Exercises that don't invole my legs

DEL 707 · 21 Jul 2016 at 23:39

I'm trying to take up jogging, been doing it for about 6 weeks, I'm still very slow, with lots of walking between bouts of jogging, breathings been getting better, sadly my legs havn't had the same rate of progress. I'm currently attempting to jog 3 times a week and having off days to rest my legs, especially my knees which are giving me gyp.

I would like to do something on my off days though, while my legs are recovering, can anyonre recommend some exercises that put little to no stress on my legs?

Begbie · 22 Jul 2016 at 00:19

It may seem counter productive to do legs, but doing more legs will decrease the time taken for them recover in the long term. I squat 3-4 times a week and barely ever get any sort of soreness. Along with the odd running, and mountain biking a few times a week.

But if you really must.

Bench, OHP, BOR, pullups, dips and of course curls.

mrthingyx · 22 Jul 2016 at 06:57

Begbie said:
It may seem counter productive to do legs, but doing more legs will decrease the time taken for them recover in the long term. I squat 3-4 times a week and barely ever get any sort of soreness. Along with the odd running, and mountain biking a few times a week.

But if you really must.

Bench, OHP, BOR, pullups, dips and of course curls.

This.

Your legs don't seem to be recovering because:

- you aren't used to the exercise
- they are weak
- your motor patterns probably suck, too.

Leg exercises (particularly squats) will help significantly with the last two and also smooth out the first. I am not aging you have to become a Powerlifter, but there is a reason the Brownlees, Mo Farah, etc. all train legs to some degree.

Andyt_uk · 22 Jul 2016 at 09:37

Agree with the others, you need to work your legs to build some muscle by the sounds of it. Running doesn't do a great job of doing that. Maybe swap out one of the runs for now and add in a couple of bodyweight sessions each week? Squats/Core stuff will really help your running down the line.

It's very tempting and easy to think at the start that to get better at running, you need to run more. Without the core/leg work to build some muscle, you'll just find you get more injuries down the line and end up making less progress. I've been through the same process and having started to run again, I'm putting bodyweight exercises, especially squats/planks 4/5 days a week and starting to notice a bigger improvement to my running compared with previous attempts.

Banzai_Joe · 22 Jul 2016 at 09:44

DEL Are you overweight?
I agree with the above comments btw, but you may benefit from some low impact treadmill or crosstrainer running for a while.....AND train your legs as the others have said.
If your knees hurt to the point of injury/inflamation then you'll struggle to do anything other than rest, (cos squatting with something like bursitis is the last thing you need)......and that won't strengthen anything.

Good luck.

MoNkeE · 22 Jul 2016 at 10:26

Low impact treadmill, how's that work then?

If you're after little/no impact cardio, you want a cross trainer or something like lying stationary bike / normal exercise bike. He's certainly not going to dramatically improve his cardiovascular ability by incline walking on a treadmill.

D.P. · 22 Jul 2016 at 11:16

DEL 707 said:
I'm trying to take up jogging, been doing it for about 6 weeks, I'm still very slow, with lots of walking between bouts of jogging, breathings been getting better, sadly my legs havn't had the same rate of progress. I'm currently attempting to jog 3 times a week and having off days to rest my legs, especially my knees which are giving me gyp.

I would like to do something on my off days though, while my legs are recovering, can anyonre recommend some exercises that put little to no stress on my legs?

Make sure you are running slowly enough. Too many beginners seem to think that every run is a race, which just leads to exhaustion and injury. Most runs should be at a pleasant conversational pace, and stopped before your legs get too tired (exceptions come along when training for a marathon or competitive 5 k racing etc).

You might be better served by running 4-5 days a week but making sure each run is much slower and perhaps shorter.

Secondly, do plenty of leg lifting and store thinning. Do one legged squats, do key kicks, clams etc. Resistance bands are invaluable. Strengthen those leg muscles and tendons.

Otherwise swimming is excellent as it is mostly upper body and core. Cycling is good at a high RPM to get blood flowing through leg muscles which increases recovery,

D.P. · 22 Jul 2016 at 11:18

MoNkeE said:
Low impact treadmill, how's that work then?

If you're after little/no impact cardio, you want a cross trainer or something like lying stationary bike / normal exercise bike. He's certainly not going to dramatically improve his cardiovascular ability by incline walking on a treadmill.

On a treadmill you can force yourself to run at a low enough speed that reduces impact forces, and you can avoid running downhill.

D.P. · 22 Jul 2016 at 11:19

The other thing to check is running shoes. Make sure you get a good quality professionally fitted pair that is less than about 500miles use.

You can also look at trail running, lower impact forces due to a softer surface.

chroniclard · 22 Jul 2016 at 11:20

Can do a load of bodyweight exercises at home which will help the rest of your body/core muscles.

Pressups, situps/crunches, leg raises, tricep dips on stairs, planks etc.......list is almost endless.

Minstadave · 22 Jul 2016 at 11:24

Furious fapping?

Banzai_Joe · 22 Jul 2016 at 11:53

D.P. said:
On a treadmill you can force yourself to run at a low enough speed that reduces impact forces, and you can avoid running downhill.

Thanks

Not sure why MoNkeE decided to pick apart my post without understanding why i said it.

