If you didn't already know, I have a great interest in learning how to fix knee problems and understanding knee and joint problems. My family has a long history of knee problems, and I have had some big problems in the past.
If you've read my background information, you'll know that I worked on a farm growing up and I played basketball and baseball growing up and through high school years.
My family owned a feed store and I spent my teenage years helping my father deliver feed to the famous Churchill Downs and other race tracks and farms throughout Louisville, Lexington and everywhere in between.
I spent all of my teenage years working on the farm, carrying feed bags, loading pipe, digging post holes, mowing, fixing fences, feeding cattle, working in hay fields, and other physical work. It was physical work every day, all day.
I believe that the combination of sports and work along with little rest and recovery time led to some of my knee problems. High impact running is something that I believe led to my knee problems. I had to run lots and lots with basketball and baseball. I remember having to run stairs, sprints, hallways for a few hours at a time, and more.
Carrying feed bags probably got to my knees too. For example, I would carry a few 50 pound bags on one of my shoulders when delivering feed to certain farms or horse barns. I picked up bags and carried them all day long for several years as a young boy. When we left work, we would go home and do more work. We had cattle to feed and look after.
I believe all that working, playing sports, running, and less than ideal genetics led to my knee issues.
When I started running regularly throughout college, there were times when I could barely walk down stairs without using both of my arms to help lower myself down each step. My knees were becoming a big problem for me.
I'm telling you all of this so you know I've been there with knee problems. I know how to fix knee problems, and I'm going to give you a solid plan for fixing your knee problems. You won't find a plan like this anywhere else. This is a plan that will really work.
Before I start, though, you need to consult your doctor and make sure these plans aren't going to injure your knee or knees further. You are fully responsible for your actions here so please consult your doctor as he/she is the expert on your health and your knees.
Here's the plan you need to implement. You can use this plan with ANY of the workout programs within this manual. You just have to substitute the right exercises as explained below:
1. Implement the Correct Weight Lifting Exercises
You must ONLY use exercises that use a single leg at a time. These will help correct any imbalances in muscles that could be causing your knee issues. You'll also find a few other exercises that are very good for your knees.
Warning: Never do an exercise that hurts your knees. If a certain movement hurts, definitely don't do that movement.
Here are the exercises you should be using within your workout programs. Just use these exercises along with the exercise substitutions listed earlier in the manual.
• Step Ups
• Lunges
• Bulgarian Squats
• Cossack Squats
• Single Leg Romanian Deadlift
• Single Leg Squats
• Pull Thru
• Dumbbell or Kettlebell Swings
• Hip Belt Squats
• Glute Ham Raise
Some of the exercises above are easier than others. If you have some bad knee issues, you would start with the easier exercises. For example, step ups are much easier than lunges and bulgarian squats.
Step ups are a favorite of mine because you can set the height of the step ups at any height by building your own boxes that you can stack. For example, I built 3 inch high boxes out of 2×4's and plywood. I built 6 of them so I could stack them all the way up to 18 inches in height.
Just start with the easiest exercises for you that don't bother your knees and work on getting really strong with those exercises. You should be able to find several exercises that feel good to your knees.
2. Get Rid of Scar Tissue with Regular Foam Rolling
All you need for this part of the plan is a wide foam roller and a tennis ball. You'll be using the foam roller regularly and especially if you want to get rid of knee problems.
I could almost guarantee that you have lots and lots of scar tissue in the muscles that surround your knees. I have yet to see one person with knee issues that didn't. Once you get rid of that scar tissue, your knees will feel so much better. The difference will be amazing.
The foam roller and tennis ball will help you get rid of the scar tissue. It's going to hurt, it's going to take a while, and it's going to take dedication on your part.
It could take several weeks to several months to get rid of all the scar tissue. And you'll have to continue foam rolling to make sure you get rid of any future scar tissue before it causes problems again.
I highly recommend foam rolling every morning and every night for as long as it takes until there is no pain when foam rolling. Then, you can cut it back to 3 to 5 times per week.
If you are having some knee pain during your weight training workouts, you can use the foam roller during your workout to help get rid of the pain. The foam roller works very well for this as I have done this over and over during a workout.
3. Increase Mobility through Mobility Exercises
Mobility exercises must be used before and after each of your weight lifting workouts. You should spend about 5 to 10 minutes before each workout and another 5 to 10 minutes after each workout doing mobility exercises.
