DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have devised a training schedule that I think is legitimate. I exercise hard for two months, both lifting weights and running on a treadmill. I spend 45 minutes with each. Then I lay off for two months. That gives me six months of hard exercise a year. My only problem is having to start from scratch after the two-month layoff. What do you think of this program? – W.K.

ANSWER: Two months is too long a time without doing any exercise. It’s good to take a break. It refreshes the body and restores enthusiasm for exercise. However, marathon runners note a 25 percent decline in their running performance when they take only two weeks off. In two months, you are experiencing profound deconditioning. You’re essentially undoing the work you did in the pervious two months.

If you want to back off on the intensity and length of exercise, you can do so. Many take a month or so of doing less than they had been doing, but they don’t forgo all exercise.

Periodization is a good training technique. You make an exercise plan for the entire year with periods where you vary the amount and kinds of exercise you do. For example, for one or two months you lift heavy weights, performing only six repetitions in each of three sets. Then for the next period, you lift lighter weights, doing 10 to 12 repetitions in each of three sets. You take an occasional week off for doing nothing. For a running program, you could stress distance for a month or so, then cut back on distance and pick up the speed of your running. Or you can switch to an alternate aerobic exercise – swimming or biking.

Periodization prevents overtraining, promotes muscle recovery and growth, and avoids fatiguing the nervous system.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I ride a stationary bike for half an hour a day, and I have been doing this for the past three years. In the past couple of weeks, after 10 minutes of pedaling, I get pain in my right calf. If I don’t stop, the pain becomes unbearable. The pain lets up when I stop, but it comes right back when I begin pedaling again for a few minutes. Is this a muscle thing? I am 67. – B.B.

ANSWER: It could be many things, but I think it might be a circulation thing.

Calf pain that comes on with exercise and leaves with rest strongly suggests that blood isn’t getting to the exercising muscles. It indicates there’s an obstruction in a leg artery. You shouldn’t waste any time in finding out if this is your problem. Your family doctor can detect such a blockage without much trouble.

If you do have a clogged artery, then you know what you have to do: lower cholesterol, control blood pressure, make sure blood sugar is normal, lose weight and perhaps take medicines.

For a severely blocked artery, you might need surgery or a stent.

People with poor circulation in the legs often have poor circulation in the heart, and that is an issue that also has to be settled.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 14 and am just getting over mono. I feel pretty good. I’m not as peppy, but my energy is coming back. I would like to start playing baseball. How long do I have to wait? – G.L.

ANSWER: The answer depends on how sick you were, and the only one who can give you reliable advice is the doctor who took care of you.

On average it takes three to four weeks from the onset of mononucleosis to return to physical activity. It doesn’t sound like you have completely recovered. Your energy has to be the same as it was before you became sick.

Mono makes the spleen get big. The spleen has to return to normal size before a person attempts to play any contact sport. Baseball isn’t in the contact-sport category, but there are occasions in baseball when bodies collide. A large spleen can rupture and cause massive bleeding. The doctor needs to check the size of your spleen before you put yourself in a situation where you might expect trauma to it.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have osteomyelitis of the second toe of my right foot. I am currently undergoing daily IV antibiotic therapy and will be doing so for six weeks.

No one knows how I got this bone infection or how to prevent it in the future. I always wear shoes. I do not go to pools or use hot tubs.

I would appreciate reading about this in your column. – F.B.

ANSWER: Bone infection – osteomyelitis – is a difficult infection to treat, and it takes a long time to eradicate. Bones are infected in a number of ways. They can acquire bacteria from a nearby infection, like an ulcer. Direct inoculation of bacteria into a bone happens with trauma, when bone juts out from the skin. Or bacteria can be transported to bones from a distant body site, even one that is so small that a person might not have recognized it as being infected. Perhaps this is what happened to you. Do you have diabetes? People with diabetes have impaired circulation, and that makes them more susceptible to bone infections. Poor circulation from any cause does the same.

When your infection is completely eliminated, the chances of it coming back or of having another bone infection are not great.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com

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