Lacking healthy knees doesn’t preclude you from engaging in effective workouts – there are numerous cardio exercises which are gentle on the knees while providing an incredible cardiovascular workout.
Before beginning any exercise routine, always consult with your physician and consider meeting with a physical therapist who can evaluate knee pain. Other knee-friendly cardio workouts include swimming, step ups on an aerobic step bench and cycling.
Swimming
Swimming provides many health advantages – it helps burn calories, strengthen knee and lower body muscles, improve balance and flexibility and alleviate joint stress. Swimming is also fun and low impact – ideal for people with knee pain who want an activity without straining their knees. If you aren’t confident swimming yet, consider taking lessons so as to perfect your strokes and avoid patellofemoral pain (pain in front of kneecap caused by repeated forceful contraction of quadriceps muscles) which often occurs from overuse of these quadriceps muscles).
Water walking is another effective way to strengthen knees. Like regular walking, but in waist or chest-deep water instead, this exercise takes the weight off your knees while soothing joint stiffness and soreness with warm temperatures from the water itself. Plus, this workout also works your core and can even be used as an approach back into exercise after injury recovery.
Cycling is an excellent cardiovascular workout that can be gentler on your knees than running, providing an alternative cardio workout with no impact to joints. When starting out cycling for cardio benefits it is wise to gradually build time and reps up gradually until reaching endurance. Beginners may benefit from starting off slowly to decrease any impactful impact to knees.
If you have a history of knee injuries or pain, an elliptical machine could provide additional support that may help alleviate symptoms while potentially helping to avoid further injury.
Rowing machines provide an intensive cardio workout. Rowing can help build stamina while strengthening upper legs, lower back, and thighs – but if you suffer from knee issues it’s essential that your knees remain protected with comfortable footwear and by avoiding high impact movements.
Step Ups
Step ups are a fantastic exercise suitable for people of all fitness levels. Not only can they increase heart rate and burn calories quickly, they also build strength in legs, glutes, core, arms and improve balance, stability and proprioception – not to mention improved balance! Being low impact workouts without high impact movements like jumping can make step ups an excellent solution for people suffering knee pain; just make sure that form is followed correctly or risk overstraining of knee ligaments!
To keep your back straight and plant both feet firmly onto a step, this will prevent knees from moving out of alignment and crossing over your toes. Furthermore, you can customize the height of your surface for best targeting different muscles: for instance a lower box may better target quads while higher boxes might better target posterior back muscles.
Once you’ve mastered basic steps, add weights to your workout. Dumbbells or barbells in clean rack position may work; for an additional challenge try performing this movement while holding the weight overhead by stepping up and down while holding onto it overhead – this variation will develop your core, shoulder, arm strength as well as explosive power!
Although stepping is an excellent exercise for developing leg and core strength, it may not be suitable if your knees are already aching or you have undergone surgery on them recently. To prevent further discomfort to both parties involved it may be wise to wait until you’ve fully healed before returning to it.
If you’re unsure whether this exercise is right for you, consult with a physician. They can offer guidance regarding other cardio exercises suitable to your health history and injury history as well as exercises that might keep joints strong and healthy like cycling or swimming – these might not place additional strain on knees; just listen to what feels right to you and stop exercising immediately if anything feels uncomfortable or painful.
Rowing
Rowing is an excellent cardio exercise for people with bad knees as it provides a full-body workout with no direct strain on your knees. Like all exercises, rowing should be used moderately to avoid overstraining muscles and joints; The Mayo Clinic recommends low-impact aerobic and cardiovascular workouts like rowing to strengthen knees, control weight, reduce arthritis pain/ stiffness/ stiffness as well as build bone support through muscle support and strengthening activities like rowing machines – which provides strong cardio workouts without impact on joints! Rowing machines make great additions to this prescription as they offer full-body cardio workouts without strain on knees!
Rowers use a combination of power, core, and back muscles during each stroke. Rowing involves two distinct phases – “drive” and “catch.” In the drive phase, you push through your heel and midfoot while leaning slightly back; during catch phase you stretch forward by hinging at hips then pulling handle towards ribs. One key aspect to avoid knee injuries during rowing is not hyper extending (also known as locking out), as this places too much strain on joint cartilage and puts too much pressure on joints causing chronic joint damage so it is imperative that during both catch/drive phases to avoid hyper extending knees beyond their ankles during catch/drive phases to keep knees from going past their ankles during catch/drive phases.
If you’re new to rowing, start off slowly until your knees feel more at ease with the motion. Gradually increase speed and intensity as your knees permit – or use interval training or high intensity interval training as part of a rowing machine workout regimen.
The elliptical machine provides another great low-impact, calorie-burning workout without risking knee injuries. Furthermore, you can customize your routine by changing resistance or inclines during each workout session – providing plenty of variety!
If your knees have been feeling sore from doing too much cardio recently, it could be time to switch it up a bit. High-impact exercises like running or jumping may put too much strain on them and lead to injuries and discomfort; there are plenty of cardio options that provide heart pumping workouts without overstraining them.
Cycling
Cycling is an immensely popular form of cardio exercise, being non-impact and suitable for use both on flat and hilly terrain. Furthermore, cycling releases endorphins which help improve both physical and mental wellbeing while simultaneously relieving stress.
Strength training can be key to safe cycling; this helps balance leg muscles so they’re not overworking your knees. Strong quads, hamstrings and calves reduce stress on your knees when riding your bike.
Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) is a common source of knee pain among cyclists. This condition results from repeated friction between the ITB and lateral femoral epicondyle when flexed; weak ligaments allow too much ITB movement across femur bone, leading to microtrauma and inflammation within joint.
ITBS can be easily avoided by strengthening quads, hamstrings and calves. Furthermore, make sure your bike fits perfectly and pedal at an appropriate cadence based on your fitness levels.
Physical therapists frequently recommend beginning rehab for knee or hip injuries with recumbent cycling as it provides a gentle way of returning to exercise while giving injured areas time to heal. Furthermore, this low-impact cardio exercise may supplement other forms of therapy as your recovery progresses.
Regular aerobic exercise strengthens the heart, lungs and blood vessels to increase efficiency while decreasing cardiovascular disease risk. Exercise may also help you reduce obesity risk and maintain a healthier weight – excess pounds place undue strain on joints which aggravate osteoarthritis; maintaining a healthy weight can slow bone loss in knees and hips to delay osteoarthritis progression.