Things have been going really well with my exercise routine (walking/elliptical) for the past month or so- I've made a ton of progress with my endurance, from my gasping, panting first 15 minute attempt to blowing through 40 minutes like it was nothing.

A few days back, I pushed myself a bit harder/longer than usual and noticed a little twingeing pain developing behind my left knee as I was walking. I figured it was just an odd muscle cramp and kept going. The next day, it was still there. After about 10 minutes of fast walking, there would be a twinge, twinge, twinge every time I extended my leg. The last straw for the poor muscle was yesterday, when an engine breakdown forced me to walk the 8 miles back to my apartment. Great exercise- but it twinged the whole time and today I'm hobbling around like a senior citizen.

After doing a little poking around on the 'net, I'm pretty sure the pain is a strained calf muscle, and I need to give it a little rest. The question is, what can I do in the meantime? I'd hate to lose the progress I've made so far by sitting on my keister for the next week or so, (and I need to burn those calories!) but all the aerobic exercise I can think of involves using my legs.

Does anyone know of some good alternatives? Or have any suggestions about how long I need to let the muscle repair before I can get back on track again? Any input would be much appreciated!

you don't need to do aerobic workouts to loose weight, anarobic (sp?) workouts such as situps or super lightweight high rep exercises for your arms can work too. A few months ago I had some severely scarred cartilage removed from one of my knees and I was stuck on my butt for 4 weeks so I went out and bought 1.5 pound weights and would do like hundreds of "butterfly's" while sitting down, the repetitive motion gets your heart pumping after a while.