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I have recently fractured my fifth metatarsal while playing football (soccer) and so my usual weekly exercise of running, weightlifting, and football will have to be put on hold for some time.

I am quite concerned that my sudden drop in physical activity will cause me to lose my current fitness and put on weight, so I'd like to do some exercise to try and counteract the muscle loss and weight gain.

Does anybody have some exercises I could do until I can get back to running and weight training?

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Breaking your little toe put you in crutches? – Dave Liepmann May 11 '12 at 13:09
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_metatarsal_bone -> more the middle of the foot than the toe – Richard May 12 '12 at 11:43
Ah, I see. My bad. – Dave Liepmann May 12 '12 at 14:28
There are lots of types of exercises you can do to counteract muscle loss and weight gain, so why are you specifically asking about plyometric exercises? Lower extremity plyos usually involve jumping which isn't the best idea with a broken foot. – BackInShapeBuddy May 12 '12 at 14:48
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Doesn't seem like you can do much for your calves, but maybe hamstring curls, and abduction/adduction exercises for inner thigh. Not keen on quad extensions - they supposedly aren't good for the knee. Run it by your doc, or a trainer. If your want to know about rehab there are a lot of specialized athletic &or physical trainers that could help or point you in the right direction. Look up some in your area, like those certified in active-release-technique. – VISQL May 14 '12 at 19:46

2 Answers

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Juggling is a great cardio exercise anytime but especially when recovering from a lower body injury. It will also improve your coordination which is great since you play sports. Try it sitting in an armless chair. Detailed instructions and photos are in my Juggling for Fitness post on this site's blog. Have fun!

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Juggling wasn't even on my list of possibilites. Good suggestion – Richard May 16 '12 at 17:07
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Chinups/pullups, dips (although that might seem quite boring to someone on crutches, pushups (resting your injured foot over the achilles tendon of your good foot), situps, jackknifes, seated overhead press (that might require the help of someone else to get the weights over to you), bench press, seated shrugs, a lot of grip strength exercises should work fine too.

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