I have had knee surgery and my meniscus is gone. I was told by 2 doctors, never to use steps, no lunges, no stress on my knee. My knee actually hurts most of the time.

What type of exercise can I do?

When dealing with an injury, it is best to consult with a doctor, physical therapist, and then seek the advice of trainers for assistance with suggested exercises. There are very few injuries that cannot be fully rehabilitated anymore. You may be one of the few that has one of those. Exercising the muscles of the legs when squatting and lunging are inappropriate is a challenge, but not impossible. Check with your doctor about wall sits, straight leg lifts, hip extensions, hamstring curls, There-bands, resistance tubing, and body weight exercises. Seek the guidance of training once you have prescribed exercises to be sure you are performing them correctly through proper range of motion. In time, you may find stairs become appropriate. Listen to your body. Avoid allowing injury to keep you from your goals, create excuse, or alter your mindset. I must refer you back to your doctor, but I encourage you to be your own advocate. Settling for limitations is unacceptable. At least, walk out of your doctor's office with the name of a physical therapist.

Donna, typically when a doctor says, "no squats or lunges" they are talking about the traditional squats and lunges like olympic bar back squats, weighted walking lunges and reverse lunges. Because daily movement requires various types of partial squats, squat & lunge patterns the movement is essentially impossble to avoid. We often call our referring docs and explain the different types of squat and lunge patterns we want to incorporate into a clients program and once they understand they are most of hte time very receptive to allowing us to incorporate the movements. the goal would be to get the bigger global muscles like the gluts strong and reactive. Of course, we always defer to the doctors and physical therapists that are working with our clients but find they are very receptive to our suggestions and collaborative approach. Best of luck Dale

Start with weights first, your body will start burning off the sugar you have in your body for energy, then by the time you start your cardio you are in fat burning mode and your body will start pulling glycogen from fat stores to burn off for energy. The most optimal way would be to split these up, either by doing weights in the morning and cardio at night or weights one day and cardio the next. When you lift weights you need proper recovery to get the benefits, you need to intake protein within 30 mins of weights to aid in muscles repair. The weights will get you the sexy shape you want while cardio and diet will burn the fat off to help show off your new figure! Keep up the work you are doing the right things!

Hi Bonnie,

I like to start with light cardio as a warm up including moves that will mimick the workout I have planned (i.e. marching, high knees, arm circles, body weight squats, etc.). I agree with Monica. Once the body is warm and prepared for exercise, weight training is the way to go. Focus right from the beginning of your workout on form, range of motion, and weight selection. Utilize functional equipment whenever possible. I'm always happy to see women using free weights! Avoid machines that require sitting down. This eliminates large muscle stabilization. In other words, sitting does not burn as many calories as standing or balancing on a ball or bench. Be sure to incorporate opposing (opposite) muscle groups to maintain muscular balance and structure. Try not to be repetitive when it comes to strength training. Finishing with cardiovascular exercise is a great way to minimize soreness and the build up of lactic acid. TIP: drink plenty of water.

Ann

Hey Bonnie ... along with Monica's and Ann's great suggestions, also ask yourself what your goal is for that particular workout. Meaning, if you are training to manage your weight and stay fit, consider these three keys among others: (1) improving strength, (2) giving your metabolism a nice little boost whenever possible and (3) efficiently burning as many calories as you can in a little amount of time. Therefore, if you are working on strength this evening when you head over after work, begin with your strength exercises. Pick a few exercises and bump up the weight a little bit or make it a tad more intense then you did last week. Ask yourself if you have gotten stronger at any one particular movement, (i.e., how are your push ups looking compared to 6 months ago?) If you'd like to focus on frying a few calories in the moment, do what you are calling "cardio" first, but consider changing that word to "cardio-intervals" so you are mindful of what gives you the most calorie burning bang for your buck. I refer to it as "conditioning" or "cardio-intervals", both referring to purposeful training, as opposed to "cardio 3 x per week" that does little for weight management. At the end of the day, defaulting to emphasizing strength training will always do a body good. "Strength fixes most things." You cannot have weak and toned muscles. Enjoy your workout tonight and let us all know how those push ups are coming along;)

Bonnie, the true answer to this question lies in your personal goals. If you are trying to burn a lot of calories and get an efficient, effective workout then I would say mix the two together creating a more metabolic workout. For example, try doing 1-5 minutes of high intensity cardio followed by 4-5 total body strength exercises utilizing a work/rest interval of 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off.
In this way you are basically accomplishing two goals at the same time. I wouldn't really worry about if you are burning glycogen (your body's storage form of sugar) or fat- all these energy sources will be utilized with a good, challenging workout.

Concerning this question there is no boilerplate that works for all people. There are many variations of exercise tools, protocols that will work. Some basic and some a little more complex.What percentage of cardio vs strength training, what should be done first cardio or strength can, and has been debated by fitness professionals for years. For example: A Study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Sept 2008) "showed that a workout that alternates cardiovascular bursts and heavy weight training burned nine times more fat than the same workout done by separating the cardio from weights" This is one of many studies that shed light on this topic. Arguments on many sides, but I believe in the basic outcome of this study, its results and my experience working with athletes and clients, but does this work for everyone? Without knowing more specifics about you, I suggest you keep it as simple as possible. Experiment. Use different forms of cardio and strength training. Mix it up. Walking, yes even sprinting, body weight suspension training, band or weight training. Don't worry about when burning fat. If your healthy, have no contraindications (health problems that restrict or stop you from doing something) are breathing heavy, sweating, working hard your headed in the right direction. If you hit a wall, hire fitness professional too listen, adjust your workout and point you in the right direction.
Good Luck

i always have the coffee maker, on automatic so the energy is ready for you. Ha! I read a business article once saying, "if the worst thing you have to do all day is eat a frog, then do it first thing." Obviously that's gross, but the point is get the hardest out of the way first then you won't spend any more time thinking of it the rest of the day. Give it 21 days, it takes 21 days to create a habit. Also, I would pick a time of the day you will stick with forever, if morning are too tough to stick to pick another time you are more likely to make a lifestyle change with.