Leg Day?

[LJB]

I enjoy working out, but I dread leg day. I don't like it. I don't want to do it, and I'm a big baby about it. So... I just want to verify that I actually need to be putting myself through lower body workouts. lol I love step aerobics and kick boxing, and I do them regularly. I don't suppose standing on one leg to do a kick with the other, squatting for ice breakers, stepping up and down on the step, leg abduction moves (some of the step DVDs) and stuff like that hits all the same lower body muscles as a complete lower body workout do they? I dance and play pickleball too, so my legs get a lot of movement/exercise. My legs look great (well... if you ignore the varicose veins lol) - I mean... they're toned. Do I still need specific strength training for them?

I look at exercise this way: You do it because you either enjoy it, and/or you are after a certain result, which could be fat loss, a toned body, more muscle, be stronger etc. If you really dislike leg day, and you already have good looking legs with all the leg work from step and kickboxing (so you have the results without leg day), then I don’t see why you should do it.
I avoided leg day for years because I also found step, and all the ice breaker squatting and lunges in the cardio was enough, but now I do it about once a week because I find I need more strength in my leg and glute muscles to supplement and support the arthritis in my knees and ankles. However, if arthritis wasn’t a problem, then I probably wouldn’t do it either.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

I avoided leg day for years because I also found step, and all the ice breaker squatting and lunges in the cardio was enough, but now I do it about once a week because I find I need more strength in my leg and glute muscles to supplement and support the arthritis in my knees and ankles. However, if arthritis wasn’t a problem, then I probably wouldn’t do it either.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. it has reminded me of my own story as to how and why I decided to embrace training on a consistent basis. Health was the main reason. Type 2 Diabetes runs in my familly.
I have to be on top of the weight fluctuation. Then I discovered the power of building muscles to improve my metabolism. Few months after my body started to transform and the rest is history. Now my health is at it's best and working out is FUN as ever.

 

[Braille]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. it has reminded me of my own story as to how and why I decided to embrace training on a consistent basis. Health was the main reason. Type 2 Diabetes runs in my familly.
I have to be on top of the weight fluctuation. Then I discovered the power of building muscles to improve my metabolism. Few months after my body started to transform and the rest is history. Now my health is at it's best and working out is FUN as ever.

I have been back to exercising for almost 2 weeks, and my motivation (and abilities) just weren't there the first week. This week, however, I've been enjoying it more, and now that I know where I'm at and what I can and can't (yet) do... I've started to become more organized - planning the rest of this week's workouts and jotting down some ideas for next week. I'd been just sticking to Cathe's Basic 30 min. total body workout and the ab, lower body/upper body workouts. Ideas that others shared on this post helped motivate me and I spent last week doing one muscle meltdown a day with either a leg or ab work following it. It added variety and made things more interesting until I could figure out where to go from there. I think the fun factor is going to start kicking in for me soon, because with all of the ideas everybody gave me on how to add variety and get started, I have choices. Planning was always such a fun thing for me (when I used to work out regularly) and the power to have choices. When I had to start from scratch... my choices felt limited and it was bringing me down. I agree that health is a major factor in working out. My upper body is weaker than it's ever been, and I'm not as young as I used to be, so I need to get stronger as well as get back to being in good health. I didn't realize how bad of shape I was in, because I dance regularly and had no issues. When I started trying to do leg work though (lunges and such), my heart rate shoots up and my breathing isn't good. It explains why I'm having off & on problems when I'm caring for my adult son (disabled). Those things that I do for him that take a lot of power... they "wind" me. So, my health goal is to get stronger, increase/maintain bone density, and to be able to get healthy enough that I have the energy and air I need when something isn't "steady state" cardio. That last one is going to be the hardest and I haven't figured out how I'm going to achieve it yet, but back when I used to work out regularly... my body would tell me what I needed. I'm hoping that will start to happen as I get stronger and healthier - that my body will start to "crave" what it needs.

