painful knee joints, how exercise?

Go to a doctor and make sure there is nothing seriously wrong.

"Suck it up" is pretty horrible advice IMO. Especially when you are giving advice to someone about something as important as their knees. You can't possibly have ANY idea of what is causing this knee pain based on the info from the original post.

"Sucking it up" through a serious injury that requires rest (or worse medical intervention) will make things way worse in the long run. I "sucked it up" through a sore foot and ended up with a serious injury that kept me off my feet for weeks.

Yes - we all have to fight through some nagging aches and pains - but make sure you get a doctor to check up on things, so you can make an educated choice on whether or not it is something to power through.

+1

Piled on the weight due to not being able to move/walk much with painful knee joints, any advice?

I had and still do to some degree the same problem. I does get easier as the weight comes off.

I started out walking and just kept increasing my time. I also do at least 2 days of leg exercises to strengthen the muscles in and around the knees...that has done wonders for me.

Just google "exercises for arthritic knees" and you should find a lot that you can do.

There are several exercises that my knees just won't allow me to do...lunges always cause my knees to flair up so I just don't do them. Every couple of months I will try to do them just to see if my knees are strong enough...they are not there yet.

If you knees are just sore from exercising I am afraid that you do just have to suck it up until it gets better. If they hurt...back off...there is a difference between just being sore and truly hurting...you will learn the difference.

There are some online walk at home tapes on youtube that you might try by Leslie Sansone that I do when the weather is bad...you might try those. They helped me a lot. I am now doing walk/jog intervals and I just got back from doing a 3 mile walk.

I promise...if you just start out slow...keep at it...it will get better.

Piled on the weight due to not being able to move/walk much with painful knee joints, any advice?

Yup .... start working out! and suck it up... I had bad knees and still have joint pains but I work through it everyday. I know ... I know your pains are worse right? I can only tell you I could hardly walk at one point in time and I worked through that ... suck it up and just start and do what you can ...as the weight comes off the joints get better.... **** gets easier... life gets better and better

Ok, before just saying suck it up, try looking at the profile and seeing how old the individual is. Exercising is harder on your body at 50+ than it is when you are in your 30s. Someday you will look back and say, gee wasn't I just the most helpful screwdriver in the toolbox?

Go back and read MY post. I will be turning 56 in 7 days. So, while you might not find that helpful - I did about 21 months ago.

No, no, I was responding to the 31 year old who said suck it up.

You keep making excuses for others, I will keep proving people like you wrong. What's the point of your post? Either get back to work or get a job ... There is 0 help from your post here.

OP; be the first 50+ year old to turn their life around you can do it just push through the pain!

Actually...I am 61 and I have pushed through the pain. I wasn't stupid however...I listened to my body. If I was just sore from activity...I kept pushing. If however my knees were giving out on me...I backed off.

Like I told the OP...I just got back from a 3 mile walk...I am almost down to a 45 min 3K...that is my goal. I am also starting the C25K program. I will push through it...but I won't be stupid and keep pushing my knees until I can't get up out of a chair.

You must not have dealt with arthritic knees...or knees that are so weak that you can barely get out of bed. It takes time to build them up...it has taken me 7 months to get to this point and that is with me working every day.

Go to a doctor and make sure there is nothing seriously wrong.

"Suck it up" is pretty horrible advice IMO. Especially when you are giving advice to someone about something as important as their knees. You can't possibly have ANY idea of what is causing this knee pain based on the info from the original post.

"Sucking it up" through a serious injury that requires rest (or worse medical intervention) will make things way worse in the long run. I "sucked it up" through a sore foot and ended up with a serious injury that kept me off my feet for weeks.

Yes - we all have to fight through some nagging aches and pains - but make sure you get a doctor to check up on things, so you can make an educated choice on whether or not it is something to power through.

^ This I agree

I don't know why people think that knee pain is an excuse. The OP is clearly trying to do something about the weight gain and was only asking about some alternative exercises. There was no need to "suck it up" because I think OP is already sucking it up :laugh: [no pun intended]

I have horrible knees and constant discomfort no matter what I do it seems. I have suffered with repetitive stress injuries since I was young and am developing arthritis thanks to it which is super fun to deal with that at a fairly young age.

I have been walking a lot which although can be uncomfortable isnt too painful, I have tried doing interval jogging but it seems to make me so sore that I can barely move the next day.
I recently bought an ellipitcal for my home which is amazing, low impact and I can go forever on it. Its a great workout and I almost prefer it to walking since I dont seem to get the knee pain as bad. Plus I use the elliptical when I am catching up on my DVR so I dont feel so useless while watching my shows.
Also swimming, its great exercise and will help keep those joints from taking a beating. I love swimming and luckily living where its not too cold for long I can swim a lot of the year.

I have a valgus knee (it collapses inwards) and arthritis. I wear a knee brace when I walk or am weight bearing for a long time. I found the recumbent bike at the gym to be a great way to get in some exercise, build leg muscle, and burn calories. I'm up to a level 11 for 60 minutes. I started at 1 for 20. I highly recommend this to anyone who is arthritic or too heavy to exercise.

You might want to check w/ physical therapy places...I injured my knee from a slip on the ice, initially it hurt like hell to walk or sit or lay down. My therapist worked with me finding exercises that didn't cause pain to the knee, but allowed the issue to heal while strengthening everything around it so that when it felt better and went load bearing again it held up better and didnt collapse again.