People with bad knees often struggle to find an exercise that they can do to effectively lose weight. This is because due to the condition of their knees, most people prefer not to do any exercise at all. However, having a bad knee doesn’t mean that you cannot do any kind of exercise. It only means that you have to avoid certain types of exercises. In this article, I will inform you about some of the exercises that you can do despite having a bad knee.
1. Warm-ups
This is an essential aspect of every exercise routine that you do, especially if you have bad knees. Warm-ups will help in loosening your muscles that have become stiff, and also get your blood flowing through your body and especially towards your joints. Warm-ups prepare you for further exercises, limbering you up even as it loosens the stiff bones. One example of a warm-up that you can do is taking a quick walk for about 5 to 10 minutes, or do any other warm-up routine that is recommended by your physical therapist.
2. Swimming
Swimming is a very good exercise to do as it helps you to burn calories while swimming. It doesn’t require resisting against gravity and is gentle to all of your joints. You can do any type of swimming strokes like normal laps, treading water or any other type of swimming strokes. Note that any swim stroke that annoys your knees or makes you uncomfortable should be avoided at all costs. This is a good example of a cardiovascular exercise.
3. Cycling
Biking is another great non-impact exercise that you can do when you have a bad knee, which will also greatly aid in losing weight. Whenever you ride a bike, you exercise your hamstrings, calves, quadriceps and glutes without straining or hurting your knees. However, when bicycling, do not traverse steep lanes, hills or mountains, instead, stick to flat roads because they are less strenuous.
4. Resistance training
A lot of people assume that weight training is just for building your muscles and looking muscular, but also helps in reducing weight. This is beneficial to anyone with a bad knee who also wants to lose weight. Of course, there are some exercises that you must not indulge in, mainly, leg exercises such as heavy squats, leg presses etc. However, you can indulge in other exercises like bench presses, shoulder presses, biceps and triceps exercises and even abdominal exercises. These exercises burn calories faster and even adds more muscles, so that you get to lose weight faster. Note though that you must be careful not to strain your knees while holding a weight and turning or raising your feet.
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