue was too severe and PEM also, until i changed to eating a Keto wholefoods diet - my energy took a useful step up within a week or so of doing that.