I want to work out but my knee is wrecked

kiela64

I have a recurring knee issue and I’ve been on my feet all day so I can’t do anything on my feet, I can’t cycle, etc. But I’ve had such an aggravating day, working out is all I can think about. My heart wants to fight somebody lol. What can I do that will be “working out” without using legs at all?

AnnPT77

Most things I can think of require equipment/facilities: Upper body strength training, arm cycle, no-kick swimming, exercises with fitness bands. YouTube has a bunch of seated exercise videos for seniors or wheelchair users that you could check out.

apullum

Depends on what you mean by working out. There are strength exercises and yoga poses that you can do while seated, but cardio is more difficult. You could always sit and punch a pillow to work out some frustration

coffeexxeyes

You should look into pilates.

knightreader

sex

kshama2001

I have recurring knee issues as well.

I find pruning quite stress reducing. Yes, I'm on my feet, but it's easier on my knees than just standing or walking.

Do you have access to weights?

Anabirgite

I screwed up my knee 2 years ago and had to suspend my usual activities for several weeks. I found several videos on Youtube for exercising sitting down- I searched, I think, sitting workouts. They were shockingly aerobic. I then started Les Mill Body pump doing wall sits instead of squats and lunges. I will never be running again but I have returned to spinning, my ortho doctor recommended on a stationary bike always maintain 60 RPM when sitting, so I need to adjust or stand when we up the resistance. Good Luck to you.

MikePfirrman

Bunch of great suggestions above. Tai Chi is one more you should be able to do.

mkl2021

I had good luck stringing together a series of high intensity activities that I could loop together in 30 second bursts:
crunches
one legged planks (staying off the bad leg, and gradually adding weight to it as you can tolerate)
one legged bridges (again, slowly adding weight to the bad leg as you can tolerate it)
side planks (usually you can support yourself with 90% of your weight on your solid leg, and use the bum leg just as a touch balance)
wall pushups

Google sitting workups as anabirgite suggested and as you find things that work, cycle them into these 30 second loops. When you can find enough to create a hard core non-stop 7 minute workout, you're golden. NYT.com has a great article on the 7 minute workout that you might find useful as your knee strengths up.

You might also look up CARS on YouTube... some great high intensity workouts for the entire body that are very injury friendly....
Good luck. It sucks but it will recover.

AnnPT77

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Bunch of great suggestions above. Tai Chi is one more you should be able to do.

Tai chi is great stuff, but one caution for knee issues is that some styles will use turning movements on a weighted leg sometimes, and that's not friendly to all types of knee problems. (Late husband taught kung fu & tai chi; I practiced myself for several years.)

There's a "tai chi for arthritis" variant that IIRC is an outgrowth of Sun style; that may be gentler. I struggled a tiny bit when I sampled it (due to torn meniscus, mild OA), but I'm not sure whether that was the style's issue, or my habits from less-injured times.

LyndaBSS

Battle rope

kiela64

Thank you all for these great suggestions!!! I didn’t end up doing anything that day. Swimming is high on my list but has even been known to aggravate my knee sometimes 😕 I haven’t tried seated workouts. I do have hand weights! I’m back to wearing my knee brace most days, so I’m happy to have this list for more ideas. I wanted something to get that “I worked out” feeling of exhaustion after cardio. Twisting with weight is definitely bad for my knees. But I’m gonna try these!!! Thank you so much