Really need help - please read ;(

Are you stretching before and after? The more you stretch the better things will feel.
From personal experience I have work an ankle brace before while doing the shred - I also have extremely arthritic knees. Sometimes your body just needs a break - also, swimming is a good way to work the muscles in your legs because they can relax and have an area that makes them feel lighter when working them out. Sometimes when you do an exercise for so long your muscles can strain. I know when I started T-Tapp I had to stop right after it because my calves were hurting so much. Icy-Hot is nice too (if your not allergic to it).

Thanks Lady

How long did your pain last and what did you do to ease it / get rid of it?

For me it took a few days, like 3-5 days. I was also working on my feet a lot so that didn't help

Let us know how you get on, hope it’s better soon!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10593217

"The basic science literature supports the epidemiologic evidence that stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of injury."

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/does-stretching-prevent-injury-20130419-2i553.html

"The non-profit Cochrane Collaboration has published several reviews during the past 10 years that have assessed the efficacy of stretching, before and/or after exercise, on muscle soreness. The most recent review, co-written by the University of Sydney's Professor Rob Herbert and released in 2011, drew on a dozen, mostly small, randomised control trials (for which half the participants stretched, the other half did not) and one large study with more than 2300 participants. They found stretching provided little, or no, reduction in muscle soreness experienced up to a week after physical activity. While the reviewers acknowledged the studies were of average quality, when grouped together their findings were consistent."

When will people stop recommending stretching as a prevention or even remedy?

In general you need to know your own body. A lot of these exercise programs are designed for people who are already active. Insanity and 30Shred are high intensity training. Your body should be at a level of conditioning prior to doing them ideally. Starting them from scratch is going to hit the body hard and it will need time to recover which you won't get following the program verbatim. Know your body, know your aches and pains, know when to stop and allow healing. Your body will repair and you can go again stronger and fitter.

I would recommend (if you are not in regular exercise) to integrate a couple of the training sessions from insanity or the like once or twice a week and build up to being ready to attempt the full program. Then, listen to your body, eat what you need, sleep lots and stretch any problem areas. I know from personal experience that Insanity really hits the calves (and quads) but doesn't do much in the way of stretches for them. Do your own.

There is some debate about the benefits of stretching before and / or after training. All the reports suggesting no benefit from stretching do not suggest any damage caused from stretching (except perhaps stretching lumbar spine area and the possible effect on stability when lifting heavy weights) so, in my opinion, it is largely accepted that stretching prevents injury and assists recovery and doesn't cause any damage (if done correctly) so, stretch. I know it helps me.

In short, Listen to your body, ease into more intensive training and do what works for you. Good luck, keep it going. Tristan

I think it may be tendinitis, I get similar pain in my ankle after hitting it hard. I'd actually take everything low impact for a while as you heal (while treating with ice and ibuprofen), ideally sticking to cycling and swimming. If you want to carry on doing 30DS, stop all the jumping, doing half-jacks instead of jumping jacks, for example. And stretch, stretch, stretch those calves!

As well as what the above posters have said, make sure you watch your form. There are a lot of compound moves and dynamic moves in the Shred DVD and sometimes when your new to it, it's hard to maintain good form over the whole body. make sure you aren't turning your ankle out to the side on lunges and that you are not flexing outwards on squats etc.

Look up stretches for the achilles, you will feel achilles tightness through the calf. At least, when I went to the Dr four years ago with pain in the calf it turned out to be an achilles issue. Stretch the achilles and the calf. The exercises are pretty simple.