How To Get Fit With Bad Knees!

How to get fit with bad knees
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As we get older we seem to find more and more challenges in front of us on our way to regaining our fitness or maintaining it. And knees pain or weak knees is one of these challenges. And it may feel like there is no way we can over come this, but in many cases we can.

So today we are going to look at how we can get fit and strong even though we suffer from knee pain. Improving not only our cardiovascular fitness but strengthening our legs in ways that will eliminate muscle imbalances that can cause knee pain.

First let’s go over some basic dos and don’ts when it comes to knee pain. We should avoid high impact activities like plyometrics, focussing more on low impact movements.

There are two main thoughts in my mind, one when it comes to strengthening our legs, the emphasis should be on repairing the muscle imbalances that are causing our knee pain. NOT on trying to move a ton of weight. So we should be keeping the weight light focusing on form and the muscle contraction. In many cases we shouldn’t be using any weight at all.

The next one under this category is range of motion. I’m always saying how you should be doing a full range of motion, well this is one of those times we make an exception. You may not be able to do a full range of motion without pain. So you need to work within the range that is pain free. Slowly increasing this range as you gain strength and if you can’t do the full range of motion then you shouldn’t be doing the exercise with weight.

Notice that I haven’t excluded squats in this list and we will get to those in a minute. First we need to start with a warm up you can walk or ride a bike many people actually find cycling easier on the knees. One tip I would suggest here is to make sure you have your bike seat set up high enough as this relieves even more strain off the knees. While we are just talking about a warm up here to oxygenate the muscles and warming them up to improve flexibility. Activities like cycling, swimming and water aerobics are great ways to get a cardiovascular workout in without stressing the knees.

Next I like to do an X band walk where I take a band and put it under my feet then while holding each end in my hands I take ten steps to the side each way and this exercise really works the abductors. Sometimes you see people doing this one with a band around both legs just above the knees. Now the abductors are the muscles on the outside of your leg and The way weak abductors cause knee pain is it’s their job to keep the leg straight when your standing on one foot like when you are walking or running. If it is weak then your knee will cave inwards causing your knee to misalign as you move. Another place where you will see this happen is when you squat if your abductors are weak then your knees will have a tendency to cave inward as you move in the squat.

When the adductor muscles of the leg are weak which are the muscles of the inside of your leg. When these are weak it will cause your knees to bow outwards as you squat causing your knees to misalign in the opposite direction. Again I use a band exercise to strengthen the adductors.

You need to fix one end of the band to something secure that won’t move. Then put the other end on your foot moving far enough away from the secured end to create a reasonable amount of tension on the band. Then pull your leg with the band on it across your body for 10 to 15 reps and repeat on the other side.

I do both these exercises as a warm up just to get those muscle fired up and ready for action. Depending on where you are with your knee pain you may need to use these exercises as part of your main workout until those muscles have strengthen enough you can progress to more advanced movements.

Squats often get a bad rap for being hard on your knees. Now this isn’t the case at all if they are done properly. They can be a great knee strengthener and this is why it is so important to pay attention to form. We have already talked about how our knees could cave inwards or bow outwards when squatting, the next thing we want to watch out for is our knees traveling too far forward so they start to track over are toes. When this happens we start to put all our weight on the balls of our feet. Our weight should always remain evenly distributed over our entire foot.

Now maybe your doctor has said you aren’t allowed to do squats. Ask him if your allowed to sit in a chair.

The exercise is called a sit to stand and it is really the step before what I would call a chair squat. How it works is you sit in a chair then lean slightly forward and stand up. If you need to you can use your arms to assist you in standing up. You can make this easier by finding a higher chair or adding a pillow to the chair to raise it up.