Easing Into the New Better Week--Revised

Edit: I've changed my plans a lot this week again as I work on healing and getting back to normal. My knee was complaining a lot last night after yesterday's workout and today my shoulder and arm are hurting again (I guess from the fall down the stairs last week, not sure). So today I'm going to clean house (it really needs it) and not work out.

Whew, after last week's many small dramas and petty problems, I'm ready to get back on track this week. My body is feeling a little better like I'm recovering some from the tumble down the stairs (well, more like a slide down the stairs--didn't tumble head over feet or anything). I'm still going to take it a bit easy this week. I will have to do all my physical therapy at home this week because my boys will be off school all week so I won't have free time for appointments.

So here's my lazy week:
SUNDAY.............Low Impact Step................4-Day Split: LIS cardio (Cathe)
MONDAY............Upper Body Weights..........Did my own upper body workout
TUESDAY...........Dance Aerobics...................half of 3-2-1 Dance (Petra Kolber) + 3 combo premix of Advanced Step Challenge 2 (Amy Bento)
WEDNESDAY.....Rest/Housework.................Cleaning house
THURSDAY........Cardio & Upper Weights.....Low Impact Circuit premix (Cathe)
FRIDAY...............Kickboxing..........................Killer Kicks (Violet Zaki)
SATURDAY.........Upper Body Weights...........Get Ripped & Chiseled upper & core (Jari Love)
SUNDAY..............Low Impact Step.................PK Grooves (Petra Kolber)

Easing Into the New Better Week--Revised

Edit: I've changed my plans a lot this week again as I work on healing and getting back to normal. My knee was complaining a lot last night after yesterday's workout and today my shoulder and arm are hurting again (I guess from the fall down the stairs last week, not sure). So today I'm going to clean house (it really needs it) and not work out.

Whew, after last week's many small dramas and petty problems, I'm ready to get back on track this week. My body is feeling a little better like I'm recovering some from the tumble down the stairs (well, more like a slide down the stairs--didn't tumble head over feet or anything). I'm still going to take it a bit easy this week. I will have to do all my physical therapy at home this week because my boys will be off school all week so I won't have free time for appointments.

So here's my lazy week:
SUNDAY.............Low Impact Step................4-Day Split: LIS cardio (Cathe)
MONDAY............Upper Body Weights..........Did my own upper body workout
TUESDAY...........Dance Aerobics...................half of 3-2-1 Dance (Petra Kolber) + 3 combo premix of Advanced Step Challenge 2 (Amy Bento)
WEDNESDAY.....Rest/Housework.................Cleaning house
THURSDAY........Cardio & Upper Weights.....Low Impact Circuit premix (Cathe)
FRIDAY...............Kickboxing..........................Killer Kicks (Violet Zaki)
SATURDAY.........Upper Body Weights...........Get Ripped & Chiseled upper & core (Jari Love)
SUNDAY..............Low Impact Step.................PK Grooves (Petra Kolber)

Easing Into the New Better Week--Revised

Edit: I've changed my plans a lot this week again as I work on healing and getting back to normal. My knee was complaining a lot last night after yesterday's workout and today my shoulder and arm are hurting again (I guess from the fall down the stairs last week, not sure). So today I'm going to clean house (it really needs it) and not work out.

Whew, after last week's many small dramas and petty problems, I'm ready to get back on track this week. My body is feeling a little better like I'm recovering some from the tumble down the stairs (well, more like a slide down the stairs--didn't tumble head over feet or anything). I'm still going to take it a bit easy this week. I will have to do all my physical therapy at home this week because my boys will be off school all week so I won't have free time for appointments.

So here's my lazy week:
SUNDAY.............Low Impact Step................4-Day Split: LIS cardio (Cathe)
MONDAY............Upper Body Weights..........Did my own upper body workout
TUESDAY...........Dance Aerobics...................half of 3-2-1 Dance (Petra Kolber) + 3 combo premix of Advanced Step Challenge 2 (Amy Bento)
WEDNESDAY.....Rest/Housework.................Cleaning house
THURSDAY........Cardio & Upper Weights.....Low Impact Circuit premix (Cathe)
FRIDAY...............Kickboxing..........................Killer Kicks (Violet Zaki)
SATURDAY.........Upper Body Weights...........Get Ripped & Chiseled upper & core (Jari Love)
SUNDAY..............Low Impact Step.................PK Grooves (Petra Kolber)

More Physical Therapy....

