Anyone with a knee injury, new or old, will know how easy it is to feel it flair up with extreme cardio.
Running, in particular, can be very tough on the knees - so what exercises can you do to get the heart rate up, without hurting already bad knees? And is there a low impact exercise that's the best? Keep reading for what the experts believe are the best exercises for women with bad knees.
1. Swimming
If you're on the search for cardio exercises for bad knees, head to the pool. Swimming provides a great workout that is low impact, versatile and burns calories fast. Whether you’re doing the butterfly or backstroke you’ll work all major muscle groups in your body including your glutes, abdominals and chest muscles.
Wondering which is the best stroke?
2. Elliptical
Exercise is a stress on the body and can cause more inflammation so opt for the elliptical machine over a treadmill for minimal risk of a knee injury. Your feet never leave the pedals, which means there is less of a chance to injury to your knees, back, neck or hips. You’ll also get your heart rate up, which helps to burn more calories and build cardio fitness. Increase the resistant to really test your endurance.
There’s a lot of discussions around which cardio machines burn more calories, and generally, the treadmill does tend to come out on top given you are moving whilst also supporting the full weight of your body but elliptical trainers are fantastic for getting in a great cardio workout with a bit more support.
With any form of exercise, you get out what you put in so it all depends on how hard you push and challenge yourself.
3. Rowing
Rowing is a great way to burn calories without placing stress on your knee joints. Not only will you get a total body workout, you’ll also maximise your core strength with every pull.
Amp up the intensity by increasing the resistance while maintaining speed for a real cardiovascular challenge. The more you train on a certain machine, the more stamina and strength your body will gain in that particular area, meaning the harder you have to work each time to continue challenging yourself.
Right now, this low-impact exercise is going from strength-to-strength no injury or not. Get onboard, pronto.
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