Leslie and knee pain

[karenl]

So..I'm yet again trying to climb back up on the fitness wagon and drop some of the weight I have gained. I pulled out my Leslie Sansone WATP Express and was doing fine for about a week when my left knee started to hurt. Now I feel like I'm back to square one.

Has anyone else had this problem with Leslie's workouts? The last time I tried doing a lot of Leslie my right hip hurt.

Should I ditch the cardio and just do weights? or maybe weights and yoga or some kind of fusion workout?

Please let me know your experience with this and how you dealt with it. I'm tired of carrying around this extra weight and I want to get healthy again.

TIA for any suggestions.

karenl

[monterey vidiot]

I loved Leslie's walks for many years, until I got , mainly in my right knee. Not overweight, but now Leslie hurts my knees.
Actual walking (like outside) doesn't hurt. I have a stationary bike for cardio. And lots of light weight workouts have a cardio effect.

[eam531]

Leslie's workouts are low impact and she has done so much to get people to exercise, but her workouts also have a LOT of repetitive movements (like lifting the knees up to waist level OVER AND OVER) and the stretching at the end is *totally* inadequate. People here have complained about hip pain, back pain, and knee pain from Leslie's workouts. They made my psoas muscle scream, so I stopped doing them.

If you do her walking workouts I wouldn't do them on a daily basis, and I would thoroughly stretch afterwards, particularly the psoas muscle, inner thighs, quads, calves, etc.

I do very few pure "cardio" workouts myself, as I feel I get a lot more bang for my fitness buck with yoga (body weight workout) and weight training (this can also have a cardio effect). I walk and ride my bike in my daily life for "cardio".

Jessica Smith has a ton of free workouts on YouTube you might want to look at. She has walking and other cardio, weights, stretching, barre-type workouts, etc. If you go to YouTube and type "Jessica Smith beginner workouts" you'll find many. It sounds like you're a restarter so you might want to choose less-challenging workouts at first. Jessica is really warm and non-threatening and you might want to give her workouts a try.

HTH.

PS Like Cynthia above, walking outside doesn't bother me at all.

[Dabbadooey]

If I do her workouts too much my bursitis flares in my hips. I think the movements aren't varied enough.

[Demeris]

Originally Posted by eam531

but her workouts also have a LOT of repetitive movements (like lifting the knees up to waist level OVER AND OVER) and the stretching at the end is *totally* inadequate.

If you do her walking workouts I wouldn't do them on a daily basis, and I would thoroughly stretch afterwards, particularly the psoas muscle, inner thighs, quads, calves, etc.

This

[FirmDancer]

Originally Posted by eam531

Leslie's workouts are low impact and she has done so much to get people to exercise, but her workouts also have a LOT of repetitive movements (like lifting the knees up to waist level OVER AND OVER) and the stretching at the end is *totally* inadequate. People here have complained about hip pain, back pain, and knee pain from Leslie's workouts. They made my psoas muscle scream, so I stopped doing them.

If you do her walking workouts I wouldn't do them on a daily basis, and I would thoroughly stretch afterwards, particularly the psoas muscle, inner thighs, quads, calves, etc.

I do very few pure "cardio" workouts myself, as I feel I get a lot more bang for my fitness buck with yoga (body weight workout) and weight training (this can also have a cardio effect). I walk and ride my bike in my daily life for "cardio".

Jessica Smith has a ton of free workouts on YouTube you might want to look at. She has walking and other cardio, weights, stretching, barre-type workouts, etc. If you go to YouTube and type "Jessica Smith beginner workouts" you'll find many. It sounds like you're a restarter so you might want to choose less-challenging workouts at first. Jessica is really warm and non-threatening and you might want to give her workouts a try.

HTH.

PS Like Cynthia above, walking outside doesn't bother me at all.

Same experience for me too!

