looking for alternatives

[Aroha]

I live in the GreatWhiteNorth, Midwest, USA and therefore, my physical fitness in the winter is limited to a gym. This is my first experience with taking classes and trying to stick to a fitness plan throughout the winter.

I "used to" do a lot of sports and physical activities. I've not been a lazy bump on a log these last couple years, but I am definitely not fit to that degree anymore.

I joined a gym to participate in their bootcamp class to kick start myself and then had to take a break due to a shoulder injury. While that seems to be mostly recovered, my shin splints seem to be reappearing, despite the podiatrist recommended shoes I've been wearing. Rather than continue to whine, I'm looking for suggestions!

I'm here to find exercises and get input on keeping myself healthy while gaining physical fitness. At this point, the elliptical seems to be the only thing that doesn't aggravate a single part of my body. I can keep my heart rate up around 185 and get in a good workout with zero pain. Yippee... except it gets pretty boring after 20-30 minutes!

So far I've experienced a cycling class and a bootcamp class. Both have been excellent work outs.

And, hello!

 

[Goldfish]

Welcome on board.

For your shin splints, I'd use a foam roller on them.

If you want to be generally fit and healthy, then I recommend you look into resistance training as well as cardio. As far as health is concerned, cardiovascular and pulmonary health are primarily affected by cardio, for obvious reasons. Metabolic health is affected by both cardio and resistance training. Musculoskeletal health is affected primarily by resistance training. As far as fitness is concerned, there are several types of fitness: strength/force production, speed, muscular endurance, cardiovascular fitness, range of motion/flexibility, and body composition cover most aspects of fitness, which each of the above having different specific areas of fitness under their general categories. There's also overlapping factors between different types of fitness. It's not always productive to try and improve all areas of fitness at once, but you should at least aim to maintain one while you build up another.

Taking it back to shin splints, you may find that you can improve your strength, speed and range of motion without aggrivating your shin splints. Doing so would still improve your fitness, even if it's not necessarily cardiovascular fitness. Certain strength and range of motion exercises may improve the condition of your shoulders - others might make them worse.

Since you're looking for alternatives, I hope this has at least given you some ideas on broadening your horizons in the gym.