telophase (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
telophase) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lifting_heavy_things2011-06-04 11:25 am
telophase) wrote in lifting_heavy_things2011-06-04 11:25 am
Lunge problems
I've been lurking here for a while after having been directed here by rydra_wong. I'm starting Stage 3 of the New Rules of Lifting for Women workout (although it'll be a slow start as I took longer than expected off after 2 due to a cold and a 4-day migraine).
The problem I've been running into with the workouts is that I've got arthritis in my feet, in the joint at the ball of the foot where the big toe does most of its bending.
So I can't bend that joint - there's some range of movement, but if I do it with any force on it, as you do when balancing, it hurts for hours, if not days afterward (and injures it, which causes more bone spurs to form, etc.).
So I've been trying to work out a way to do lunges that's effective without engaging this joint, but it's hard - I end up carrying all of my weight on my front leg, which is harder to lift, and my balance is shot because I can't use my back leg very well. So far, the best I've managed to do is put the Wii balance board behind me and rest my back foot against the edge of it and hold on to something with one of my hands to aid balance, but it's not especially good.
Any ideas? I work out at home rather than the gym, and the shoes I use are rolly-bottom shoes with rigid soles, so I don't bend my toes when I walk but still have a halfway normal stride (like MBTs or Skecher Shape-Ups), but they're not good for balance when trying to do something like this. :)
If there's alternate exercises to lunges, that would be good also. I'm getting close to the point where I may just double up on squats instead of doing lunges, so I get some sort of decent leg workout, even though it's not the same.
rydra_wong. I'm starting Stage 3 of the New Rules of Lifting for Women workout (although it'll be a slow start as I took longer than expected off after 2 due to a cold and a 4-day migraine).The problem I've been running into with the workouts is that I've got arthritis in my feet, in the joint at the ball of the foot where the big toe does most of its bending.
So I can't bend that joint - there's some range of movement, but if I do it with any force on it, as you do when balancing, it hurts for hours, if not days afterward (and injures it, which causes more bone spurs to form, etc.).
So I've been trying to work out a way to do lunges that's effective without engaging this joint, but it's hard - I end up carrying all of my weight on my front leg, which is harder to lift, and my balance is shot because I can't use my back leg very well. So far, the best I've managed to do is put the Wii balance board behind me and rest my back foot against the edge of it and hold on to something with one of my hands to aid balance, but it's not especially good.
Any ideas? I work out at home rather than the gym, and the shoes I use are rolly-bottom shoes with rigid soles, so I don't bend my toes when I walk but still have a halfway normal stride (like MBTs or Skecher Shape-Ups), but they're not good for balance when trying to do something like this. :)
If there's alternate exercises to lunges, that would be good also. I'm getting close to the point where I may just double up on squats instead of doing lunges, so I get some sort of decent leg workout, even though it's not the same.
no subject
You could also try doing the static lunge, rear foot elevated thing with resting the top of your back foot on the step, rather than bending your toe, though I just started stage two today and tried that, and found that my balance wasn't very good that way.
no subject
I ended up with balance problems on the rear-foot-elevated lunge also (which is how I ended up balancing my foot against the Wii balance board). But the way the Bulgarian split squat is shown in