Bad knees.

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manninglanci
manninglanci Posts: 1
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey I have bad knees, so its hard to do a lot of workouts... Any suggestions on some good workouts that won't make my knees worse? Thank you!

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  • LiveForTheWilderness
    LiveForTheWilderness Posts: 57 Member
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    Swimming and recumbent bikes are low impact workouts.
  • Silentfool
    Silentfool Posts: 189 Member
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    Swimming all the way... once the knees are stronger then look for something else.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
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    define "bad knees"

    I'm not trying to be snotty, but there are different types and degrees of bad knees. I have bad knees, and I'm a runner. My knees are better now than before I took up running. But for some knees, running would be a terrible idea.

    At any rate - low impact exercises are usually a safe bet - swimming, cycling. Strength training can do a lot to actually HELP bad knees - it's low impact, and strengthening the surrounding muscles helps to stabilize the knee and takes some of the pressure off the joint.
  • Stronger_Diva
    Stronger_Diva Posts: 149 Member
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    Yes like mentioned above I have a recumbent bike and it works great. Especially on days when my knees flare up, I can still get something in. Swimming is great and so is low impact walking, elliptical and stationary bikes. My doctor has specifically told me to avoid running, squats, lunges, kettlebells (which has a lot of knee action) and calisthenics. Those were workouts that I really loved doing so it is why he put those on my no-no list. Good luck!
  • journalistjen
    journalistjen Posts: 265 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Depending on how bad your knees are--consider exercises to make them stronger. If you can eventually work up to doing squats or goblet squats with good form--that's the best thing. You can also do hamstring curls and leg presses. Sometimes the muscle weakness is an imbalance in strength between the quads and hamstrings.
  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
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    Second swimming, also weights (minus some that do strain the knees). Most of all, listen to your body and build up slowly. I have minor knee problems like Allons, and I have worked up to some fairly brisk runs and bicycling by not pushing on when they start to hurt more than a slight ache and by taking rest days when appropriate.
  • HeatherFisher2013
    HeatherFisher2013 Posts: 2 Member
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    google DDP Yoga. I have OA ad RA and I can do that. It's an incredible workout.. plus it isn't your Moms yoga! You will get a workout!
  • DerekVTX
    DerekVTX Posts: 287 Member
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    I had very achy knees when I was 270 lbs. I found even when I started out that exercise made them much less achy. I find absolutely no knee pain now at 190 lbs and have started running & Squats with no problems. I lost most of my weight through carefully controlled diet, core & Upper Body weight training, and lots of Eliptical machine work outs.

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