I have been diagnosed with Ligamentous laxity. I have practiced numerous sports, but have hurt my joints repeatedly.
I need exercises, preferably using my body weight. I also want to focus on stretching. I don't want to build muscle, but want to be fit and supple.
I spend most of my day sitting (studying and programing). I cannot jog, because my knees are way to easily hurt.
This is a tough question, and I don't know if the Stack-exchange format is the best, but I am giving it a shot.
Quite frankly, your best bet is to consult a physical therapist so as to avoid injury. Outside of that, one physical therapy site recommends the following:
On a side note, I had a roommate who suffered from overly lax ligaments (possibly as a consequence of Marfan Syndrome) and he got a lot of enjoyment out of volleyball and frisbee, although he gets most of his exercise by working on his farm. He enjoyed the double-jointed parlor tricks, but mentioned that he gets joint pain really easily, which is why he never did any sort of running.
Don't choose my answer. Wait for more knowledgeable people. I just want to give some suggestions.
First, building muscle is very difficult. You shouldn't fear becoming bulky, it will not happen unless you do a very specific training and nutrition during a long time. Just exercise and forget about that fear (your muscles may become denser and harder in the long run, which is very nice, but not bulky).
Second, if you have loose joints, I don't think it is a good idea that you emphasize passive stretches. I think it is the last thing you want to do.
Third, I think it is a good idea that you focus on slow exercises with perfect form. That helps having total control over your movements and so you can avoid things that go wrongly out of place. It might be lifting weights or callisthenics, or Tai chi or whatever you choose, but always it would be something made up from slow movements where you can retain full concious control.
If you lift weights, choosing exercises involving many stabilization muscles around your joints is much better than doing isolation. With loose joints, you really need to strengthen your muscles around the joints because they must provide extra stability. For instance, people with ACL ligament injuries rely more on their quadriceps and hamstring muscles to provide knee stability. They prefer squats and single-leg deadlifts to other options. If you look at the model in the last link, you will see that she has to activate a lot of muscles around her knee in order to maintain equilibrium. That is the idea. Dumbbells better that barbells or machines, standing better than sitting, and so on.
Yoga is also a good option. It is slow enough so that you retain full control over your movements, and it also makes you quite concious about your joints. Tai Chi is also a good idea. Engage in a good Tai Chi class and forget about the rest. You can try to switch from Tai Chi to Kung-fu later, they are closely related. Designing your own training can be very frustrating if you are prone to injuries.
I hope this helps. In any case, I think the slow, controlled execution is the most important tip.
This is exactly what I have, I swam and played water polo through high school and always knew I had a bigger range of motion than others when I did butterfly. Fast forward 4 years and I dislocated my shoulder snowboarding and everything went to shit. My hips got Kinked out from overcompensating and then my back, quads, pecks, biceps all feel like they are knotted up so tight just trying to hold everything together.
I have tried everything for six months to fix this problem and as of 1 month ago, I subscribed to a program Calle gymnasticsbodies that takes you through slowly strengthening every aspect of your body, well worth the money, I have found salvation in this. Just thought I'd pass on the tip.
Oh and if you have muscles that absolutely won't release, foam roller, lacrosse ball, nothing works?... molly 😬 I swear it's the only way. Roll yourself out while rolling, it's the only thing that worked for me. But I know how bad it is..
