Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are bringing you one exercise topic, talking about it for two minutes, and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. This week we are talking to those of you who are suffering from knee pain. You have bum knees and they are aching and painful whenever you try to exercise. How can you try to workout despite this chronic discomfort?
1) Strengthen The Muscles That Control Your Knees
Tip number one – make sure you are strengthening the muscles that control and/or influence your knees. The areas you want to focus on are your hips, your knees, and your ankles. Make sure you are strength training with weights for those areas.
Action Step: Try incorporating the following exercises into your workout program: Hip Abduction, Hip Adduction, Knee Extension, Knee Flexion, and Calf Raises. If doing the motion of the exercise is bothersome, try doing isometrics for the exercise where you just hold the position and don’t move.
Related: 3 At-Home Exercises To Help Strengthen Your Feet
2) Do Not Try To Push Through The Discomfort
Tip number two – do not try to push through the discomfort. You have to listen to your body. If an activity is bothering your knees, be mindful of that. Don’t keep trying to push through and get the workout done at all costs. Stop, listen to your body, and exercise appropriately for it without the discomfort.
Action Step: Stay connected with your body while you are exercising. You may be used to blocking out what your body is feeling while you workout, but staying mindful of what you are experiencing while exercising is a key component to identifying the activities that are bothersome.
Related: Why Your Workouts Aren’t Working
3) Keep Doing What Works
Tip number three – once you find the thing that makes your knees feel great, keep doing what works. It is called maintenance, and you should not skimp out on your maintenance plan. Once you feel great, we want you to continue to feel great, so keep doing the thing that helped you, whether it was Muscle Activation Techniques™, resistance training, chiropractic–whatever works for you. Whatever helps you feel great, keep doing that thing so you can continue to get the benefits of exercise without as many aches and pains in your knees.
Action Step: Often, we see people falling into the trap of not continuing to do the activities that make them improve once they feel they have improved enough. However, this is exactly the opposite of what should be done. While the frequency of the activities may decrease, maintenance in some form or fashion is an absolute must if you want to stay feeling great.
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