 

[Debinmi]

Good start Braille! I've been thinking about you and the need for variety with weight training. Glad you thought of the ICE Meltdowns. If you have the LITE Pyramid Pump, that might be another option for a body-part-a-day as they're shorter than the Meltdowns. If you have Cross-Train Xpress - that could be another body-part-a-day type workout - use lighter weights as appropriate. I think previously you said you had some Jessica Smith and KCM ...maybe see what you have for weight-training.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

I have been back to exercising for almost 2 weeks, and my motivation (and abilities) just weren't there the first week. This week, however, I've been enjoying it more, and now that I know where I'm at and what I can and can't (yet) do... I've started to become more organized - planning the rest of this week's workouts and jotting down some ideas for next week. I'd been just sticking to Cathe's Basic 30 min. total body workout and the ab, lower body/upper body workouts. Ideas that others shared on this post helped motivate me and I spent last week doing one muscle meltdown a day with either a leg or ab work following it. It added variety and made things more interesting until I could figure out where to go from there. I think the fun factor is going to start kicking in for me soon, because with all of the ideas everybody gave me on how to add variety and get started, I have choices. Planning was always such a fun thing for me (when I used to work out regularly) and the power to have choices. When I had to start from scratch... my choices felt limited and it was bringing me down. I agree that health is a major factor in working out. My upper body is weaker than it's ever been, and I'm not as young as I used to be, so I need to get stronger as well as get back to being in good health. I didn't realize how bad of shape I was in, because I dance regularly and had no issues. When I started trying to do leg work though (lunges and such), my heart rate shoots up and my breathing isn't good. It explains why I'm having off & on problems when I'm caring for my adult son (disabled). Those things that I do for him that take a lot of power... they "wind" me. So, my health goal is to get stronger, increase/maintain bone density, and to be able to get healthy enough that I have the energy and air I need when something isn't "steady state" cardio. That last one is going to be the hardest and I haven't figured out how I'm going to achieve it yet, but back when I used to work out regularly... my body would tell me what I needed. I'm hoping that will start to happen as I get stronger and healthier - that my body will start to "crave" what it needs.

Stick around.....What you desire is going to come back bit my bit. Just take slowly bit by bit.
One reasonable goal after another. You do not need to gain back 100% just enough to feel yourself again.

 

[Braille]

Good start Braille! I've been thinking about you and the need for variety with weight training. Glad you thought of the ICE Meltdowns. If you have the LITE Pyramid Pump, that might be another option for a body-part-a-day as they're shorter than the Meltdowns. If you have Cross-Train Xpress - that could be another body-part-a-day type workout - use lighter weights as appropriate. I think previously you said you had some Jessica Smith and KCM ...maybe see what you have for weight-training.

I did the Pyramid Pumps - one body part a day (the week before I did the muscle meltdown), and I did the Perfect 30 lower body one of those days as well as a couple of ab workouts. Then, I did the same thing with one body part a day (burrn sets from Xtrain) and added the same bonus lower body and a few ab workouts. I sprinkled in the foam roller workouts from LMR last week. I used a sledgehammer yesterday, so I was sore, but I squeezed in the Perfect 30 Upper Bonus - just to make sure I kept me commitment to work out. I'm planning on Classical Stretch and Lee Holden (Tai Chi) this weekend - hoping it will give me time to figure out where to go from here. I'm thinking about trying Total Body (from Cathe's beginner DVD again, and see if I'm able to do it all in one shot this time. If I can... I'd like to start having an upper body day, a lower body day, and eventually (when I'm in better shape) adding a total body day. I forgot all about Jessica - thank you for the reminder! I have been trying to get myself refamiliarized with my collection, and I spotted her walking and yoga videos - I think I have one or two strength focused ones as well - I just didn't do them back when I worked out, because I used Cathe's. I'll have to preview them - might be just what I need. I've been searching the 2 Lazy for the Gym blog for shorter leg bonuses, but haven't had any success. I'm REALLY bored with the lower body Cathe beginner workout, but I feel I need the weight bearing from standing for my hips (bone density), so I'm going to take your suggestion and see what I have with Jessica Smith. I'm horrible with acronyms lol - what's KCM?

