Training with arthritis: can you still lift weights?

10 years ago, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Like most people who hear that word, my first thought was "that's an old people disease". And excerise, specifically strength training wasn't even a thought, or something that was recommended to me. I definitely thought I was never going to be able to lift weights.

It turned out to be the opposite. Training became the single most effective way I can manage my arthritis. It changed my body, then my mental wellbeing, and eventually my whole career. So when someone asks me the question, "can I still train with arthritis?" I answer from experience not just from a textbook.

Can I weight train with arthritis?

In most cases, yes. And the research backs this up. Strength training builds the muscles around a joint, and stronger muscles absorb more of the load that would otherwise move through the joint itself. Done properly, it tends to reduce pain and improve how the joint works day to day, rather than making things worse.

The important words there are "done properly". Arthritis is not one condition — osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis behave differently, and two people with the same diagnosis can have completely different joints, pain patterns and flare-up triggers. What works is individual. What does not work is copying a generic programme written for someone with healthy joints and hoping for the best.

Where do I start?

Start lighter than your ego wants to (I know). The goal in the first weeks is not to prove anything, it is to teach your body that movement is safe, and to find the exercises and ranges your joints are happy with. Progression comes after that trust is built.

Expect a longer warm-up than you are used to. Joints with arthritis generally respond better when they are warm and have been taken through gentle movement before any real load is added. Ten quiet minutes at the start of a session is not wasted time; it is the session.

Expect flare-ups too. They happen, and they are not a sign you have failed or that training is wrong for you. A flare-up is information: something was too much, too soon, or on the wrong day. You adjust, you recover, you carry on. Consistency over months beats intensity over days, every single time.

How do I train with you, without making my arthritis worse?

Everything starts with the free consultation. I need to know which joints are affected, what your diagnosis actually is, what you have tried before, and what any physio or GP has told you. I work alongside that advice, not against it.

From there, we choose exercises your joints tolerate well. We manage the load carefully, and build up gradually. Some weeks we will push. Some weeks we will maintain. The programme flexes around your body, because that is what living with arthritis actually looks like. It is never a straight line.

Online training with me

This is also where online coaching works surprisingly well. Your programme, your progressions and your check-ins all adapt week to week, wherever you are. You do not need to live in Edinburgh to train with someone who understands what a bad joint day feels like.

Arthritis does not disappear because you started training. I still have mine. Some days are harder than others, and anyone who promises you a pain-free life from an exercise plan is selling you something.

But I can tell you what I see in myself and in my clients: less pain on most days, more confidence in what your body can do, and a sense that the diagnosis is something you manage, not something that manages you. If you are sitting on the fence because of arthritis, send me an enquiry and we can talk it through. No pressure, no hard sell. Just an honest conversation about what training could look like for you.