If you struggle with bad knees, you may be hesitant to take up weight lifting. After all, you may be concerned that strenuous activity will make your knees even worse. Thankfully though, it is possible to lift weights with bad knees. You just need to make some modifications to keep you safe while you exercise.
The first thing worth noting, however, is that you should always check with your doctor before starting a new form of exercise if you have a pre existing medical condition that could have an impact on you while you are exercising. Your doctor can advise whether the training in question will be a good fit for you and your condition.
The first thing to do is make sure that you have a great warmup before you start lifting. You should pay extra attention to your hamstrings and legs in general. If your hamstrings are warmed up, you will have more stability and range of motion as you are lifting. It will also mean that your compound movements will be much smoother. Try not to go too heavy at first either. Once you have warmed up the legs, you can proceed with warming up the rest of the body before moving onto your main moves.
Before you start lifting, you should also be careful about the type of cardio that you do. Try to avoid things like running, cycling or rowing if you can, since these require a lot of repetitive actions that can impact your joints. Instead, try things like swimming if you can.
When you are ready to get started on your training, you should choose movements that give you your full range of motion. Stay away from partial lunges and half squats, since these movements can put too much of a load onto your quads. This can sometimes result in injury, and you may feel more imbalanced. This is a recipe for disaster when you already struggle with your joints. Make sure that you’re looking out for your hips while you’re training too since they are closely linked with your knees. High knee walks and cradle walks can be a great choice for your hips.
If you are training with bad knees, it’s also best to avoid isolated movements. Stay away from things like leg extensions or hamstring curls if you can, since they can put pressure on certain knee joints, which is not a great choice when you already have bad knees. Instead, it’s better to practice compound movements that target the whole body instead. This includes things like deadlifts and squats.
Most importantly of all, don’t push yourself too hard. The last thing that you want to do is put too much pressure on your joints than you can handle. It’s better not to risk injury and to work in a way that’s comfortable to you in order to get the best results.