All opinions are always 100% honest and my own. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I also participate in: CJ Affiliate; eBay Partner Network; Rakuten Affiliate Network; ShareASale; Walmart Affiliate Program; independent affiliate networks.
After doing only cardio on Saturday and on Sunday doing nothing at all, we had not trace of our soreness of last week. And when resuming the exercise regimen on Monday, we still felt no pain. That was a nice bit of progress.
Still, the workouts are tough. As I've said, I'm really used to long cardio classes of all sorts and even long endurance races aren't too bad if I can choose my own (slow) pace. But these workouts aren't cardio-heavy. The cardio is the easy part for me.
I'm not new to strength training either. In college I competed in beauty scholarship pageants. My signature bio always included the fact that I was a weight lifter. Back in the day it was always a surprising and memorable factoid that a “beauty queen” could be doing something so manly without becoming a hulk. So most of the weight work is fine and I enjoy pushing myself.
The exercises I'm struggling with are the pilates-type moves.
The plank is deadly. I literally have to break up the three minutes into myriad segments. I complete my entire time, but it takes forever since I have to keep stopping to collapse rest.
The traditional, old lunges also give me trouble. I hate lunges. I really do. While I wouldn't be classified as having bad knees by any stretch, lunges have always just hurt my knees. No matter how I adjust (and I do know all the rules), I can't do them in a way that (1) doesn't hurt and (2) gives me a good workout.
Finally, I researched an alternative exercise that I could do without pain, while still working similar muscle groups. I came up with Zercher Squats. I just use a dumbbell in each hand. (And I don't wear the patriotic headband!) These don't hurt my knees at all and let's just say I can tell they worked!
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.