Pretty much everyone wants a healthy body but if you are just getting into running or starting with the gym what you really want and need are healthy knees. Your knees allow you to move properly and just like with most people it is rather prone to injury, this is especially true if you don’t take care of it during workout or even during regular days. I’d like to share with you some tips on how to take care and continue to have healthy knees, after all, nothing ruins a good workout schedule like a busted knee.

Keep your weight healthy – It is no secret that your knees take a lot of beatings due to your weight, so if you want healthy knees make sure you keep your weight in check. A lot of heavy set people experience pains and injuries in their knees due to the unwanted extra weight it needs to bear, quite frankly it even takes a beating during a workout so it’s almost like a high wire act in maintaining healthy knees but it is something everyone will want to figure out.

Make sure to know your body’s limits and not overdo exercises that could cause injuries.

Take the right path – When you see a sidewalk or the grass, as tempting as it sounds to walk on soft cut grass, go on the concrete street. It promotes healthy knees by having a flat and leveled walking area that really removes the unwanted stress from your knees. This is true for your workout as well, when the option presents itself, always go for a level field if you want healthy knees.

90 degrees is enough – There are times it is tempting to overdo lunges and squats, after all a lot of people think that this will give you healthy knees but over bending it more than 90 degrees is a big no-no. This will give your knees some serious strain during the workout and can leave you prone to injuries, so as much as you want to go extreme on your workout,you should always be mindful about your body’s limits.

Inner thighs to the rescue – You want to reduce as much stress from healthy knees as possible and to do that, you’ll need some strong inner thighs. They can really reduce the stress the knees experience in a workout or even from walking, so keeping them nice, fit and strong really equips you with a great shock absorber and a firm supporter of healthy knees.

Be weary of your seat – Going cycling or attending a spin class is a great cardio workout and is really wonderful at losing weight, however it can really do a number on your knees. To avoid injury and to keep your healthy knees, don’t keep the seat too low otherwise it could increase the strain. Find a comfortable height for you during your workout, test and retest again the ideal seating position and remember for future sessions.

Swim for cardio – People sing the praises of swimming quite a bit and if there is a pool near you this can be great for healthy knees. The water helps reduce the impact of exercise on the knees and there is just something so refreshing about having a workout in water don’t you think? Additionally it has been found that for existing knee injuries swimming really helps rehabilitate the injury through exercise in the water while keeping the stress to a minimum. 

Knee sleeves are pretty awesome – Well it doesn’t hurt to have protection when you are up against something as dangerous as a knee injury so it is advisable if you workout quite a bit or run some distance, get a pair of knee sleeve to protect and keep knees healthy, pretty simple if you think about it.

When it hurts, stop! – Our body is pretty intuitive, we just have to know when to listen. During a workout, when your knees are burning and start hurting it’s about time to stop and take a break. Either you worked on it too long and hard or your knees have an injury, either way it is best to stop whatever you are doing and take a rest, you can test it again after a bit but if the pain persists, it might be time to go to an expert. Remember healthy knees promote a healthy you, so make sure to take care of them.

Learn to lift properly – Quite a bit of knee injuries come from gym related accidents or exercises, which is why during your workout make sure that you have the proper form and know how to lift properly. In fact, for healthy knees, this goes beyond just the gym, you need to know how to lift whatever item properly.

Do not skip a good warm up or stretching. This lessens the chances of you busting your knee.

A healthy diet always helps – Now this tip is not solely for the purpose of healthy knees, but other joints as well. A proper diet can be a game changer for anyone and quite frankly it can be the key to you having healthy knees. By eating an anti-inflammatory diet you can assist your joints, not just the knees, proper nutrition while not putting too much strain on them. Additionally a good diet will make sure the rest of your body is functioning properly bringing less strain to other parts, which will lead to a healthier you. 

Stretch before working out – Before the workout a lot of people forget to stretch but I think that really helps when you want to keep your healthy knees. Make sure to do some proper stretching before engaging in a heavy workout or you could shock the knees into an injury.

Practice knee strengthening exercises – There are a ton of exercises out there that focuses on various body parts, why should the knees be any different? Well they aren’t so take the time to get a few of them into your workout routine, after all you’ll need healthy knees to keep doing the rest of the exercises as well, so learn them, live them and add them to the workout for a happy pair of healthy knees.

These are just some of the most useful tips out there to keep healthy knees during and outside of your workout. Make sure you take the time to read through them and plan out which ones you’ll use but if at all possible, use all the tips above for some really healthy knees on a daily basis for both workout and regular days. Stay healthy!