Tired of your knees getting stiff and inflamed when you're hiking? Check out these 4 tips for combating knee pain and 5 simple exercises you can add to your weight training routine:
1. Global strength: Train muscles above the knee in all directions. Strengthening these muscles to absorb impact will mean less pressure on your knees. There are a lot of weight training exercises you can do (see the short video below for a few samples), but you can also strengthen these muscles while you hike. On your training hikes, take some time to walk sideways, walk uphill backwards, and “snake” or zig-zag your downhill walks. These are functional ways to hit the upper leg muscles in different directions. Start on a gradual hill and progress to a steeper one.
| 2. Target hamstrings and inner thighs: These muscles are often under developed. They provide crucial support for your knee, and if they are weak, your knee joint becomes unstable, over-worked, and inflamed. In the video below, I include several exercises targeting these areas. 3. Global mobility: Stretch the hip and ankle joints in all directions, so that they are able to bear their share of the load on the downhill. |  |
4. Eccentric contractions: This means, load the muscle while it is lengthened. The eccentric action occurs in your legs as you descend. So strengthen your muscles for this type of contraction. The next time you do squats or lunges, take three seconds to lower to the bottom of the squat or lunge, before coming back up. The slow descent trains the eccentric motion. Walking backwards uphill also hits an eccentric contraction. This is easiest to do on a treadmill or stairs.
| | Here are 5 exercises you can add to your training program to help strengthen your knee joint. Happy trekking! |
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