new, question about modifications for injuries

[Avalanche574]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking and reading for awhile, but this is my first post. I haven't started the plan yet, but I'm gearing up, so to speak.

Now, I totally understand that the best thing to do would be to follow the plan faithfully, but, sadly, I have a couple issues that are going to get in the way of doing that. I was diagnosed w/chrondomalacia patella about 12 years ago, so knee pain has been part of my life for a while. I'm pretty good at working around it and not doing things that will aggravate it. Recently (November) my upper arm, right before my shoulder, started to ache. It's within the muscle -- not the joint and I feel it while doing a variety of things -- driving (turns), lifting things over a certain range of motion, push-ups, etc. Truthfully, the arm issue is more frustrating because it's new and doesn't seem to want to go away - I took quite a bit of time away from yoga/strength training (cardio is ok) and didn't see any difference. I also have no idea what started it.


I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to really follow the plan since both my upper and lower body are compromised, but I'd like to give it a shot.

So, my actual questions:
In reading through the workout section of the book I see that there are a lot of lunges and lungey type exercises.These really are a no-no for me. The last time I attempted lunges I had a swollen knee and pain for several days. Squats don't seem to put as much pressure on it, so those I can do. Is there a decent lunge sub or modification I can do? Apologies if this is listed in the book, I didn't see anything about it.


Push ups -- I can do about 8-10 of these before I feel muscle exhaustion AND my shoulder starts yelling at me. Would it be ok to do 3 sets of 10 instead of 2 sets of 15?