Actually incline walking on a treadmill CAN increase your cv quite well without the high impact. Obviously don't just amble but you can go fast enough to significantly raise your heartrate whilst slow enough to reduce impact. Steep incline would also work the whole leg pretty well just using bodyweight alone.

edit: maybe a stairclimber if access to one

MoNkeE · 22 Jul 2016 at 12:06

Hardly picking it apart bro, why don't you grab a shower and wash the sand out of your vagina

Considering he wants to improve his CV, there's better things he can do than incline walking. Incline walking is amazing for fat loss and what I tend to do myself. But if you're going to suggest things to avoid impact stress, I'd simply avoid the treadmill altogether, and focus on things that can be more cv orientated.

toasteh · 22 Jul 2016 at 13:33

DBSS tbh /mrthingyx

Banzai_Joe · 22 Jul 2016 at 15:32

MoNkeE said:
Hardly picking it apart bro, why don't you grab a shower and wash the sand out of your vagina

Lol, where the hell did THAT come from! :eek:

Considering he wants to improve his CV, there's better things he can do than incline walking. Incline walking is amazing for fat loss and what I tend to do myself. But if you're going to suggest things to avoid impact stress, I'd simply avoid the treadmill altogether, and focus on things that can be more cv orientated.

Yeah, but i was trying to suggest something that can both help his leg development, reduce impact and increase cv without necessarily damaging himself. It's obviously not the B-All of exercises, i just think it could fit until he irons out his knee pain from unaccustomed running (whilst exercising his legs).

D.P. · 22 Jul 2016 at 16:38

Banzai_Joe said:
Thanks
Not sure why MoNkeE decided to pick apart my post without understanding why i said it.

Actually incline walking on a treadmill CAN increase your cv quite well without the high impact. Obviously don't just amble but you can go fast enough to significantly raise your heartrate whilst slow enough to reduce impact. Steep incline would also work the whole leg pretty well just using bodyweight alone.

edit: maybe a stairclimber if access to one

Yeah, running up an incline on a treadmill is an incredibly safe way to work on running strength and CV without anything like the impact forces of running outside. Thats what i do if I suspect an injury, or coming bck form an injury as it serves as a good test and lets me get away with more of a workout than otherwise.

Plus at any moment you can just jump off the TM rather than being struck 6 miles form home with a sore knee/ankle etc.

the downside is it is boring as **** for anything too long, which is probably also another good thing to keep impact down as you'll stop running much sooner.

D.P. · 22 Jul 2016 at 16:50

MoNkeE said:
Hardly picking it apart bro, why don't you grab a shower and wash the sand out of your vagina

Considering he wants to improve his CV, there's better things he can do than incline walking. Incline walking is amazing for fat loss and what I tend to do myself. But if you're going to suggest things to avoid impact stress, I'd simply avoid the treadmill altogether, and focus on things that can be more cv orientated.

If you are not improving your CV fitness using a treadmill on an incline you aren't doing it right.

there may be better options but it isn't always that obvious. swimming is great, but unless you are a fanatatsic swimming it is quite a poor CV workout.

Same with cycling. If you can do 220+W for 3 hours straight then its a good CV workout but if you aren't a good cyclist then cycling is a poor CV workout. I'm looking to run a close to a 3 hour marathon and I also do some cycling but I'm a long way form getting any kind of good CV workout done on a bike.

Elliptical is pretty good, but I find the movement not very natural at all and you don't build the same leg strength as can be achieved on an inclined treadmill.

Olympic marathon runners will use an inclined treadmill to get a rest form the impact of road running. There is a very good reason why.

Jon33 · 23 Jul 2016 at 00:59

D.P. said:
there may be better options but it isn't always that obvious. swimming is great, but unless you are a fanatatsic swimming it is quite a poor CV workout.

Same with cycling. If you can do 220+W for 3 hours straight then its a good CV workout but if you aren't a good cyclist then cycling is a poor CV workout. I'm looking to run a close to a 3 hour marathon and I also do some cycling but I'm a long way form getting any kind of good CV workout done on a bike.

Completely irrelevant, if his FTP on a bike was 100W then working around that for an hour would be just as good as someone with an FTP of 220+ working for an hour.

Same for swimming if your cardio only allows 100m then working past that will be just as good as someone who can manage 1000m trying to push themselves.

D.P. · 23 Jul 2016 at 01:06

Jon33 said:
Completely irrelevant, if his FTP on a bike was 100W then working around that for an hour would be just as good as someone with an FTP of 220+ working for an hour.

Same for swimming if your cardio only allows 100m then working past that will be just as good as someone who can manage 1000m trying to push themselves.

No, because if you aren't very good at those activities you simply won't get a sufficient work out.

The most most important adaptations to running will occur after an hour or so at 70% heart rate reserve. If you can't do that when swimming or cycling you won't see those benefits.

I cycle and swim but have no where near the techniquws, endurance and strength to get any equivalent to work out to running. Cycling I can't get my HR above 150, I can redline at 192 within minutes of running and can maintain upper 180s for an hour or more. I can burn 3000 calories on a run, about 600 when cycling to the same exhaustion level, and 350 swimming.

If you get muscle fatigue before seeing the Cv benefits then the training just isn't as effective. If you can't elevate your heat rate sufficiently then you are also limiting the work out.

Jon33 · 23 Jul 2016 at 18:15

D.P. said:
No, because if you aren't very good at those activities you simply won't get a sufficient work out.

The most most important adaptations to running will occur after an hour or so at 70% heart rate reserve. If you can't do that when swimming or cycling you won't see those benefits.

I cycle and swim but have no where near the techniquws, endurance and strength to get any equivalent to work out to running. Cycling I can't get my HR above 150, I can redline at 192 within minutes of running and can maintain upper 180s for an hour or more. I can burn 3000 calories on a run, about 600 when cycling to the same exhaustion level, and 350 swimming.

If you get muscle fatigue before seeing the Cv benefits then the training just isn't as effective. If you can't elevate your heat rate sufficiently then you are also limiting the work out.

That comment is complete nonsense again. If the OP wants a CV workout that puts low impact on his legs on his "rest" days then cycling is a great idea.

Running is irrelevant as he does that the rest of the week, he wanted an alternative.