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Cardio for someone with bad knees

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dancing_daisy
dancing_daisy Posts: 162 Member
in Social Groups
My 37 yr old partner recently started going to the gym with me. He's keen to reduce his mid section but mostly heavy lifts as he has poor knee health. Any recommendations on cardio which wont test his knees please?

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  • JonDrees
    JonDrees Posts: 161 Member
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    Swimming is my favorite form of cardio for anyone, especially people with bad knees. A recumbent bike might work, too.

    I would avoid any running or jumping, especially on hard surfaces.
  • _BrewingAZ_
    _BrewingAZ_ Posts: 252 Member
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    I've been told to stop running and all high impact cardio by my doctor because I have arthritis in my feet. I'm now using an elliptical, which may help with knee pain because it's low impact, as long as you get one with a long enough stride.
  • MoonKat7
    MoonKat7 Posts: 358 Member
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    Heavy lifts with bad knee is not good.

    To strengthen the knee he needs to strengthen the quad muscle but not heavy lift.

    Spinning/cycling, his weight will be supported by the seat so no stress on his knee, google online how to adjust the seat, there's few videos on youtube.
  • olymp1a
    olymp1a Posts: 1,766 Member
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    Swimming. Amazing full body exercise, zero chances of injury and also relaxes the mind. Can't go wrong with it.
  • LuminaStele
    LuminaStele Posts: 85 Member
    edited October 2016
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    But of you dont have a pool, many gyms do not.
    Try kettlebar swings, DB snatches, ropes, sledgehammer swings (tons of fun) medicine ball slams or sit ups then throw the medicine ball. Regular or Exoloding push ups. Theres tons out there. Video workouts as well. Anything that gets his heart rate up for an extended period of time counts as cardio. Also, a Physical therapist can recomend exercises that help strengthen the knee or surrounding muscles to help the knee. Hope this helps :)
  • niallcavanagh
    niallcavanagh Posts: 29 Member
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    I have had crepitus and stiff knees for about 20 years, but surprisingly they were fine for distance cycling and general workouts in the gym. I find that most leg exercises that do not require a large bend under high weight are ok, so lunges, jumps and sumo squats are fine, but ordinary squats, bulgarian split squats and leg presses are more troublesome.
    There are plenty of cardio exercises that do not have huge impact on the knees, e.g. forward and back lunges (light weights), running on the spot (high knees), star jumps, lighter weight squat presses (8kg x2), pop squats, lateral lunges, squat with lateral raises, burpees, alternate dumbbell raises while marching, kettlebell swingthroughs, woodchops ... and those are just some that work the legs. There are loads of cardio exercises with no impact on the legs, e.g. Russian twists, all sorts of sit-ups (bicycle, ultimate, weighted, weighted with twists), all sorts of pressups (standard, alternate forearm plank, plyometric, slow down - fast up), skipping, plank jacks...
    I recommend wearing a chest heart rate monitor to keep a track of the training zone.
    I use polar beat on my android and manually copy the time/calories to MFP.
  • dcresider
    dcresider Posts: 1,272 Member
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    Bicycling is a good option to. No needless pounding on the joints and is very low impact but can be high cardio depending on exertion.

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