Strengthen your knees effectively with a five-exercise regimen recommended by a certified personal trainer from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
Strengthening the muscles around the knee is crucial for runners to prevent injuries and improve performance. Katie Leonard, a NASM-qualified personal trainer at Life Time Lakeshore-Irvine health club, has designed a workout to achieve this. Here are the five recommended exercises:
- Glute Bridge with Ball Squeeze Lie on your back, push through your heels to lift your hips, and squeeze a small Pilates ball between your knees. Pulse for an extra challenge to strengthen your glutes and hamstrings.
- Banded Knee Drive Stand with a resistance band looped around your feet. Drive one knee swiftly upwards, and repeat on the other side. This exercise activates hip stabilizers and hip flexors, while also strengthening your glutes to prevent knee collapse.
- Single-leg Step Down Stand side-on to a step or box, bend one knee to lower the other foot, and straighten the standing leg to return to the starting position. This exercise builds eccentric quad control, improving knee stability.
- Single-leg Romanian Deadlift into Reverse Lunge Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in one hand, shift weight onto the other foot, bend the other knee, hinge forward from the hips, push hips forward to return to standing, step the holding foot behind, bend both knees to 90°, and push through the other foot to return to standing. This move challenges balance and strengthens the hips, glutes, hamstrings, and core, all of which support knee stability.
- Quad Activation and Hamstring Activation For Quad activation, sit on the floor, extend your legs in front of you with a rolled-up towel under your knees. Drive the back of your knee into the towel while squeezing your quad muscle, squishing down into the ground as hard as you can and holding that pressing position for 5-10 seconds. For Hamstring activation, lie on your back, bend your right knee to 90°, dig your right heel into the floor, engaging your hamstring muscle, hold this pressing position for time, release, and then repeat before moving to the other leg.
Affordable equipment for these exercises can be found online. A 9-inch ProBody Pilates ball is available on Amazon for under $10, and a set of four Theraband resistance bands is reduced by more than 20% on Amazon.
These exercises help prevent overcompensation from weaker muscles and ensure balanced muscle activation to prevent knee injuries. They strengthen the muscles around the knee, improve hip stabilization, and promote proper alignment. This not only benefits runners but also supports correct biomechanics in daily movements.
- Incorporating these fitness-and-exercise routines, such as the Glute Bridge with Ball Squeeze and Banded Knee Drive, into your health-and-wellness regimen can aid sports-analysis by enhancing knee stability and reducing the risk of injuries.
- Engaging in sports-analysis becomes more effective with a strong foundation of healthy muscles, and these workouts target key areas like the glutes, hamstrings, and hip stabilizers that are crucial for any athlete.
- The science behind these exercises reveals their impact on the prevention of knee injuries and improvement of athletic performance, making them essential for runners and participants in various sports.
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