 

[Debinmi]

Braille, you've been busy! Congrats on your progress!

KCM = Kelly Coffey-Meyer

Here's some more ideas. Use Cathe's Workout Manager to check the premixes of any Cathe Total Body for a Timesaver for Legs - they'll be about 20 minutes or so. Take a look at the BodyBlast Push-Pull & SuperSets. There's also the Barre/chair bonuses (aka Leg Conditioning) on KickMax, Lower Body Blast, Xtrain Legs, Great Glutes, Leaner Legs, & Killer Legs. Look at any chaptered segment of Cathe Leg workouts if there's no Timesaver, for example, you could just do the standing or floor segment on Butts & Guts, Gym Styles or XT.

(So funny you used a sledgehammer yesterday ... so did I this week... we put in a new mailbox post and the bag of cement had solidified so we used the sledgehammer to break it up ... )

 

[Braille]

Laughing because you used a sledgehammer too - you poor thing - I'm STILL feeling it! lol

I've never used the Workout Manager before, so I didn't know it could be used that way - thank you for the idea. That sounds more efficient than what I've been doing (reading blogs to try to find what I need.) Push-Pull! I think I remember that one, and if I'm remembering correctly... that might be just what I need. I own the others you mentioned, but I'm not recalling them in detail, so I'll have to take a peek-see at them. Thank you for the suggestions. I DO remember the barre/chair bonus on KickMax, and I remember that I don't like it - not one little bit. lol I don't have any of Kelly's workouts, but so far, I have found 2 Jessica Smith (thanks for the reminder) strength DVDs that I'm going to review. I moved to my new home quite some time ago, but things were hectic, so I still had boxes in my basement. The only ones I'd unpacked when I set up my workout room was Cathe. Going through those boxes (unlabeled and unorganized, because they were packed in a rush) wasn't something I'd been looking forward to, but once I started finding workout CDs here and there, it started becoming fun. lol I feel like I struck gold every time I find one. lol

 

[Debinmi]

...I've never used the Workout Manager before, so I didn't know it could be used that way - thank you for the idea. That sounds more efficient than what I've been doing (reading blogs to try to find what I need.)

Have fun rediscovering your workouts as you finish unpacking!

You could also just check the premix tab on Cathe Shop page for the dvd if that's easier. Almost all of Cathe's weight workouts have some sort of Timesaver.

 

[Debinmi]

...I DO remember the barre/chair bonus on KickMax, and I remember that I don't like it - not one little bit. lol ...

I didn't care for it either when it first came out and promptly forgot about it until I injured my knee last year and couldn't do traditional LB weight lifting ... so I rediscovered all Cathe's barre bonus workouts along with FitTower workouts. They allowed me to at least do something for LB besides rehab & spinning. They are not the same type of intensity work, but they do have a bite!

 

[Braille]

I didn't care for it either when it first came out and promptly forgot about it until I injured my knee last year and couldn't do traditional LB weight lifting ... so I rediscovered all Cathe's barre bonus workouts along with FitTower workouts. They allowed me to at least do something for LB besides rehab & spinning. They are not the same type of intensity work, but they do have a bite!

I did try using the premix tab on her shopping page, but some of them didn't have that available (older videos), so I think that workout manager will help me find out more about those. Yeah, "bite" is an understatement. lol More like DOMS! lol I also have severe varicose veins, and I've found that Barre work increases the swelling, while squats and lunges and stuff seem to reduce the pain and swelling - Those larger movements seem to improve my circulation. So does doing step cardio, but I'm not adding that to my routine until I get my strength up and a dedicated strength routine established.

 

[Debinmi]

I use the Workout Manager often to review premixes and chapters. If no premix is listed, it because it doesn't have them - some very old dvds don't.

The Cathe Nation - Workout Manager

The Workout Manager is an online application that allows you to track, schedule, analyze your fitness workouts and calculate your one rep max in an easy-to-use interface.

cathe.com