I went back to physical therapy today, this time for my knees. We did a lot of exercises and this time they used the electric muscle stimulation machine on my knees. I also got some advice on my workouts. I told him how I tried the MatStep in a step workout on Saturday, but still got knee pain, perhaps because of the high impact. I said that I could try doing just low impact as well as using the MatStep instead of a step, and he said to go ahead and do that, but to stop if anything hurt. He also said I could do kickboxing unless I started to have pain. However, I can't do lower body work except for what he assigns me. He's going to start fairly easy and then work up slowly to stretch and strengthen my legs and hips so that I walk in a way that doesn't make my knees go all wonky (I'm simplifying and summarizing here).

So I came home and did Cathe's 4-Day Split: Lower Intensity Step workout. It's low impact, and I also used the MatStep. I tried to put a lot of oomph in it but I still burned a lot less calories than usual without my step. It was fun, anyway. I tried to make up for the less intense cardio by cranking my weights up a notch. LIS has weight work for shoulders and calves, so I skipped the calves but went heavier for shoulders, which felt tough but great. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Tracey Staehle's High Intensity Step Mix 2, but I guess I'll be using the MatStep and modify for lower impact.

I'll be adding some more rotations soon, so come back later today or tomorrow for those.

More Physical Therapy....

I went back to physical therapy today, this time for my knees. We did a lot of exercises and this time they used the electric muscle stimulation machine on my knees. I also got some advice on my workouts. I told him how I tried the MatStep in a step workout on Saturday, but still got knee pain, perhaps because of the high impact. I said that I could try doing just low impact as well as using the MatStep instead of a step, and he said to go ahead and do that, but to stop if anything hurt. He also said I could do kickboxing unless I started to have pain. However, I can't do lower body work except for what he assigns me. He's going to start fairly easy and then work up slowly to stretch and strengthen my legs and hips so that I walk in a way that doesn't make my knees go all wonky (I'm simplifying and summarizing here).

So I came home and did Cathe's 4-Day Split: Lower Intensity Step workout. It's low impact, and I also used the MatStep. I tried to put a lot of oomph in it but I still burned a lot less calories than usual without my step. It was fun, anyway. I tried to make up for the less intense cardio by cranking my weights up a notch. LIS has weight work for shoulders and calves, so I skipped the calves but went heavier for shoulders, which felt tough but great. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Tracey Staehle's High Intensity Step Mix 2, but I guess I'll be using the MatStep and modify for lower impact.

I'll be adding some more rotations soon, so come back later today or tomorrow for those.

More Physical Therapy....

I went back to physical therapy today, this time for my knees. We did a lot of exercises and this time they used the electric muscle stimulation machine on my knees. I also got some advice on my workouts. I told him how I tried the MatStep in a step workout on Saturday, but still got knee pain, perhaps because of the high impact. I said that I could try doing just low impact as well as using the MatStep instead of a step, and he said to go ahead and do that, but to stop if anything hurt. He also said I could do kickboxing unless I started to have pain. However, I can't do lower body work except for what he assigns me. He's going to start fairly easy and then work up slowly to stretch and strengthen my legs and hips so that I walk in a way that doesn't make my knees go all wonky (I'm simplifying and summarizing here).

So I came home and did Cathe's 4-Day Split: Lower Intensity Step workout. It's low impact, and I also used the MatStep. I tried to put a lot of oomph in it but I still burned a lot less calories than usual without my step. It was fun, anyway. I tried to make up for the less intense cardio by cranking my weights up a notch. LIS has weight work for shoulders and calves, so I skipped the calves but went heavier for shoulders, which felt tough but great. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Tracey Staehle's High Intensity Step Mix 2, but I guess I'll be using the MatStep and modify for lower impact.

I'll be adding some more rotations soon, so come back later today or tomorrow for those.

No More Step Aerobics?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon today to ask him about my freaky crackling knees. The bad news is he said I had to stop doing step aerobics. It turns out my kneecaps are funky--move around a lot and look very off-center in the X-rays. He said I'm just built that way, so it's not a result of injury or whatever. Also, my quads have been weakened since the ankle injury (when I stopped doing much cardio and lower body work for a long while) and that made my already weak, wobbly knees even worse.

I asked him about exercise and what kind I do and he immediately said I should quit stepping. Like for good. I suggested a 4" step. Nope. And to quote him "step aerobics are the worst thing you could do with those knees." So I'm pretty bummed because stepping is absolutely my favorite form of exercise.

Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for physical therapy. I was just seeing a PT recently for my ankle, so I can go back to the same one. It's a pain to schedule it in during the brief time my youngest is at nursery school (just 3 mornings a week) but I guess I'll have to do it again. He did say I could do other things like biking. And I told him I did kickboxing and at least he didn't nix that. I have gone ahead and ordered a MatStep which is a mat the same size as a step, so you can do step aerobics on a flat service (which would be basically like floor aerobics, but around the mat).

In other health news, I got my blood work results back today and it all came out normal, which is pretty much what I expected. However, I was again pretty tired yesterday and today--maybe just because I really cranked up the workouts this week and wore myself out.

Tomorrow I still plan to do my 4-Day Split Higher Intensity Step workout, maybe as a last hoorah for stepping. At least the cardio is fairly short and I can modify a little lower impact. I also just realized that I have it planned again for Monday, which seems awfully quick to do heavy weights for chest and back again, so I'm going to shuffle the rotation around in anticipation of being sore after tomorrow. I'll then put that on my Rotation Ideas document and repost it to the Fitness Tools Available for Download page.

No More Step Aerobics?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon today to ask him about my freaky crackling knees. The bad news is he said I had to stop doing step aerobics. It turns out my kneecaps are funky--move around a lot and look very off-center in the X-rays. He said I'm just built that way, so it's not a result of injury or whatever. Also, my quads have been weakened since the ankle injury (when I stopped doing much cardio and lower body work for a long while) and that made my already weak, wobbly knees even worse.

I asked him about exercise and what kind I do and he immediately said I should quit stepping. Like for good. I suggested a 4" step. Nope. And to quote him "step aerobics are the worst thing you could do with those knees." So I'm pretty bummed because stepping is absolutely my favorite form of exercise.

Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for physical therapy. I was just seeing a PT recently for my ankle, so I can go back to the same one. It's a pain to schedule it in during the brief time my youngest is at nursery school (just 3 mornings a week) but I guess I'll have to do it again. He did say I could do other things like biking. And I told him I did kickboxing and at least he didn't nix that. I have gone ahead and ordered a MatStep which is a mat the same size as a step, so you can do step aerobics on a flat service (which would be basically like floor aerobics, but around the mat).

In other health news, I got my blood work results back today and it all came out normal, which is pretty much what I expected. However, I was again pretty tired yesterday and today--maybe just because I really cranked up the workouts this week and wore myself out.

Tomorrow I still plan to do my 4-Day Split Higher Intensity Step workout, maybe as a last hoorah for stepping. At least the cardio is fairly short and I can modify a little lower impact. I also just realized that I have it planned again for Monday, which seems awfully quick to do heavy weights for chest and back again, so I'm going to shuffle the rotation around in anticipation of being sore after tomorrow. I'll then put that on my Rotation Ideas document and repost it to the Fitness Tools Available for Download page.

No More Step Aerobics?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon today to ask him about my freaky crackling knees. The bad news is he said I had to stop doing step aerobics. It turns out my kneecaps are funky--move around a lot and look very off-center in the X-rays. He said I'm just built that way, so it's not a result of injury or whatever. Also, my quads have been weakened since the ankle injury (when I stopped doing much cardio and lower body work for a long while) and that made my already weak, wobbly knees even worse.

I asked him about exercise and what kind I do and he immediately said I should quit stepping. Like for good. I suggested a 4" step. Nope. And to quote him "step aerobics are the worst thing you could do with those knees." So I'm pretty bummed because stepping is absolutely my favorite form of exercise.

Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for physical therapy. I was just seeing a PT recently for my ankle, so I can go back to the same one. It's a pain to schedule it in during the brief time my youngest is at nursery school (just 3 mornings a week) but I guess I'll have to do it again. He did say I could do other things like biking. And I told him I did kickboxing and at least he didn't nix that. I have gone ahead and ordered a MatStep which is a mat the same size as a step, so you can do step aerobics on a flat service (which would be basically like floor aerobics, but around the mat).

In other health news, I got my blood work results back today and it all came out normal, which is pretty much what I expected. However, I was again pretty tired yesterday and today--maybe just because I really cranked up the workouts this week and wore myself out.

Tomorrow I still plan to do my 4-Day Split Higher Intensity Step workout, maybe as a last hoorah for stepping. At least the cardio is fairly short and I can modify a little lower impact. I also just realized that I have it planned again for Monday, which seems awfully quick to do heavy weights for chest and back again, so I'm going to shuffle the rotation around in anticipation of being sore after tomorrow. I'll then put that on my Rotation Ideas document and repost it to the Fitness Tools Available for Download page.