30DShred - only do some, still effective?

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NeuroticVirgo
NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was recently doing Couch to 5 K and Jillian Michaels 30 Day shred at the same time, and I had to stop because of the pain in my knees.

I kind of miss the feeling of lifting the weights & the AB exercise from Shred....but I'm still working on C25K. Do you think if I didn't do anything that involved a lot of leg bending (like the squats, lunges etc) in 30Day Shred, would the other parts (crunches, bicep curls etc) still be effective?

Looking at it from a muscle toning/building stand point...not calorie burn (because I burn enough from C25K)...but I would like to keep toning up this flabby looking stomach.

Replies

  • wintermama13
    wintermama13 Posts: 172 Member
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    They are great exercises to do whenever you want! i know what you mean, I have to purposefully miss a day here and there because of my knees.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    If you have a sharp pain in your knees, don't do squats. They will exacerbate any damage to the knees. Instead, you can go to any gym and do leg presses or numerous other weight training workouts or walk on a high incline to work the legs on a treadmill.

    Weight training with cardio is a really great way to burn fat and lose weight. You should be doing some strength training along with your running routine.
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
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    I don't have a gym membership (to much money & I prefer to exercise at home). Since I'm doing C25K, I would like to avoid over working out my legs, so I don't end up burning out.

    But I'm worried if I ONLY do the AB work outs, and only do the weights (but not work the upper & lower together) that it will be just a waste of time. :(
  • B2BB
    B2BB Posts: 222 Member
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    When working out and using your body its not a waste of time, even when doing some and not all is ok:)
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    ANY kind of workout, movement, activity will help. Your body wants to be used, your muscles want to feel useful, so anything you do with them is better than nothing. :) Feel free to follow along with 30DS and only do the squats 1/3 of the way or half if you can. Just stand in the squat motion and go up and down a teeny bit if you that is all you can, it is more than nothing.

    It is important to avoid things that make your knees pain. It is easy to screw them up, and hard to recover.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    I don't have a gym membership (to much money & I prefer to exercise at home). Since I'm doing C25K, I would like to avoid over working out my legs, so I don't end up burning out.

    But I'm worried if I ONLY do the AB work outs, and only do the weights (but not work the upper & lower together) that it will be just a waste of time. :(

    My suggestion would be that you should set yourself up with some supersets of workouts done 3x a week. I do a similar circuit for 60 minutes 3x a week. It's great.

    Set 1 (10 minutes):

    abs
    then back (squats)
    repeat 3x

    Set 2 (10 minutes):

    Legs (deep lunges or walking lunges)
    arms (bicep curls, triceps, chest presses)
    repeat 3x

    Set 3 (10 minutes):
    abs
    back
    repeat 3x

    The details of these should be up to you about what you feel comfortable with. I don't think you need to worry about "overworking" the legs. Weight training will really help you with your running and building up your strength for your runs.
  • lexiwho
    lexiwho Posts: 178 Member
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    You may not see the "OMG" results some people get from 30DS but you will still see results. I've had to modify the program to accommodate my knees, I can't do jumping jacks or jump rope without being in tons of pain for days afterwards. Now, I just do butt kicks and punches in place of those. Perhaps when they're doing things you can't do without injury, put something else in it's place. This way you're still getting a full 20 minutes of working out. :)
  • Suzannejl
    Suzannejl Posts: 212
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    Ask the question more specifically: what exercise can I do to replace (fill in the blank) from 30 day shred?

    There are lots of experts here that will know the answer. I go to classes at the base cuz it's free and they are constantly telling us, level one people, do it this way, level two, etc. etc. And I will tell the instructors about my bad knee/shoulder(was hit by a car when I was crossing the street as a little girl) they always have modifications.

    Good luck!
  • diggedy
    diggedy Posts: 8
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    you can get some small dumbells from sports shops such as sports direct which you can do toning exercises with. They are usually very cheap. Alternatively you can buy resistance bands on ebay which are even cheaper and are great for working out in the house and usually they come in packs with varying sizes.
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the replys :)

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