[karenl]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm thinking its time to change what I do. I've been a fairly consistent exerciser since my mid thirties and have always done the cardio one day and weights the next and alternated the two. Now that I'm in my mid sixties I guess it's time to change. My doctor suggested I take up yoga for the balance and flexibility. Pilates has always intrigued me so I may look into that. Can anyone suggest a good beginner Pilates?

As far as Jessica Smith goes I actually have her WalkStong system and have never done it. I also have Margaret Richard Unplugged 1900 Series and DDP Yoga none of which I have done and these are probably what would get me in shape. My knee is starting to feel better so the last thing I want to do is have a setback. I guess my biggest problem is I feel I NEED to exercise a certain way to slim down and I'm having a hard time getting past that. Can gentler workouts give me results? I also know diet plays a big role.

Karenl

[eam531]

Originally Posted by karenl

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm thinking its time to change what I do. I've been a fairly consistent exerciser since my mid thirties and have always done the cardio one day and weights the next and alternated the two. Now that I'm in my mid sixties I guess it's time to change. My doctor suggested I take up yoga for the balance and flexibility. Pilates has always intrigued me so I may look into that. Can anyone suggest a good beginner Pilates?

As far as Jessica Smith goes I actually have her WalkStong system and have never done it. I also have Margaret Richard Unplugged 1900 Series and DDP Yoga none of which I have done and these are probably what would get me in shape. My knee is starting to feel better so the last thing I want to do is have a setback. I guess my biggest problem is I feel I NEED to exercise a certain way to slim down and I'm having a hard time getting past that. Can gentler workouts give me results? I also know diet plays a big role.

Karenl

To answer your question that I bolded, decidedly yes.

I am 60 and only do workouts that do not exacerbate joint issues that I have (bad knees). I'm in quite decent shape without killing myself.

I have DDP Yoga. It is a good fusion of yoga and calisthenic exercises. I do about 1-2 DDPY workouts per week and have never done a full-out formal rotation using it because I get really tired of the same instructor for weeks at a time. The vaunted cardio benefits, speaking for myself, are an advertising thing to try to convince you that DDP Yoga is "the only workout you will ever need". There are much better straight cardio workouts available if you want that. I have never bothered wearing a heart rate monitor or keeping myself in "dynamic resistance" mode, as one is "supposed" to do. I still get plenty of benefits from DDPY, as well as the other yoga that I do.

Margaret Richard is a very good instructor. I have only done her weight routines and I think she's great. "Sculpture" is very thorough and it's tough, but can be done with light weights.

For beginner Pilates--if you have never done Pilates before, be sure to choose an instructor who emphasizes form. It's really easy to do Pilates with poor form, which means you aren't activating the right muscles. I had some Pilates DVDs by Moira Stott Merrithew which I thought were good. Lots of people think she is "dry" but I just think she's professional. You could try her "Basic Pilates".

Jane Adams has a really good video for improving balance ("Stronger Standing Balance") and a really great "Gentle Yoga" DVD. You might take a look at one or both of these for flexibility and balance improvement.

Your statement that "diet plays a big role" is spot-on; it's more important than exercise for weight loss.

[CharM]

After doing JS YouTube workouts years ago, I started modifying Leslie's workouts by doing half the "knee ups" and half Jessica's moves; I haven't had any issues doing it this way. (I hope I didn't just jinx myself.)

Originally Posted by karenl

As far as Jessica Smith goes I actually have her WalkStong system

Is this the 30 Day 3 disc set? If so, just know that there are tons of knee pulls in those workouts. Again, I modify, but I was surprised. in a bad way. haha

Oops, Walk Strong is the 6 week. I don't remember what moves those have, but I'll leave the warning up for the 30 Day set.

[little bird]

I loved Leslie's walks for many years, until I got , mainly in my right knee. Not overweight, but now Leslie hurts my knees.

What type of surface are you walking on? I noticed some knee pain when walking on carpeting. After I added padding I haven't had any more problems.