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Former College and/or Professional Athletes
ihardy44
Posts: 17 Member
Just wondering if there's any fellow tall women out there who are former college and/or professional athletes? I played college and professional basketball and the years of intense training has had a pretty significant impact to my knees. My body is also used to being pushed so hard that even though I am nowhere near in the shape I used to be, it takes quite a bit to get my heart rate up and thus obtain the results that I would like. So what do you do for excercise and not have knee pain? What gives you the best results? I mostly walk at a very brisk pace and play racquetball. I also get to Zumba every now and then. I prefer ENJOYABLE activities. All those years where my coaches yelled, screamed, pushed me to a point of pure exhaustion is demotivating today (although I understand the need to be pushed at that level)....
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Former division 1 softball player. My go to exercises are Turbo Fire, Insanity and Insanity Asylum, and Running, These seem to get my heart rate up to a decent level0
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I was a D1 rower. I love spinning! It gets my heart rate up very quickly and is low impact on your knees. I'm also running quite a bit these days, but obviously with bad knees that doesn't work. I would also try swimming. My resting heart rate is around 53 bpm, so it takes me a long time to get it to where I need it to be during a workout.0
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I was a D1 rower. I love spinning! It gets my heart rate up very quickly and is low impact on your knees. I'm also running quite a bit these days, but obviously with bad knees that doesn't work. I would also try swimming. My resting heart rate is around 53 bpm, so it takes me a long time to get it to where I need it to be during a workout.
Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't been swimming in a long time. Running isn't going to work :-(0 -
College rugby player here!
Running and I have a love hate relationship. I only like it now because I like what it does to my body. My stomach and legs are more toned and I can't get results like it with any other exercise. I do enjoy Zumba and dance classes but I don't get results from them like I do with running. I would go back to playing rugby for a local club but I really can't risk an injury so that's a no-go.0 -
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Just a note on the knee issues, I have had 4 knee surgeries ( ACL recontruction, Miniscus repair and removals) I seriously thought i had the worst knees in the world and would have to limit my cardio. I was wrong, the more weight i lost and the more I weight trained my legs the better my knees felt. Before getting pregnant I would routinely run 6 miles a day at least 4 days a week. I never had issues, I know many ppl think that running is so bad but really if its done right you will not harm yourself. Just get a good leg strength training regime and start out slow and in small distances0
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Wow, can't believe I just saw this! Former College Volleyball player here! I have had problems with my knees for a years now. I think they got worse once I gained all this darned weight. I do find that working out on the elliptical helps me. Once I get some of this weight off, I will start running again. Feel free to add me...I love finding other women who know the pressures and struggles of competing at the college level and above!0
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I only managed to play one year of college volleyball... the increase in the number of hours of punishment my body had to endure led to back problems. Now, I can really only do sports or activities that involved me moving straight ahead - rapid lateral movements can really bother my back. i also used to do triathlons, and that totally wrecked my knees. It wasn't the weight - I was nice and slim back then! In college, I was straight up scrawny.
I find walking and biking are okay with my knees, as is swimming. Also, using kettlebells and other weight training seem to be okay, because I can focus on form and performing each repetition correctly, which helps protect my knees and back.0 -
I rowed in college. I am now in my 40's so it's been a while. One thing that was hard for me was adjusting my definition of a workout -- whereas I used to think that 40 minutes wasn't worth it (why bother if you didn't have at least 90 mins), as I get older I have learned that 40 or even 30 minutes is better than nothing. And that for me, because I do seem to work out almost every day no matter what, it's really much more a question of lowering my food intake than upping my exericse. I also find that MFP WAY overestimates calories burned for me, so I no longer track my exercise and just track my food. I tend to run (poorly and infrequently), bike (which I love to do, but it's time consuming), swim (easy to do, easy on my back; probably do 3-4 times a week), and lift (once or twice a week.) I do like "boot camp" style classes but it's hard sometimes with my schedule. I've done some yoga, but it never feels like enough of a workout (I have to do it after another workout) and I end up hurting myself because I think I am better than I really am. I go to a trainer once a week for a weight workout and do it a second time with a friend during the same week. I find that really helps in terms of injury prevention (so I don't use bad form) as well as motivation; it feels coach-like, which I like.0
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