Other forms of cardio

I remember your rowing thread. You might get serious advice about what's with your knees. A chronic condition is one thing, but a lot of "bad knees", e.g. common patellar tendonitis, can be overcome with the right hip and/or ankle strengthening. The "kneecap" runs up and down a track that gets pulled askew by attached thigh or calf muscles. I went from recurring knee pain to currently doing painless "glutes to grass" and single-leg squats, mainly from improving hip and glute strength with some ankle work, with bells and bands. I recently got and quite like a set of the big loop-style resistance bands and there are HIIT and similar workouts for them, as is for pricier dumbbells and kettlebells.

Shadow boxing (or even heavy bag boxing) is a good CV workout that's not too heavy on the knees. You could even do shadow boxing seated on a bench if your knees are really playing up. Kettlebell swings may also be good for you.

mlfen0778 wrote: »

@I2k4
I had a meniscus tear and part of it removed and have developed some arthritis. The doctor wasn't really helpful and discouraged PT. I really don't want to contact since time has passed and knee has healed. I just know i was told doing marathons would destroyed my knee and i am still able to do 5k races. I am to afraid to do things like jumping jacks, burpees, mountain climber even though my feet are in the air when running. I want to find lower impact stuff for my home gym and outside so I can still lose weight and build some lean muscle. Not looking to bulk but just want maybe like 10 to 20 pounds of muscle. To help my running And even to just look good as I am now 41 yrs old. I do have dumbells and resistance band as well as other things. I think alot of my problem is metal fear. Just really need help to know i can achieve all this longterm

FWIW:

I have a meniscus tear (maybe both knees now, based on feel, but only one was scanned), plus some knee and hip osteoarthritis, and (it now seems) osteopenia has probably progressed to osteoporosis. (Sigh.) I've chosen to defer surgery, as my orthopedist said I wasn't burning any bridges by doing so.

In that context, my doctor also resisted referring me to physical therapy. I don't know if it will work for you, but I convinced him by saying that I knew PT couldn't possibly "cure" my knees, but that wanted PT to help me learn to walk and climb stairs (plus do other normal-life things) in ways that would reduce the stress on my knees, so possibly moderate pain/discomfort levels. He bought into that, and referred me.

Maybe that strategy could work for you?

Once at PT, I asked for that help, plus any other advice they thought would help me, which included talking about what kinds of exercise would be helpful or to be avoided.

(The walking/stairs advice and exercises did help, in my perception, too. My leg strength is good (I'm one of those C2 rower bigots 😉), and the therapist agreed that was true, but there was some tightness in my hips that limited motion and led to some avoidable knee stresses. PT helped with that. I can't remember exactly when that was, but probably close to a decade ago, and I still haven't chosen surgery - but I did lose weight in that time, too, which helped a lot also.)

In case it helps: I mostly just row and bike, both of those indoors/stationary and outdoors (water, roads/trails). Could swim, but do the minimum because I find it icky and don't want to. I can lift, sometimes do, but go on and off for reasons unrelated to knees; but there are certain strength exercises I don't do. Freeweights, machines, kettlebell routines can all work for me, as long as I avoid the trigger exercises. I don't do things that involve much impact (including running, though I do walk some), nor things that torque my knees (like aerobic dance, anything with weighted turning on a leg, fast break sports like basketball or tennis, etc. I wouldn't do kung fu or tai chi anymore, at least not regularly (used to), but some related exercises would be OK for me (bag work, kick drills, etc.)

mlfen0778 wrote: »

@I2k4
I had a meniscus tear and part of it removed and have developed some arthritis. The doctor wasn't really helpful and discouraged PT. I really don't want to contact since time has passed and knee has healed. I just know i was told doing marathons would destroyed my knee and i am still able to do 5k races. I am to afraid to do things like jumping jacks, burpees, mountain climber even though my feet are in the air when running. I want to find lower impact stuff for my home gym and outside so I can still lose weight and build some lean muscle. Not looking to bulk but just want maybe like 10 to 20 pounds of muscle. To help my running And even to just look good as I am now 41 yrs old. I do have dumbells and resistance band as well as other things. I think alot of my problem is metal fear. Just really need help to know i can achieve all this longterm

That explains a lot, unlike my tendonitis permanent damage creates a real problem between working "on" the knee to maximize it and working "around" it to achieve cardio objectives. Sounds like you have good gear to get good upper body and core workouts, but the big cardio taxing muscles are generally the legs. Professional guidance and a gradual program might help.

mlfen0778 wrote: »

@NorthCascades

I live in Rochester NY. Which is upstate NY. There's nothing really special here. I live outside of the city. So there's nearby parks

How do you feel about rock climbing? It's fun, difficult, it's cardio and strength, there's a lot of personal growth involved. Upstate has some really good rock. (I grew up in Connecticut.)

I'm confused. If you're a serious running and you want to get better at running, why are you thinking about rowing? If you want to run faster and/or further, run more. When you aren't running, do things to support your running... things like mobility work, strength training, etc.

You already have a stationary bike for lower impact training... I think you've got your cardio bases covered. If it were me, and I know this isn't really what you asked for, I'd look at some type of suspension trainer. Small, relatively cheap, very versatile. A few kettlebells would be a good choice as well.

But since I hate when people offer advice that doesn't answer the question... my answer to your question would be getting access to a pool. If you need another cardio exercise, swim.

I agree with @jjpptt2 that swimming would be a really good option. I know a few triathletes who combine swimming, running and cycling because they found they were prone to injuries when they focussed on just running. My other half, in particular, is much stronger and fitter for mixing them and hasn’t suffered an injury for a few years now. His performance in each of the three has improved loads too. He doesn’t train three times as often or anything, and tends to follow seasons so that road cycling drops off over winter etc. Over time though the benefits have been surprisingly good.