Injured and miserable

auntiebev

Cathlete
Hi Cathe,

I am new to the forum part of your website but have been doing your workouts for about 5 years now and am totally in love with all of them. However, I somehow tore or sprained my calf muscle back in March and have not been able to do any cardio since then. I just had an MRI and was told that it is still very badly sprained. I am now just doing strength training and wondered how you stayed in such good shape when you had your knee injury last year? I work my upper or lower body in the morning and I normally did cardio in the afternoon. So now I either just work my abs on the floor or I do yoga. I read that doing yoga on the same days that you strength train will make you stronger. I'm not a huge fan of it but right now I'll take anything.

Any advice on how to stay motivated and in shape? I just want to be able to do step!!!

Thank you,
Bev Cramer:
 
Not Cathe here.
Ouch. Injuries are really annoying.

If you have access to a pool, swimming is good aerobic exercise - just don't kick. Do crawl and just let your legs follow along.

A number of Cathe's upper body weight work outs involve exercises where you sit or lie down. You can devise an entire upper body work out which you could manage despite the leg, e.g.
chest - flyes (you lie down on your back)
back - kneel and do side raises, lie down (I forget the name of this one, pullovers maybe?), hold bar over head with bent arms, lower bar to touch floor behind head, pull the bar forward maintaining arms in 90 degree angle (see Musclemax for this one)
shoulders - bent over flyes, front raises, overhead press
biceps - sit for various curls
triceps- sit for overhead press, lean forward for triceps press
You can do these in your fashion while watching a Cathe dvd for counts, music, etc.

For variety, you might do the above with light weights, many reps, lively music, it might get you breathing hard for some aerobic benefit.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw someone on a sort of bicycle where he was lying back, low to the ground and, instead of pedaling, was turning a crank with his arms. He was really moving. Don't know anything else about this. Google?

Maybe a second opinion on why it is taking so long to heal? Maybe some heating pads or light massage to stimulate blood flow to the injured spot?

Good luck.
 
Hi Bev,

Not Cathe, but I can totally relate... I am in the same boat as you and I know how frustrating it is! I sprained my knee about 2 months ago and when I went to the doctor about 2 weeks ago he gave me stretching and strengthening exercises to do, but they don't seem to be doing much. Sometimes I get anxious and try other non-step cardio but it has made the pain worse.

In the meantime, I've decided to do yoga and pilates and am eating cleaner than ever to compensate for the lack of cardio and strength workouts...

Best of luck and I hope you heal quickly!
 
Thanks for your suggestions. Great minds must think alike because that's pretty much everything that I've been doing!! I guess I just want somebody to tell me that some day it's going to be all healed and I can get back to normal. I'm starting to get worried and I can't imagine life without doing step or some of the other cardio workouts!!!!!

Have a great day.
 
Thanks for getting back to me. Isn't it funny that knowing somebody else is in the same situation makes you feel better? I try to explain to my friends why I'm so miserable about not being able to do cardio and they just don't get it.

I've also been doing yoga and pilates. Not my favorite things to do but I guess it's better than nothing. I read that Vinyasa yoga increases your strength so I've been doing that. I also read that eating more protein will make you heal faster. Have you upped your protein intake?

Good luck.
 

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