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Hi there,

Though my workout started really good, I had to quit after a month because my right lower leg tendon is killing me.

This is an old injury and I have been suffering from it for about 2 years, but right now I can't jog or run.

What are my alternatives? I will not go to a gym but I have access to a pool or mountain bike which do you think I should use?

I can ride about 30 miles a week, not too bad, but nothing special.

Looking forward to your answer.

Amitai

Sorry to hear about the injury. Ive always thought that swimming is the best workout you can do when your body is sore. I am not the expert though. TaoRunner might be able to answer your question better.

Biking is a great alternative to running when sore but I've never felt that it replaced the caloric burn from long runs.  Biking and swimming combined with weight training is an excellent combination to get in shape.  I've never been in better shape than when I've trained for triathlons!  If you are without weights, pushups/crunches/etc work well.  A fun alternative workout is kayaking which can be done cheaply now-a-days.  Using a heavy bag and speed bag is a great workout also.

McBeev, if you need a good alt-workout you can head over to my house and cut the lawn/weedwhack/trim the hedges!!!

 Which is better depends on your goals, what you are training for.  If you aren't training for a specific event any exercise that doesn't aggravate the injury would be good.  Mountain biking is the most like running because of the fast leg turnover.  I would also suggest a good medical message therapist especially if this has been a persistent injury.  It's amazing what a good therapist can do for soft tissue injuries.  If you are in the Grand Rapids area I would recommend you contact Sue at Kinesic Therapies.  Other then that SRybak is right on.  Good luck.

Thanks for all the responses. What really works (and it's sad it does) is rest, I haven't excercised in over a month, and that has stopped the pain completely.

This creates a dilemma: on the one hand I feel much better, on the other, I don't excercise.

I have found the right formula for losing weight, so the main purpose of working out for me, is (at least for now) irrelevant, but I want to work out because it's good in general and I am not getting any younger, so sport should help me staying fit.

I will try to swim and see my orthopedist soon, hopefully this will help.

Thanks,

Amitai