I messed up and hurt my knees about a month ago. I've been to the doctor and I'm on my way to recovering, but in the meantime I need to stay off my knees. However, I want to do cardio!

Even the elliptical and walking on an incline use too much of my knees right now. What cardio can I do without using my knees?

I've been brainstorming, and so far I've come up with:

Swimming
Circuit Training
Tons of Pushups
Maybe rowing (?)


Any other ideas? Anyone else have this problem before? It's frustrating.

I think those are all great ideas! I vote for swimming myself, it would be good on your knees, and the water creates resistance aginst your whole body. It would be my peferred exercise if I had a pool.

DB/KB Swings. Very little knee flexon. Mostly posterior chain. No impact.

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Do them like HIIT. Do like 20 swings, rest, repeat. Can be done with DBs if you don't have a KB.

I've done a lot of those while rehabbing a patella problem.

DB/KB Swings. Very little knee flexon. Mostly posterior chain. No impact.

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Do them like HIIT. Do like 20 swings, rest, repeat. Can be done with DBs if you don't have a KB.

I've done a lot of those while rehabbing a patella problem.

I like the pull through version better since they are more explosive, and easier to control the back position. Both of these come from the fact that in swings, you store energy at the bottom in stretching and flexing your body (whether you try to control it or not). In the pullthrough, deloading everything at the bottom means you have to kick harder to get the rep at the same weight. This means you do fewer reps per Calorie at the same weight. Plus, the static load at the bottom is more consistent than the dynamic load. I'm usually a fan of dynamic load exercises, but not in this case.

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I like the pull through version better since they are more explosive, and easier to control the back position. Both of these come from the fact that in swings, you store energy at the bottom in stretching and flexing your body (whether you try to control it or not). In the pullthrough, deloading everything at the bottom means you have to kick harder to get the rep at the same weight. This means you do fewer reps per Calorie at the same weight. Plus, the static load at the bottom is more consistent than the dynamic load. I'm usually a fan of dynamic load exercises, but not in this case.

I like the constant movement version for GPP, but I could see the stop motion you use being a better strength move. I take care of the calories/weight thing by using a bigger load than I'd be able to do without the stretch reflex/momentum.

I would also go a bit lower in the dip than she does, though.

I messed up and hurt my knees about a month ago. I've been to the doctor and I'm on my way to recovering, but in the meantime I need to stay off my knees. However, I want to do cardio!

Even the elliptical and walking on an incline use too much of my knees right now. What cardio can I do without using my knees?


For what its worth....

I know its not off your knees and you may not be ready for a couple more weeks...but I mangled knees, ankles, and a hip in a car accident a while back. Once I was able to start doing some things, the bike REALLY sped up my recovery:
- No impact
- Pick the resistance level
- Pushing with the legs
- Pulling with the legs (spinning)
- Good cardio

It really helped me get back my strength, stability, and endurance after a couple of months of nothing.

You could add squat thrusts - fast and furious. That will get your heart pounding. Good as part of interval training. I have damaged cartilage in both knees. When one knee is playing up, squat thrusts are one of the few exercises I can do with my legs. And side leg raises.