Strengthen Your Knees

A lot of people have knee pain and it can be for various reasons.

Here are a few things you can do to strengthen your knee.

Leg lifts:

Lie down flat on the floor. Keep your left leg straight

and bend the right leg slightly at the knee,

bringing the foot closer to the body.

Tighten your core, slowly lift the left leg without

bending the knee. Keep the toes pointed toward the

ceiling and stop when the leg is about 12" from the floor.

Hold for 5 seconds, slowly lower your leg back down.

Repeat 2 times and switch legs.

Standing hamstring curls:

Stand straight with the knees about 2" apart, slowly

bend one knee behind the body, continue to lift the heel in a smooth motion until the knee bend reaches a 90 degree angle.

Keep the straight leg slightly bent to avoid locking it.

Hold the bent leg up for 5 seconds and slowly lower.

Repeat 2 more times and switch legs.

Step exercises:

Use a large sturdy stool, exercise platform or a step in your home.

Step up onto the stool with the right foot and allow the

left foot to follow behind.

The left foot should not be on the stool but should hang behind it.

Keep all your weight on the right foot and hold for 5 seconds.

Slowly lower the left foot down and then follow

it with the right foot. Switch legs stepping up with your left foot first.

Do each leg 10x

Chair dips:

Just about everyone knows how to do this, you can use a chair,

your couch, a tire anything that is sturdy and raised.

With your back facing whatever you are using, put your

hands on the back of your chair. Bend both legs at the knee,

push yourself down and then back up again. Do 10x

Wall squats:

Stand with your body against the wall, put both feet about 24"

away from the wall and squat down, do not hold just keep

squating down and coming back up.

Do 10x

There are various stretches you can do as well to help

the knee before and after. Another tip if you are

doing cardio find some type of machine that doesn't

hurt your knees, for me I do well on the arc trainer,

my husband does well on the bike.