In today Q and A Lesson I’m covering the Question “How To Exercise Without Putting Extra Strain On Your Knees”.
I hope you enjoy’s today’s lesson. Don’t forget to comment below!
Take care…Hugs..
For a more detailed answer see Ross’s written response below.
Exercise is typically thought of as something you do to burn calories or lose fat, but each exercise and style of training has direct positive and negative consequences on short and long-term physical development.
Unfortunately, most people do not think about the way exercise affects their knees and other joints, until they start having aches and pains. The problem is that performing exercises incorrectly or doing activities that put too much stress on your knees usually does not make your knees hurt right away.
Many knee problems take a long time to develop and negative consequences of the exercises/activities people do when they are younger may not be felt until decades later. At that time, people may associate their knee pain with just getting older, but a significant amount of knee pain is often the accumulation of many small things that happened over years.
Fortunately, regardless of your age or physical ability, you can improve the health of your knees now and prevent or minimize future aches and pains. I have trained and rehabilitated numerous people with bad knees and it is amazing how much of a difference the right training program makes when it comes to improving your knees.
I don’t personally have bad knees, but I have had a bad hip for almost 30 years (from an infection) and I know the negative impact that painful joints have on everyday quality of life. Even if you do not have any knee pain or problems at this point, it is still important to take care of your knees now… And the following tips will help you do just that.
4 Tips You Can Use To Improve The Health Of Your Knees And Decrease Aches And Pains Throughout Your Lifetime:
Tip 1 – Learn and practice correct exercise technique and proper joint alignment
It is common knowledge that correct exercise technique is important, but most people exercise with major form flaws, especially when it comes to maintaining correct posture and body alignment. This happens during both resistance training exercises (weights, cables, etc.) and during activities such as running or cycling.
This is problematic, because any time your body is not properly aligned or movements are not completed correctly; unnecessary stress is put on muscles and joints. In the case of the knees, this happens all the time, because the knee joint is used during most activities. Even things like everyday walking have an impact on long-term knee health.
Naturally, each exercise or activity has its own requirements for proper technique, but there are some things that are technically correct and useful for minimizing knee stress regardless of the situation. Most notably, your hip, knee, ankle, and toes should all point in the same direction whenever possible.
For example, when walking or running, your knee should be directly between your hip and ankle, not inside (pigeon toed) or outside (bow legged). In addition, your toes should point in the same direction (straight ahead). Many people walk with their toes turned outward and this puts extra stress on your knees that could lead to problems over time.
An example of poor alignment during a resistance exercise would be during a squat where a person’s knees come closer together at the bottom position of the exercise. When this happens, the knees are no longer in line with the ankle and hip and extra stress is put on the knees. This is often a sign of using too much weight or having poor knee stability.
These are just a couple examples of poor knee alignment and many other examples of poor form/technique can be found in every gym, work environment, or any number of other daily situations. Again, each instance by itself it not a big deal and typically does not result in any pain at that time, but they do cause accelerated degeneration of the knees.
Action Step: Always exercise with correct form and posture. You should always be able to draw a straight line through your hip, knee, ankle, and toes. Otherwise your joints are not correctly aligned and unwanted stresses are placed on your body.
Tip 2 – Improve your stabilizer muscles
One reason people develop knee problems is their stabilizer muscles are underdeveloped or do not function properly. As their name suggests, stabilizer muscles help stabilize and give added support to your body. The muscles that your body uses to maintain correct posture are an example of stabilizer muscles and these muscles can be different than the bigger muscles that create movement (quads, hamstrings, etc.).
In terms of the knee, stabilizer muscles help keep the knee in line with the hip, ankle and toes. If your stabilizer muscles do not have enough endurance or strength to carry out exercises or daily activities, added stress will be put on your knees. Knees and joints in general are not meant to support a significant amount of weight, which is why muscles must do their job to minimize the amount of weight the knee joint has to support.
One of the best ways to improve knee stabilizer muscles is to perform resistance training exercises that challenge balance and proprioception (body’s awareness of your muscles and joints as they move). Performing exercises using one leg at a time (1-leg squat) or exercises on a bosu or similar balance device are examples.
These exercises are most effective when the exercise is difficult enough that you have to really concentrate to maintain proper form, but you are still able to complete the exercise with good posture and correctly aligned joints. Doing exercises that are too challenging or using too much weight will only compromise your results and potentially lead to injury.
Action Step: Incorporate stabilization training into your routine. Try to perform stabilization exercises when you are relatively rested, because if your muscles are already worn out it can be difficult to do them correctly.
Tip 3 – Maintain control throughout the entire rep of each exercise
There are many ways to perform exercises (slow, fast, ballistic, etc.) and each approach to exercise has different implications. For example, performing exercises quickly is useful for training speed and power, but slow and controlled is the way to go when you want to improve your knees.
People are often resistant to performing controlled movements during resistance training exercises, because controlling the entire movement makes it more difficult for your muscles. The muscles have to maintain tension for a longer amount of time and they have to work during the entire range of motion.
In many cases, people relax somewhat during part of exercise, usually during the most difficult part(s). For instance, it is common to see people briefly relax at the bottom point of a squat and then bounce a little bit, which generates momentum and makes it easier to return to the top position.
This is exactly the type of flaw that turns an exercise that helps the knees into an exercise that wears them out prematurely. When your leg muscles relax while your knees are supporting your or lifting weight, it means the knee joint has to support excess weight, which is always a bad thing. Additionally, the bounce/momentum further increases the amount of force the joint must support.
I have heard a number of people say that exercises like squats, split squats, and lunges are bad for the knees or cause knee pain, but I have used these exercises to rehabilitate and strengthen the knees of people of all ages and ability levels. Unfortunately, these exercises get a bad wrap because people either perform them incorrectly, do not have adequate flexibility, or use exercises or weights that are too difficult for their ability level.
Action Step: Use slow and controlled movements and minimize momentum, especially the bouncing type movements that commonly occur when changing direction.
Tip 4 – Strengthen your larger leg muscles
This one is fairly self-explanatory, but the important thing to know is stabilizer muscles are not the only muscles that are necessary for having optimal knee health. Your larger leg muscles, especially the quads and hamstrings, are also important and provide stability and strength to protect the knee joint from unwanted stresses.
Action Step: Perform resistance training exercises to improve the strength of your quads and hamstrings. To further prevent injuries, the muscles in your left leg should be about the same strength or your right leg and your hamstrings should be at least 2/3 as strong as your quads.
If you currently experience knee pain or simply want to have healthy knees, incorporate these 4 tips into your exercise routine to keep your knees feeling as good as possible throughout your life.
By Ross Harrison
VFT Fitness Expert
© Virtual Fitness Trainer.com
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