If you feel pain with every step, you might wonder how to incorporate weight-bearing exercises into your workout. You do have options that will continue to improve the strength in your leg muscles and allow you to perform an effective cardiovascular workout.
Weight Bearing
Weight-bearing exercises are performed in a standing position with gravity pressing down on your muscles and bones. When you carry the weight of your body as you exercise, you are participating in weight-bearing exercises. Examples of weight-bearing exercises are walking, stair-climbing, hiking, dancing, running, sports such as basketball, tennis and volleyball, and weight-training exercises such as squats or lunges.
Cardiovascular
When performing your cardiovascular workouts with bad knees, choose activities that do not include excessive lifting and setting down of your foot. An elliptical machine is a safe activity for bad knees because your foot does not leave the platform, yet your legs move through a large range of motion and your heart rate increases. Water exercise such as walking or jogging will reduce the affects of gravity on your body. You will still gain the weight-bearing benefits of the exercises, but at reduced damage to your knees.
Resistance
Weightlifting exercises such as squats, lunges, leg presses and leg extensions might need to be avoided when you have bad knees. You can substitute these exercise machines with the use of resistance bands. From a seated position, you can place your foot on the middle of a band and hold an end in each hand. To begin a leg press, bend your knee toward your chest and then straighten your leg out in front of you. This alternative will strengthen your legs without damage to your knees. You can perform a leg extension with a resistance band by tying the band into a circle. You can place the leg of your chair into the circle for your base and your leg into the circle and then straighten and bend your leg against the resistance.
Circuit Training
One way to add weight-bearing aerobic exercise into your workout sessions is to perform the exercises for short periods. For example, you could perform an upper-body strengthening exercise such as a chest press for one minute and then walk on a treadmill for two minutes. Then, you would choose another strength-training exercise such as an arm curl for one minute followed by two minutes on a stationary bicycle. You can obtain an effective cardiovascular and strength training workout by alternating the two exercise styles in this circuit training workout. Your knee might not respond with pain when you limit the amount of time in the weight-bearing activity.
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