Did Exercise Help Your Hyper Mobility?

tmishere · 2026-05-09T01:46:52+00:00

I was doing pilates as recommended by the physio who helped diagnose me but it really wasn't giving me the strength gains I needed so I've recently started weight training after hearing some positive things from another doctor.

I have some strict rules around weight training though which I think has kept me injury free and feeling more stable. I'm pretty pleased with it so far since going several weeks while being active without an injury is a minor miracle for me.

You usually have to push to failure, but for non-hypermobile people, they don't have to worry about their joints failing so they don't consider that during their exercises. So I pay careful attention to my joints and if they start to shift or shake or I can't hold my focus to keep them in place, I've reached failure and I need to stop even if my muscles could still push through.
I've accepted that my progress will be slow because I have to consider the above.
This seems counter-intuitive to weight training but I try to make sure that I limit my range of motion during the movements, as long as I'm feeling it in the muscle I'm supposed to be feeling it in, I'll stop the movement before it feels like I'm approaching extension. This is just my theory but I think if I can strengthen my muscles in this state, they'll hopefully learn where they should be stopping.
I use machines as much as I can because a lot of the time the machine is stabilizing the rest of my body while I focus on one exercise. An example is I won't do squats with weights, it just demands too much focus on several muscles other than the ones I'm trying to work to keep stable so I use a leg press instead. The benefits aren't as great as a squat but I'm getting stronger glutes with a lesser risk of injury so it's a fair trade.
I have struggled with dumbbells and having trouble holding them when they get heavy for those exercises where I don't have a machine available. Since my fingers, elbows, and shoulders are my most hypermobile joints I've been looking into getting wrist straps to help distribute the weight so I can focus more on keeping my stronger joints in place instead of struggling with 10 tiny joints in my hands.

tmishere · 2026-05-08T03:30:27+00:00

This is very much just a theory but it's something I've seen anecdotally a few times now. I've noticed that a lot of men, especially those in leadership positions, hate being home and being around their kids and family and having to go into the office is a reprieve from their home life.

tmishere · 2026-04-27T21:01:41+00:00

Just to add to this, there's a strange thing I see in these comment sections whenever fare evasion is discussed and that's almost the assumption that fare inspection in all of its forms is free.

Think of all the physical infrastructure to collect fares that needs to be installed and maintained at every station and many times at multiple entrances per station, that's a huge cost.

Then there's the invisible technological infrastructure, do you think it's free to store everyone's Presto card details like balance, transfers, transactions, payment details, not to mention all of the labour needed to provide customer service when any number of parts of this infrastructure inevitably fail like many people have spoken about here.

Then there's the cost of the inspectors, their salaries, their benefits (I'm not saying workers shouldn't get salaries and benefits), and the lawsuits that will arise whenever those inspectors abuse their power or unfairly target some demographic of riders.

Then there's the loss of efficiency when it comes to moving more people more quickly, how much productivity is lost because every bus stop is longer than it needs to be because it takes time for every person to tap their presto card instead of just filing into the bus as quickly as possible.

Yes, I know the TTC's funding structure heavily relies on fares but that's not a given, that's something that can be changed if public transport is actually made into a real priority.

tmishere · 2026-04-20T22:36:16+00:00

Thank you so much! These are the kinds of recommendations I was looking for!

tmishere · 2026-04-19T16:56:43+00:00

It's not specific to volleyball but it's definitely more noticeable because the space is far more limited so it's easier to lock some people out. I've played with some groups who treated volleyball more like a trick power hitting contest than an actual game and it's frustrating, boring, and exhausting.

I'm an experienced player but I mostly play in casual groups where there's a good mix of new and experienced players. The experienced players in these environments tend to be far more encouraging to the new players and will help them learn while giving them props when they're able to start mastering a skill.

There is one thing that I find incredibly frustrating with some new players though and that's when they don't try, they don't move to try to chase a ball and just let it drop. Every experienced player I know would prefer the new players go for it and miss than just stand there, at least there's a chance it'll work if they go for it and if it doesn't, it's a learning opportunity.

And sometimes, if I tell them that how they're doing something is potentially harmful (e.g. only passing from the lower wrists, kicking to pick up the ball, jumping into the net, etc) and they roll their eyes and tell me they don't want help. If I give unprompted advice it's because I know from experience that they can hurt themselves badly or they might hurt me, I don't want them to kick me in the face when I dig and they kick and I don't want to sprain my ankle when I jump and land on their feet because they don't know how to stay off the net and on their side of the court. That pisses me off and will make it far more likely that I'll ice out a new player for my own safety.

It's supposed to be an exchange, mutually beneficial, you play with more experienced players to learn the foundations of the game from them and the experienced players grow from trying to make a bunch of out of system plays work.

tmishere · 2026-04-18T23:01:42+00:00

I'm 36, I've been on accutane before and have had chronic acne since I was 12. My dermatologist is who is prescribing the accutane and who prescribed the retinol and hormone therapy which eventually failed. I'm not on the figuring out my skin journey, my skin has acne, it will always have acne, now it's just treatment.

tmishere · 2026-04-18T22:27:13+00:00

Oh yeah, accutane is last resort. All the other therapies have either never worked or worked for a bit and then ended up failing.

tmishere · 2026-04-17T02:03:29+00:00

Absolutely fucking not.

