Lower Impact Cardio Circuit Training?

kelsiehoagland

I love the 30 Day Shred, but I find that it's killing my poor knees. I actually had to miss a workout today to recover. I'm only 21 years old, but I do have a disability (Muscular Dystrophy), so my joints aren't really the best. Is there any lower impact circuit training DVDs that you would recommend or are there moves you would suggest adding to the 30DS that don't involve so much jumping?

upgetupgetup

It's been a while since I did 30DS. NMTZ has almost no jumping, it's circuits with light (very light) weights (you can increase these).

Replacement moves: kick, just kick all the time, and kick as high as you can*! I've used a hula hoop for low impact cardio (but that might generate subtle pressure on your knees, just a bit, from side to side, if you're sensitive).

Can you do squats and lunges? If so, try this: http://blogs.menshealth.com/fitness-pros/dumbbell-reverse-lunge-to-1-leg-rdl-guaranteed-results-and-soreness/2012/09/13/

edit: you could just do the 1 legged rdl, & not the lunge, from that video

*without pain

kelsiehoagland

I can do squats, not lunges unless the back leg stays straight, but then they're not really even lunges. Thank you. I'll check it out What is NMTZ?

jaynalawayna

Try Leslie Sansone - she does walking workouts - I have a knee and an ankle that flare up sometimes and she is my goto when I need to be careful. I don't have the kind of light hand weights that she uses to boost her workout so I use a set of dumbells instead.

upgetupgetup

No More Trouble Zones: http://www.amazon.com/Jillian-Michaels-More-Trouble-Zones/dp/B001NFNFMQ

A non-lunge option would be just squats, then But you can obviously alter these a bit - you can do them in a narrow or wide stance, quickly or slowly, and add moves in between to get your heart rate up. Eg:

- squat + kick, alternating legs
- 10 squats + 3-10 pushups, repeat 3-5 times

My main problems are ankle-related, so I can't guess from personal experience how much or little these might hurt you - hopefully someone with good knee moves chimes in. Experiment a bit, without pushing too hard, and listen to your body

muayqis

One of my knees is bust, so i've had to find ways around them too. can't even skip or hit the rowing machine:(

anyway, i started out with burpees, but even that was a bit iffy, so i broke them down to.
air-squats and pushups alternating groups of, for 3 min. Taking out the transitional jump from the burpes seemed to help
thankfully i'm now back to being able to at least do burpees.