So you need an extra 10 to 20 minutes or so each workout to focus on increasing mobility.
The purpose of these mobility exercises are to restore healthy and full range of motion in the joints that affect the knee.
You have to be consistent with doing these mobility exercises and you have to work hard on them. You should start with mobility exercises that are easy for you and then work on harder ones as those get easier.
Once I started doing mobility exercises several years ago, my knees really started to feel better. The same will happen for you.
4. Increase Flexibility with the Right Stretches
With this workouts manual, you've learned that you'll be stretching throughout each of your weight lifting workouts. You'll be doing the normal quad, hamstring, and calf stretches.
But you also need to add in some other stretches that will really help your knees. You can just add these in along with the mobility exercises or just do them in between sets for your workout. You can even do them after conditioning workouts or cardiovascular exercise workouts.
Increasing flexibility is a must so your knees are able to function properly. You see… you are strengthening the muscles around the knee, getting rid of scar tissue, getting them back on track, and allowing your knees to function properly without any resistance.
5. Use the Right Conditioning Exercises
For conditioning exercises that will help your knees, I want you to do sled pulling and sled dragging exercises along with pushing and pulling a wheelbarrow.
The sled pulling and dragging can be several different ways and I suggest you change methods often for your conditioning workouts.
For example, you can use a hip belt and walk forward with long strides as you pull the weight behind you.
You can use the hip belt and walk backwards with the weight in front of you. Use an ankle strap around one leg at a time and move forwards and backwards. You can use the hip belt and move side to side.
All sled movements are going to really help your knees. Just start out with really light weights and increase gradually over time.
The wheelbarrow is also a great conditioning exercise to use for your knees. Pushing and pulling weights in a wheelbarrow will have your knees feeling great. It's one of my favorite conditioning exercises and has greatly helped me knees.
6. Use Other Strengthening Exercises as Needed
There are tons and tons of other strengthening exercises that are much easier than the compound weight lifting exercises mentioned earlier. These strengthening exercises can really help you target specific weaknesses.
For example, a weakness in your quads can be corrected with this exercise: stand with both knees slightly flexed and toes straight forward. Balance yourself on one leg and slowly lower yourself a few inches by bending at the knee. Then use your quadriceps to get you back to the starting position. Many people with knee problems are weak on the lowering portion of this exercise.
If you have trouble doing the main weight training exercises mentioned in point # 1 of this section, you need to start implementing some easier strengthening exercises and work on getting stronger with those exercises.
A great website for some other knee strengthening exercises is the big knee pain website. You'll find lots of strengthening exercises for all the muscles surrounding the knee joint.
7. Only Use Low Impact Cardiovascular Activities
Depending on your goals, you might be doing a pretty good amount of cardiovascular exercise. You need to stay away from high impact activities like running and jogging. If an activity bothers your knees, you need to stop doing that activity immediately.
Stick with low impact cardiovascular activities like the elliptical trainer, the rowing machine, hill walking, and biking. You don't need any extra stress to the knee if you are already having knee problems.
Sample Workout Program for Strong and Healthy Knees
Day 1
After Waking
– Foam Roller
AM
– Low Impact Cardio
PM
– Mobility Exercises
– Weight Lifting Workout
– Stretching
– Mobility Exercises
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Day 2
AM
– Foam Roller
PM
– Conditioning (Sled)
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Optional
– Additional Knee Strengthening Exercises
Day 3
After Waking
– Foam Roller
AM
– Low Impact Cardio
PM
– Mobility Exercises
– Weight Lifting Workout
– Stretching
– Mobility Exercises
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Day 4
AM
– Foam Roller
PM
– Conditioning (Sled)
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Optional
– Additional Knee Strengthening Exercises
Day 5
After Waking
– Foam Roller
AM
– Low Impact Cardio
PM
– Mobility Exercises
– Weight Lifting Workout
– Stretching
– Mobility Exercises
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Day 6
After Waking
– Foam Roller
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Day 7
After Waking
– Foam Roller
Before Bed
– Foam Roller
Exercise Substitutions: You can use any workout program in this manual along with the sample workout program above. Just be sure to substitute the weight lifting exercises listed within this section. For example, instead of squats you can do step ups or lunges. You want to work each leg independently of the other. This is very important as imbalances between legs could be causing your knee problems.