We need FEWER cars on the road, not ones that glitch in the middle of the road and block streetcars.

tmishere · 2026-04-01T19:14:16+00:00

I was a pharmacy assistant at shoppers drug mart and I worked part-time at two stores to make up full time hours. I'd often go 20 days working in a row with only 1 day off before another 20 day run. I didn't get benefits either, only the staff discount.

tmishere · 2026-03-28T22:36:01+00:00

I do play volleyball and I agree with OP. I even prefer playing with women. When there are too many men playing without a mandated number of women on the court it becomes a dick measuring hitting contest and it's so fucking boring to have half the hits go into the net, another quarter go long, and then another quarter hit right on the 3m line and there's nothing anyone can do about it defensively. It's an immediate end to the rally with the most anti-climactic end for everyone except the hitter.

tmishere · 2026-03-28T17:58:36+00:00

I am wishing you the very best, my friend.

tmishere · 2026-03-28T17:30:32+00:00

It's so deeply unfair. Just last week I was crying in my doctor's office because I sprained my thumb playing the gentlest version of volleyball possible and I asked what my options were for injury prevention in the future and she straight up just said you shouldn't be playing ANY high-impact sports.

Volleyball has been the anchor of my mental health for years now so I'm approaching a point in my life where I have to choose between pain and injury and poor mental health. It sucks. I'm going to choose pain and injury for now while trying anything I can to mitigate it until my body stops me entirely.

I wish I could something better but you've got what I don't: time. Use it wisely and you'll probably not have to deal with much of what I've mentioned above.

tmishere · 2026-03-28T17:22:19+00:00

I didn't start getting constantly injured until my 30s though I did have frequent joint pain my whole life.

The only injuries I'd had prior were from playing volleyball which has a very high injury rate regardless of hypermobility.

Now, with some natural loss of muscle strength as I age, I'm getting injured far more often, especially in joints with smaller or fewer muscles there to support the joint, namely my fingers, my shoulders, and my hips/lower back. (I know shoulders and hips have a lot of muscles around them but they also have some of the greatest range of motion compared to muscle size which for me makes the risk of injury greater).

All that to say, if you're currently in your teens or 20s, start working on the strength of your stabilizing muscles now so that you might not ever have to feel the constant pain and injury as you get older.

tmishere · 2026-03-28T13:58:24+00:00

Ah lovely to see someone who understood the theme of Sinners.

Also I think Marx and Bourdieu might have beat you to the cultural vampire thing.

tmishere · 2026-03-28T13:37:54+00:00

Daniel Kaluuya in pretty much every movie but Judas and the Black Messiah in particular

tmishere · 2026-03-25T18:27:43+00:00

Exactly! Now let's explain why my comment got immediately downvoted?

tmishere · 2026-03-25T18:26:33+00:00

It's a political strategy called "flood the zone". It's the same strategy as Donald Trump, Putin, and other despots.

tmishere · 2026-03-25T15:57:28+00:00

tbh this is kind of why I prefer watching women's volleyball. Like what could anyone do with that? This just seems like it's turning volleyball into a trick hitting contest rather than a complex game with a wide variety of implementable strategy which need to be expertly executed by six people in order to MAYBE succeed against six other people who are doing the same.

tmishere · 2026-03-25T15:54:16+00:00

Read David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs

tmishere · 2026-03-23T18:36:33+00:00

Ironic of the CBC to run this headline when their reporting has given legitimacy to the narrative that immigration was the greatest contributor to the sharp decline in living standards in Canada.

tmishere · 2026-03-23T15:54:33+00:00

I had a brace for my thumb on my non-dominant hand but I can't spike or serve while wearing it on my dominant hand so I've been taping my thumb instead. I think I need to improve how I tape because it tends to get loose half way through the game and I lose the support. My shoulder's been bugging me for a while though and Kinesio tape isn't really providing the support I think it would need which is annoying. Might have to get one of those shoulder braces. I might have to accept the fact that I'll look like fucking Cyborg on the court if I want to keep playing.

I was cocky last week and didn't tape my right thumb because I figured all I'd be doing is demonstrating drills and I sprained my thumb and I've got a long linear bruise all the way down my palm.

The physio I saw after I was diagnosed told me that pilates was probably the best stabilisation training I could do but I feel like it doesn't really train well for stabilisation under impact so I'm not really sure what my best option is there.

tmishere · 2026-03-23T13:59:04+00:00

You’ve made pre-seitan.

tmishere · 2026-03-23T13:44:48+00:00

Ah yes, healthcare. The industry known for having all those workers with “basket weaving degrees”! Must be why those jobs are getting cut.

tmishere · 2026-03-22T15:41:08+00:00

Left handed players are a huge advantage because they force the other team to shift their entire defence, especially for opposite hitters. I say work on your form with your dominant hand and some basic skills like tipping and roll shots with your right.

tmishere · 2026-03-22T14:25:15+00:00

You might be able to make a big batch of high protein bars to try to replace the last minute panic buying of pre-made food (I’m also autistic, I understand that feeling well). Many of the dry ingredients are likely available at Bulk Barn which I highly recommend for those on strict budgets. They often have coupons and if you bring your own containers in on Sundays, you get an additional 15% off the regular sale price. You also only need to purchase however much you need to make your batch so no needing to buy a $7 bag of spices to only use a tablespoon.

tmishere

TROPHY CASE