Cardio / lower body for knee problems

[Anonymous]

What are your favorite low impact exercises for both cardio and keeping toned lower body if you have knee joint issues?

[Anonymous]

Running hills

[Anonymous]

Rowing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Running hills

But then you kill your knees walking back down!

[Anonymous]

Reclining bike on low resistance.

Swimming.

Yoga with an instructor who knows how to appropriately adjust poses.

[Anonymous]

I'm actually working to rebuild my knees after many years of running too much too fast and lifting too heavy with insufficient mobility.

I'm doing a program that progressively increases the load and range of motion of challenging movements (e.g. slow stepdowns where you step forward/down off a box, single leg squats). Both of those used to kill my knees. Now I do 10x10 of both on each leg with no pain. My knees feel creaky after each of the 3 workouts a week, but I can do everyday life movements (getting up from a chair without using my hands, squatting down to pick something off the floor) without being super careful and moving in slow motion.

Yesterday after my workout I was doing 24" box jumps with no pain. Before starting this program, I hadn't jumped AT ALL in probably 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually working to rebuild my knees after many years of running too much too fast and lifting too heavy with insufficient mobility.

I'm doing a program that progressively increases the load and range of motion of challenging movements (e.g. slow stepdowns where you step forward/down off a box, single leg squats). Both of those used to kill my knees. Now I do 10x10 of both on each leg with no pain. My knees feel creaky after each of the 3 workouts a week, but I can do everyday life movements (getting up from a chair without using my hands, squatting down to pick something off the floor) without being super careful and moving in slow motion.

Yesterday after my workout I was doing 24" box jumps with no pain. Before starting this program, I hadn't jumped AT ALL in probably 5 years.

What does this program consist of? Are you working with a trainer or online?

Also, do you have a diagnosis of arthritis?

[Anonymous]

Walking, stationery bike, elliptical. I walk an hour every day and then do a combo of the other two over the course of a week.

I also do a lot of stretching exercises for my knees that my pt gave me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walking, stationery bike, elliptical. I walk an hour every day and then do a combo of the other two over the course of a week.

I also do a lot of stretching exercises for my knees that my pt gave me.

Could you please describe the stretching, or give a link? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Get those knees scoped

[Anonymous]

Swimming! But also elliptical, bike, and physio.

[Anonymous]

Hydro rower has worked wonders for my cardio needs.

[Anonymous]

Barre classes. You can work low or high. Only thing besides walking that doesn't kill my knees. I also walk hills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually working to rebuild my knees after many years of running too much too fast and lifting too heavy with insufficient mobility.

I'm doing a program that progressively increases the load and range of motion of challenging movements (e.g. slow stepdowns where you step forward/down off a box, single leg squats). Both of those used to kill my knees. Now I do 10x10 of both on each leg with no pain. My knees feel creaky after each of the 3 workouts a week, but I can do everyday life movements (getting up from a chair without using my hands, squatting down to pick something off the floor) without being super careful and moving in slow motion.

Yesterday after my workout I was doing 24" box jumps with no pain. Before starting this program, I hadn't jumped AT ALL in probably 5 years.

What does this program consist of? Are you working with a trainer or online?

Also, do you have a diagnosis of arthritis?

It's an online coachingn program. You video and submit last set of all exercises and get short feedback on form. Link is https://www.atgonlinecoaching.com. It's actually very goofy in how the guy markets it. He's scientifically illiterate in terms of evaluating evidence, and it's targeted to young athletes (I'm in my 50s) so I really had my doubts. However, the notion of progressively working movements that are hard (doing a range of motion or load that's pain free and building to bigger ROM/load over time) actually matches what my PT/pro-athlete trainer brother in law recommends, so I decided to try it. Also, there is a huge focus on flexibility and strengthening underdeveloped muscles that matches what I hear from PTs. Like I say, it's goofy, but it's worked for me.

I don't have a diagnosis because I'm kind of an idiot with doctors -- I'm impatient and not convinced that they can help outside of pretty acute issues. I gave up on the one sports ortho guy I saw because it seemed I would have needed multiple kinds of imaging and 5 appointments (waiting months between each) to get a diagnosis, and then his only interventions seemed to be advil, corisone or surgery. That practice focused on college athletes with actute injuries, and a middle aged guy with overuse issues seemed to bore the doc.

I've always been active and way too prone to work through pain, and I realized a few months ago that despite being able to do heavy low squats and deadlifts, I moved like an old man in my everyday life. So I quit heavy leg lifts and started doing this program. Some of my improvement could be from no heavy lifting, but whenever I've quit lifting in the past my knees have actually gotten worse (to the point that just walking was difficult), so I don't think that's it. At this point I've returned to moving like a normal person and stopped thinking about my knees every time I go down stairs or sit or stand up, which is a great feeling and is exactly what I was hoping for from this program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually working to rebuild my knees after many years of running too much too fast and lifting too heavy with insufficient mobility.

I'm doing a program that progressively increases the load and range of motion of challenging movements (e.g. slow stepdowns where you step forward/down off a box, single leg squats). Both of those used to kill my knees. Now I do 10x10 of both on each leg with no pain. My knees feel creaky after each of the 3 workouts a week, but I can do everyday life movements (getting up from a chair without using my hands, squatting down to pick something off the floor) without being super careful and moving in slow motion.

Yesterday after my workout I was doing 24" box jumps with no pain. Before starting this program, I hadn't jumped AT ALL in probably 5 years.

What does this program consist of? Are you working with a trainer or online?

Also, do you have a diagnosis of arthritis?

You never considered knee surgery? My ortho is pushing for my knee to get scoped and I don’t wanna do it despite the acute pain I feel. I still do squats dead’s and run and can feel there is something not right but I think I should look into this program

It's an online coachingn program. You video and submit last set of all exercises and get short feedback on form. Link is https://www.atgonlinecoaching.com. It's actually very goofy in how the guy markets it. He's scientifically illiterate in terms of evaluating evidence, and it's targeted to young athletes (I'm in my 50s) so I really had my doubts. However, the notion of progressively working movements that are hard (doing a range of motion or load that's pain free and building to bigger ROM/load over time) actually matches what my PT/pro-athlete trainer brother in law recommends, so I decided to try it. Also, there is a huge focus on flexibility and strengthening underdeveloped muscles that matches what I hear from PTs. Like I say, it's goofy, but it's worked for me.

I don't have a diagnosis because I'm kind of an idiot with doctors -- I'm impatient and not convinced that they can help outside of pretty acute issues. I gave up on the one sports ortho guy I saw because it seemed I would have needed multiple kinds of imaging and 5 appointments (waiting months between each) to get a diagnosis, and then his only interventions seemed to be advil, corisone or surgery. That practice focused on college athletes with actute injuries, and a middle aged guy with overuse issues seemed to bore the doc.

I've always been active and way too prone to work through pain, and I realized a few months ago that despite being able to do heavy low squats and deadlifts, I moved like an old man in my everyday life. So I quit heavy leg lifts and started doing this program. Some of my improvement could be from no heavy lifting, but whenever I've quit lifting in the past my knees have actually gotten worse (to the point that just walking was difficult), so I don't think that's it. At this point I've returned to moving like a normal person and stopped thinking about my knees every time I go down stairs or sit or stand up, which is a great feeling and is exactly what I was hoping for from this program.