If you suffer from knee pain and you’re looking for ways to exercise so you can lose weight, look and feel great, ease, even stop your knee pain altogether, then you’re in the right place.
That’s because I know all too well what painful knees are like and exercising with them. With osteoarthritis in my right knee, I’ve tried just about everything. So I understand what you need to consider with your exercise.
Before we dig in and take a look at exercise equipment for you, here’s a few important things to first understand before you start any exercise.
Have You Been Diagnosed With A Certain Knee Condition?
Have you been to a doctor or a knee specialist and they’ve told you, you’ve got X condition with your knee?
You need to know what’s going on with your knee because certain movements may make it better or worse.
After my arthroscope, the physiotherapist suggested I don’t jog, because the heavy pounding your knees take from jogging could inflame my knee. I wasn’t a big jogger anyway. So, I stopped and found other things I could safely do.
What Exercises Should I Avoid With Bad Knees?
Here’s the thing…
You’re the best one to work out what exercise you can and can’t do. That means, at the start, it’s a bit of trial and error finding out what exercises you can and can’t do.
If you’re new to exercise, you’d do one exercise or two exercises at a time so you can see if they caused you more pain the next day.
Examples:
- You do step-ups in your workout and find the day after you get severe pain.
- You do bodyweight lunges and the next day your knees are fine.\
- Walking no pain, but walking down hills for long periods of time upsets your knees for days afterwards, so you limit walking downhill.
- Riding a bike, no pain but walking on a treadmill causes you pain.
Or riding a bike for 15 minutes is fine. However, if you have the tension too high on a stationary bike, or you ride up too many hills, you get severe pain the next day. In this case, you’d dial the tension back a little and ride up fewer hills.
Can you see why I can’t tell you exactly what exercises to do?
You’ve got to test for yourself, and exercise machines like a treadmill or any elliptical machines may be best to avoid when starting out as there are more effective exercise options.
What Result Do You Want From Your Exercise?
- Ease the pain
- Eliminate your knee pain altogether if possible
- Lose weight
- Get fit
- Build some sexy muscles
- All of the above
This is important because this helps you decide what type of exercise you’ll do along with strength training.
Why Strength Training Is Important For Your Knees
Research shows if you don’t do strength training your muscles are shrinking, you become weaker with age, and you gain unwanted weight faster.
And more…
Your knees may hurt more because there’s less muscles around your knees supporting them. Muscle is critical for your body.
Weak quads are an issue. If you’ve got weak quads this can cause more knee issues. Start some regular strength training and you’ll strengthen your quads.
You can strength train at home. Resistance Bands are handy exercise equipment you can take anywhere. Or start with bodyweight exercises.
Avoid high impact exercises like skipping and jumping. High impact isn’t good for people with knee problems.
How Can I Get In Shape With Bad Knees?
If you want to lose weight and you’ve got knee troubles, get your nutrition dialed in.
Why?
Because what you eat is adding weight to your body, or taking the weight off. When you eat the right foods, even without exercise you lose weight.
The best type of exercise is strength training.
What If My Knee Hurts When I Exercise?
What level of pain is your knee in day-to life, 1-10. 10 is painful.
Let’s say you were a 3 normally, and you did lunges and the pain shoots up to 6+ the next day, you’d leave lunges out of your program.
The day after you exercise you want your pain to be tolerable. With some exercise, you’d expect a little more pain the next day. But you don’t want severe pain.
For me, strength training, walking, and hiking are all fine. However, if I do days of hiking in the mountains the downhill starts to kill my knees and I’m in agony for weeks. So, I make sure I don’t do back to back days and upset my knees.
Research now shows exercise is recommended as a treatment for bad knees.
What Exercise Machine Is Easy On The Knees?
If you want to find an exercise machine that’s easy on your knees, you’ll have to test different machines.
Why?
I could tell you get a rowing machine, recumbent bike, stationary bike, elliptical machine, upright bike, or three other exercise machines but they might upset your knees. I understand you want exact answers, but here’s the thing.
When you test and try a few different exercise machines, you’ll find the best one for you. Because you’re in the best position to smart decision for your body.
Which Cardio Machine Has Least Impact On Knees?
Maybe the recumbent bike, stationary bike, elliptical machine, upright bike, some elliptical machine who knows.
You have to test different machines because that’s the only way you find out exactly which machine has the least impact on your knees. Maybe cardio isn’t the best thing for your painful joint.
What Kind Of Exercise Equipment Is Best For Bad Knees?
Nutrition and strength training is best for bad knees, and low impact workouts.
A review of 8 studies that included older adults with osteoarthritis, researchers found strength training programs reduced participants’ pain by 35% and increased their lower limb strength and function by 33%, compared to the control groups.
Strength training helps you lose weight and takes the weight off painful joints.
Equipment-wise, you can start with resistance bands, bodyweight, or some dumbbells and kettlebells.
If your knees a constantly painful, and walking feels like knives stabbing your knees start exercising in a pool.
What Exercise Is Easiest On The Knees?
Swimming is the easiest on your knees because the water takes your weight making it a super low-impact exercise.
Are Exercise Bikes Hard On The Knees?
Depends, you’ve got to test it so you can see how you go.
Example:
When riding a stationary bike, if I turn the tension up high, the next day my knees hurt. If I keep the tension medium and lower, there’s no pain.
An exercise bike might be the best or the worse thing for your knees. Test it, so you can rule it in, or out.
Will Exercise Make Your Knee Pain Worse?
Some exercise you do may make your knee pain worse. When you’re starting out and you’re trying to work out what exercises you can, and can’t do. You have to test different exercises out.
That means, you actually do the exercise because it’s the only way you find out. You find out the next day when you wake up. Is the pain the same or am I experiencing more severe knee pain?
How To Work Out What Exercises You Can And Can’t Do
If you were just starting out or getting into exercise after a long layoff here’s a safe way to go about it.
Do one exercise at a time and here’s why…
Let’s say you did some bodyweight squats and lunges today. You wake up tomorrow and your knees are painful. Was it the squats or the lunges? You don’t know.
You could do try this instead…
You do one movement, then check your knee pain levels the next day. Then the next session, you do lunges.
You do this for walking, cycling, treadmill, elliptical machines, whatever exercise you’re looking at. It won’t take you long to get a group of exercises together that don’t give you agony.
Exercise Equipment For Seniors With Bad Knees
What’s some of the best exercise equipment for seniors with bad knees?
You’re going to have to go and test out some equipment and see what your knees can handle. Be
Why I won’t tell you the best exercise equipment.
Because what’s great for 200 people’s knees, might be horrible for 500 others. This is why you have to test equipment out, and see how your knees go.
Test And Try Things Out So You Know The Best Exercise For You…
You’ve got to conduct tests for yourself with different exercises and equipment because that’s the only way you find out what’s good for your knee joint.
Once you find out, you can then start following a body workout program.
Get your nutrition right, eat a little less because this helps lower body fat. Start strength training, and you can slowly start to ramp things up.
