biking due to an injury?
 

Hello,

I am having some pain in my left foot that feels similar to how my right foot felt before I fractured it a few years back. I've decided that I need to take a break from working out, but it's just so hard! I'm addicted, I guess. I do 30 minutes of cardio a day and some weights and I do this 6-7 days a week.

I was thinking maybe I could use the stationary bike at least? :ebike: I have to walk very carefully so I'm hoping the bike won't be a problem. Any advice? Has anyone gone through this? I really don't wanna go to the doctor. Please tell me I don't have to go to the doctor! Wahhhhh!!!!! ;)

Well, I would definitely go to the doctor. But I can say the bike might be OK! I have a foot issue and my physical therapist said the stationary bike is a good option but don't do anything that causes pain! And try to go to the doctor, you don't want to end up with a permanent issue!

TiffNeedsChange, thanks for your reply! I'll wait a few days and if it's not better, I'll have to go to the doctor....even though I *really* don't wanna. ;)

Question...is the stationary bike a good workout? What level do you recommend? How many miles are considered enough? Weird questions I know, but I'm just so used to doing either running, elliptical (mostly this one), step mill and rowing machine that doing the bike seems like it wouldn't get me that great of a workout. I guess I can't be picky though since there's not much else I can do. I won't swim because it seems to make me ravenous (not sure if that's psychological or not, but I don't need anything to stimulate my appetite).

Thanks again!

The stationary bike is definitely a good workout, and I agree that it might work ok for your foot. You may want to use less resistance and just pedal faster, but I'd just try it out and see what seems best from the perspective of foot comfort. Most of the stationary bikes I've seen have the same heart rate sensors that you have on the treadmill and eliptical... so if you have a sense of where you keep your heart rate on those you could use that as a guide on the bike (even though they're not totally accurate, and probably variable from one machine to another, it has worked pretty decently for me in the past). Or you could just go by the RPMs... I would guess that your cardio capacity is higher than mine, but when I was doing the stationary bike regularly I would keep the RPMs above 90 for about 35-45 minutes after a short warm up (and followed by a cool down). When I could keep them above 100 for the duration that was my cue to up the resistance.

First thing you should do is visit a doctor to check your leg.

I would not advise to stress your injured parts. try finding some other activities (maybe swimming?)

If you can't do cardio and still want to maintain/loss weight, eat less carbs :)

Thanks so much, apple 123 and chickadee32. Right now, I'm out of commission due to a stomach virus. Oh well.....so much for working out.