Exercise is really important even if you are healthy, but the importance of exercise increases enormously when you have arthritis. If you choose to rely only on medications to combat your problem, you may be fighting a losing battle. Arthritis, as you may well know, affects the joints and makes movement really painful. But with exercise, you can defend yourself!

Ideally, you should hire a personal trainer who specializes in dealing with arthritic clients. Remember that exercises are not for you and that exercising without professional guidance can aggravate your condition. A trainer can develop an effective exercise plan consisting of only those exercises that will help you lead a normal life. Regular moderate exercise can help you gain more endurance, strengthen muscles, and increase joint flexibility.

So what are the best exercises for you to consider? As an arthritic, you can incorporate three different exercises into your fitness training regimen.

1. Flexibility exercises: gentle stretches can be very helpful in relaxing the joints. It’s a great way to get rid of stiff joints and prepare for more exercise. Nowadays, more and more coaches are advising the benefits of stretching exercises in a pool. This can help you reap the benefits of hydrodynamics.

To improve your range of motion, you can try exercises like tai-chi or yoga. Tai chi is really effective if you have knee osteoarthritis.

2. Resistance exercises: These exercises are conventionally known as strength training workouts. Your goal here is to increase muscle strength to reduce stress on your joints. Stronger muscles can also protect your joints from injury and help you go about your daily activities normally.

These exercises can be both isometric and isotonic. Isometric exercises aim to strengthen the muscles without having to move the joints. Isotonic exercises, on the other hand, require you to flex your joints while exercising. When done under professional guidance, both types can be beneficial. However, isometric exercises are safer if you have acute joint pain.

3. Aerobic exercises: these exercises can give you the normal life that you want so much. Arthritis restricts you as a fit person, but aerobic exercise can help you overcome that restriction. It is basically cardiovascular exercises such as swimming or cycling.

By including cardiovascular exercise in your fitness training program, you can make your heart, lungs, and muscles work together to help you live better. Do aerobic exercise to reach your target heart rate zone (optimal rate for your heart to beat). This shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes of workouts to accomplish. However, go slow when you have just started and increase the duration as you go.

A combination of these three types of exercises can help you fight arthritis. Your personal trainer is the best person to know how much of each exercise to do, and therefore you can change your fitness plan accordingly. Stick to the plan and stop arthritis from taking over your life. All the best!