Best Exercises to do With After an Ostomy

Working out is a huge hobby and passion of mine. I got into weight lifting in college, and have long since made it a part of my daily routine. I usually break up my lifting into a 5 day week, hitting different parts of the body on different days of the week. This is something helpful to do if you plan on working out a lot, and that way you can get a more total body workout over the course of a week. The hardest part of working out is always starting - getting to the gym, and actually putting in the work! It’s hard to get there, but once you’re done you will almost certainly be glad you went. For me, leg day is always the hardest. It is the least fun and oftentimes involves a decent amount of cardio alongside the strain on your calves, quads, and hamstrings. 

Ever since undergoing surgery to get a stoma put in my lower intestines, working out has changed a lot for me. For a long couple of months, I was only able to do even the most minimal workouts to avoid any further complications with my stoma and to prevent hernias from forming. It can be hard for a lot of people to get back into their regular lives after undergoing an ostomy, especially when it continues to affect your physical health and wellbeing. It’s weird, it truly made me feel like a different person for the first couple of weeks. After the first month or so of recovering slowly at home, I started to look for ways to exercise more often and continue my workout regimen in different ways; more specifically, how to adjust my normal routines to cater to what I was physically capable of doing with an ostomy bag and all that.

The good news is that it is still possible to lift weights after an ostomy. I spent lots of time having different conversations with my doctor to make sure I was confident on what things I was and was not allowed to do. I wanted to continue lifting, but did not want to risk further injury to myself and my intestines. I had to get my doctor’s approval to go back to the gym, and he advised me to take things very slowly; in short, I would not be able to do the same amount I used to, and would have to slowly add more weight and intensity with my workouts as I worked up to that level. The practitioners also mentioned to me that core exercises are very important, as people with ostomies tend to have weakened core muscles.

I spent a lot more time running, walking, and even swimming than I used to. Even though I can’t lift weights as much anymore, I still enjoy working out, and have found a new love for cardio workouts. Running and walking is nice because it is something I can do with my friends and family and it can even help me get in touch with nature and the outdoors. If you got an ostomy recently and you’re reading this, I hope you feel that things will get better and that you can return to living your life with relatively normalcy after you recover from surgery. I hope things go well for you, and I encourage you to start your own exercise journey!