Jumping jack pain?
emmies_123
Posts: 513 Member
Morning all,
So I do a few workout routines that ask me to do 1 min of Jumping jacks. I can do the motions and keep up, but after about 40 seconds (sometimes sooner) I notice my shins really start to hurt. Area of bone running the length of lower leg, feel it most right in the middle. Sometimes I also feel this same area pain if I am doing jog with "high leg kicks," but not as frequent in my routine.
I'm guessing there is something wrong in my form, reaching out for help. What is proper form/landing notes so that I can stop the pain.
So I do a few workout routines that ask me to do 1 min of Jumping jacks. I can do the motions and keep up, but after about 40 seconds (sometimes sooner) I notice my shins really start to hurt. Area of bone running the length of lower leg, feel it most right in the middle. Sometimes I also feel this same area pain if I am doing jog with "high leg kicks," but not as frequent in my routine.
I'm guessing there is something wrong in my form, reaching out for help. What is proper form/landing notes so that I can stop the pain.
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Replies
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Jumping jacks are a high impact exercise. It’s not necessarily your form, you may just need to do a modified jumping jack to make it lower impact. Just YouTube “low-impact jumping jack” and do that instead0
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Or jog in place and move your arms up and down. (Warning...you may look ridiculous lol)
The jumping jacks are intended as a warm up, which can be accomplished with many different motions. It gets your lungs, heart and muscles ready for the real workout.0 -
funjen1972 wrote: »Or jog in place and move your arms up and down. (Warning...you may look ridiculous lol)
The jumping jacks are intended as a warm up, which can be accomplished with many different motions. It gets your lungs, heart and muscles ready for the real workout.
The jumping jacks are an interval on beginner's HIIT workout. I don't have pain issues with any other parts of routine for entire workout schedule. The basic format is to tap one leg out while raising arms, then bring it to center and lower arms, repeat on other side. Optional to do full jumping jack if needed to get heartrate to increase, and I do need to do a full jack to get heart rate as high as it should be for an interval.0 -
emmies_123 wrote: »funjen1972 wrote: »Or jog in place and move your arms up and down. (Warning...you may look ridiculous lol)
The jumping jacks are intended as a warm up, which can be accomplished with many different motions. It gets your lungs, heart and muscles ready for the real workout.
The jumping jacks are an interval on beginner's HIIT workout. I don't have pain issues with any other parts of routine for entire workout schedule. The basic format is to tap one leg out while raising arms, then bring it to center and lower arms, repeat on other side. Optional to do full jumping jack if needed to get heartrate to increase, and I do need to do a full jack to get heart rate as high as it should be for an interval.
I'm wondering if you have shin splints? It might be worth getting it checked out.1 -
Will do, I have a checkup in November and I will ask my doctor.
I thought maybe it was something obvious that many people do. Like maybe i'm landing on my feet wrong (toes vs. full foot landing)0 -
I used to get shin pain when walking up steep hills or rollerblading. Doing the right kind of stretches helps a lot. Heel raises and heel drops work for me. Shoes might be an issue too, especially if you're flat-footed or have high arches.2
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thank you, I will add those heel stretches to warm up on days i know I have to do jumping jacks.
I do need new sneakers, but I don't have known foot issues. I used to have a physical every year for sports teams in high school and presumably they would have caught that then?0 -
Yes you should land on your toes. I don’t know how you would land flat footed.
It could be related to weight or flexibility.0 -
Ack!! So I confirmed with a nurse friend that I am developing shin splints. Thank you funjen1972 for suggesting I look into this! I have been doing a HIIT program 6 days a week for 4 months, and recently walked (rapid pace) around Disney parks for multiple days all day. I guess the legs need a break before I do serious harm. My friend recommended I take it light/rest for two full weeks before I try returning to my normal exercise
Looking for further advice:
Is it ok to continue doing upper body weight exercises for the next two weeks?
Would a stationary exercise bike (recumbent position) be ok?
I'm worried if I stop exercising entirely I'm going to lose the good habits I have developed over the last year =(
I did get new sneakers yesterday, so hopefully that will help too.1 -
emmies_123 wrote: »Ack!! So I confirmed with a nurse friend that I am developing shin splints. Thank you funjen1972 for suggesting I look into this! I have been doing a HIIT program 6 days a week for 4 months, and recently walked (rapid pace) around Disney parks for multiple days all day. I guess the legs need a break before I do serious harm. My friend recommended I take it light/rest for two full weeks before I try returning to my normal exercise
Looking for further advice:
Is it ok to continue doing upper body weight exercises for the next two weeks?
Would a stationary exercise bike (recumbent position) be ok?
I'm worried if I stop exercising entirely I'm going to lose the good habits I have developed over the last year =(
I did get new sneakers yesterday, so hopefully that will help too.
Shin splints are far from a death sentence, or an end of exercise sentence for that matter. The way I dealt with them was via stretching my calves and icing my shins when I had shin splints. This seems like pretty common practice.
As an aside HIIT (actual HIIT) six days a week isn't recommended for anyone.0 -
I cannot do jumping jacks due to lack of cartilage in my left knee from a ski accident and surgery. I do HIIT workouts.I substitute jumping jacks with something else to get my heart rate up. Sometimes I do squats then a kick as I come up. Anything low impact should be ok for you.
Keep doing upper body. You can do weights, ab stuff...even squats because it is low impact.0 -
Shin splints are far from a death sentence, or an end of exercise sentence for that matter. The way I dealt with them was via stretching my calves and icing my shins when I had shin splints. This seems like pretty common practice.
As an aside HIIT (actual HIIT) six days a week isn't recommended for anyone.
I have been doing the MFP "HIIT for beginners 4 week program" since June. I did substitute in "1 Mile express cardio" on the rest days each week, and both of those are heavy on leg movement.
Thank you for advice Flippy12345
Good to know I can keep up with weights!
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emmies_123 wrote: »
Shin splints are far from a death sentence, or an end of exercise sentence for that matter. The way I dealt with them was via stretching my calves and icing my shins when I had shin splints. This seems like pretty common practice.
As an aside HIIT (actual HIIT) six days a week isn't recommended for anyone.
I have been doing the MFP "HIIT for beginners 4 week program" since June. I did substitute in "1 Mile express cardio" on the rest days each week, and both of those are heavy on leg movement.
Thank you for advice Flippy12345 Good to know I can keep up with weights!
Oh I see - I misunderstood you. I thought you were doing six HIIT workouts a week. I didn't look through the program in depth but my thoughts are the advice I gave above about stretching (after you workout) and icing and then potentially cutting out the 1 mile express cardio until the shin splints clear up. Again, I wouldn't worry too much about this - cutting down your exercise load right now until your shin splints resolve isn't going to drastically harm your cardiovascular fitness and in reality it'll just be a blip.1 -
I developed shin splints. I had to ice and rest. Other things that helped: stretching, exercises and stretches specifically for shin splints, compression sleeves, good shoes, and a foam roller. The foam roller was painful at first, but really helped.
To keep my cardio going, I rode my bike. If you decide to do some walking, play around with shortening your stride to see if that gives relief.
There is quite a bit of info out there about resistance strength workouts to help strengthen supporting muscle groups.1
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