strengthening legs with dodgy knees

Cycle. No weight bearing or impact. Brilliant for general joint health.

I have the same problem, even cycling and the cross trainer gives me gyp, but I just try to keep going (I don't do that long in the grand scheme though!) Swimming breast stroke doing the frog legs thing is pretty good as well. But like you, I am just resigned to having crappy knees.. I am just trying to improve range of motion because although I have hypermobile joints like you, all the muscles and connective tissues are crappily short and tight so even touching my toes with my feet together is nigh impossible lol.

I had bad knees for a while and my lower body routine involved Straight leg deadlifts, hip bridges/hip thrusters (these will torch your glutes), calf raises and the hip abductor machines. Was all I could do without making things worse. I did manage to preserve quite a bit of strength. I found the quads the hardest to hit though just as a comment

First off, talk to a doctor. The last thing you want to do is make your knees WORSE. And if something actually HURTS, stop doing it immediately.

You might try out some ballet based workouts, and isolation moves for building the leg muscles. And avoid the leg machines at the gym at all costs (except the leg press). I have an awful left knee, and I started out with dance based low impact workouts that focused on stability rather than raw strength, so that I could build up the muscles around the knee. Pool workouts are great for this.

I have horrible knees as well, and thought I would never be able to do squats again, then I heard about ATG squats, or some call them Sumo squats.
Wide stance, with all your weight on your heels. Do not let the knees go forward past your ankles, and go down as far as you can and back up, all in one fluid motion.

I started trying them using the over-the-door exercise straps first. I could lean back without falling over, and use the straps to support my weight a bit if I needed to. I was shocked that I was able to do 10 in a row, with no pain at all.
I can now do them with just a light hand on a counter or back of a chair, just for balance.

As long as my knees stay in line with my heels, there is zero knee pain.

I have really bad knees and have modified most exercises.
Sumo squats take the load off of knees and are great
Nordic walking is good, use of the poles takes the pressure off of knees and hips.
Anything in a pool is great too! Water jogging, HIIT, modified for the pool gets a good burn!
I started with a stability ball, just sitting on it for an hour or so helps strengthen your core and equals an okay calorie burn as well, for me it's about 184 calories an hour.

I have terrible knees too. I can't squat, do lunges or deadlift or even do leg extentions. I can do romanian deadlifts, and leg curls, calf raises, and strangely enough the leg press does not give me pain in my knees but I do them with lighter weights and higher reps just to be on the safer side ...

My knees are a mess so I can't squat or lunge.
I keep my quads strong though cycling backed up with using the rowing machine and sometime elliptical or stepper.

Strength exercises for my legs are limited to:
Leg press (can't go much above bodyweight though) :grumble:
Leg extension.
Leg curl (I do these as don't want to get too quad dominant from all the cycling I do).

Straight leg lifts are a good rehab exercise you can do anytime.
Using the stairs instead of lifts/elevators also helps.

BTW - if you are getting sharp pain then you really should get that diagnosed properly, it could be something really simple to fix like a minor meniscus tear that a simple procedure will sort out.

Kneeling sissy squats may be useful for you.

unfortunately i can't squat at all.

How do you weight a hip bridge? I've only done them bodyweight. Do you use a plate or something?

Thanks all, and apols for slow response, havent been at puter.

You could probably use a plate but most of the time you put a barbell across your hips (just below your hip bone). A hip thruster is basically the same but your shoulders are elevated on a bench

http://bretcontreras.com/the-hip-thrust-spread-the-word/