Leg injury-cardio question...

rachso

yesterday during my run my left calf tightened and started cramping (not charlie horse, but cramping still) as I was having Bob massage it out he said it was pretty tight and I prob have overworked that muscle (I've brisk walked/jogged everyday for a week or more) and I should prob take today off just to prevent injury. That you are supposed to have "rest days" for a reason. So I thought about doing the new exercise DVD I bought the other day as my cardio for today..but am wondering if dancing would cause harm on my calf/leg. Thoughts?

ChaseAlder

Do you have gym access? See if they have some battling ropes. Look up a battling rope workout on YouTube and do something like that. It's excellent cardio and uses your whole body, but you can stand in one place. I don't have ropes, but I work at a fire department so I use two 50ft sections of out of service 1 3/4 hoselines. It pretty much rocks.

rachso

Do you have gym access? See if they have some battling ropes. Look up a battling rope workout on YouTube and do something like that. It's excellent cardio and uses your whole body, but you can stand in one place. I don't have ropes, but I work at a fire department so I use two 50ft sections of out of service 1 3/4 hoselines. It pretty much rocks.

I will be starting a job on Monday that gives me free membership to their gym. So I will be joining one in just a couple of days--would rather get it free then pay!

DragonflyF15

If it's a jumping around DVD, probably want to skip it for now. Let the calf rest, massage it, ice it etc. Better to have a small set back now, than tear something and have long downtime. Might want to stick to bicycling, swimming, low impact for a bit.

BrianSharpe

Take a rest/recovery day.

You didn't mention how long you've been run/walking but 7 days straight (or more) is an overuse injury waiting to happen if you're fairly new to it. Your body goes through a whole series of adaptations to allow you to do this (everything from more capillaries to increased bone density) and they take time.

Find something non-impact and low intensity to do on your recovery days (swim, leisurely bike ride etc). Keep it fun and keep running injury free, there's nothing like pain to kill motivation.