KNEE HEALTH: strength & mobility home exercise programme

if your knees are stiff or painful then follow me on this strength and conditioning routine that will help [Music] you hi everyone and welcome to exercise for health and welcome to week two of our six week home exercise program to keep your body and mind healthy throughout the summer this workout will focus on exercises for the knee joint to improve its strength and mobility and you could do it on two or 3 days of the week it should be suitable for most health conditions but may not be suitable for everyone so if you're unsure check with your health professional first for this routine you will need a support for balance purposes which can be a wall you will also need a chair that's not too low such as a dining chair or use the side of an armchair like I will finally you will also need a low step to use and you may decide to hold a weight if you find any of the exercises less challenging and I'll leave links in the description below to the ones I'm using so get yourself ready and let's go right to begin this routine for the knees we're going to start off with a couple of warm-up exercises the first one we're going to do is we're going to be Sid stepping to going to a half squat so if you start with your feet together and then what I want you to do from their hands you can just place across your chest but you're going to take a step out to the side so your feet are a little bit wider than the shoulders width hinge the hips start to squat down but don't go down too low come back up bring the feet together and then step out the opposite way hinge the hips half squat down so we're just going to be moving from left to right we're going to do it 10 times nice and steady just so we can start to activate some of these muscles in the legs and get the joints moving a little bit that's two so we're going to do 10 of these three four so we're not going too low on this stage five six good four more 7 8 last two 9 one more and 10 good right next one we're going to do is we're going to do a dynamic stretch so we can start to stretch out the hamstrings on the back of the leg for this one you may need to be close to a support so I'm going to do this close to the wall just in case for balance purposes and then what we're going to do is with this outside leg I'm going to keep the leg straight at the knee and then we're going to swing it up to the front and then bring it back down to the side of the body again so nice and gently just getting that swinging movement we'll do 10 on one leg then we'll turn around and do 10 on the other leg and you can gradually increase the height as you go through each one so set yourself up ready outside leg make sure you try and keep that knee straight off we go so swing it up bring it back down that's one two two 3 four try and keep the body still five 6 7 8 9 one more and 10 good right turn yourself around so you can do the same on the other side so again make sure you keep that leg straight at the knee try and keep good posture so keep your body upright and your torso still as you do the leg swing ready off go one two three should feel a bit of a stretch on the hamstrings four 5 6 7 8 nine last one and 10 good turn yourself around again we're going to do something similar so still a leg swing but this time the knee is going to be bent so what I want you to do is get the heel of the foot up as close you can to your bottom so we're getting as much of a knee Bend as you can and then from there we're working around the hip so we're starting to stretch this muscle on the front of the leg as we bring the knee up to the front and then we're going to take the knee back as far as you can that's where you're going to feel the stretch on the front of the hip so get yourself ready off we go one 2 3 again keep the body still four 5 6 7 8 9 and 10 good turn yourself around let's do the same on the other side so again bend the knee as much as you can first then driving the knee up and also get the knee to go back body stays still off we go one 2 3 4 5 6 7 eight nine last one and 10 good okay so now we're going to go into the main exercises first one we're going to do is a kickstand Squat and if for this one you may decide you want to use your hand weights for this just to keep hold on front of the chest but you don't need them if you don't want to so a kickstand squat is basically similar to a standard squat where you've got your feet slightly wider than the shoulders width and you're squatting down but we're going to have a kickstand so one foot is going to go slightly offset to go further back I show you from the side so I'm going to take the toes back behind me there's not really much weight on the back foot so that places more weight on this front foot so then as you then hip hinge then bend that front knee as you begin to squat down think about taking your bottom down close to this back heel and then drive yourself back up to standing so most of the weight is on the front foot do 10 on one leg 10 on the other if you want to use your weights just hold your weights in front of the chest like this in nice and tight so set yourself up ready doesn't matter which foot you do first because we're going to do both sides anyway so one foot further back keep most of the weight on that front foot off we go so hip hinge squat down as low as you can go keeping the weight on the front foot push yourself back up to standing that's one hip hinge first then bend that knee two nice and steady three you go as low as you can tolerate four so if you find it starts getting pain for going too low just go to the point before you get that pain five hit hinch first then squat six four more make sure most of the weight is on that front foot seven eight good two more nice and steady keep it controlled last one Well Done Right swop the feet over so opposite foot back as the kickstand set yourself up ready another 10 off we go so hip hinch first drop down drive up through that front foot one make sure this front knee doesn't start to come inwards two three so make sure most of the weight is on that front foot four five six last four seven eight good two more nine last one and 10 good right pop your weights down if you've had them so next one we're going to do is single leg step Downs so this is where you're going to need your step and for this one when you start on the step one foot's going to be off the step but it's going to be going forwards and that's the idea is we're going to be moving the ankle and the knee quite considerably as you slowly control your descent to go forwards get the heel to just kiss the floor and then stand back up now if you find that really hurt your knee because there's a lot of force going through the knee this way do it the other way around so start off with so you face you're going to go backwards so I'm facing the other way so I'm going to take the foot back behind so then as I then do this step down this knee is not going to be traveling quite so far forwards so that way I can just go down fill the back foot tap the floor and then drive back up to standing if you're doing this on a higher step you may find you can't go all the way down cuz it is really a small movement anyway but adjust that to suit you so so set yourself up ready I'm doing this close to the wall just for balance purposes One Foot In Front or one foot behind if you didn't the other way and then slowly down nice and steady get that front foot to kiss the floor and then come back up to standing that's one two three as you're going down try and keep the foot on the step completely flat four so don't let the heel start to come off step five six just be careful of this knee that you're working seven it doesn't come inwards keep it in Al line with the foot eight two more nine last one and 10 good right switch the feet over so same on the other side so again other foot just that in front or just behind if you're doing it in the opposite way slowly as you go down kiss the floor with the foot stand back up that's one so keep that knee track in alignment of the toes two as it bends three 4 5 six should be feeling that now seven feel in the quads might feel a bit in the glutes as well eight cuz they're acting to stabilize your hip nine one more and 10 good okay right the next one we're going to do is we're going to go seated so this is where you need your relatively high chair so I'm using the arm chair for this one and we're going to do a straight leg raise so technique is really important on this one otherwise you probably won't feel feel it in the right way so essentially what I'm going to do is I'm going to straighten out one leg in front of me this is the one that I'm working and it's really important that your posture stays upright if you think about trying to push your belly button forwards almost like you're trying to create this arch in your lower back that will actually assist this slightly because you'll create more of a stretch on the hamstring and have to make the front of the thighs work that much harder so be careful that you don't start to slouch when you do this straight leg raise cuz you probably won't feel it so when you're sat down one leg out straight in front of you push your belly button forwards so you're set up tall and then this leg you're just going to raise up keeping the body dead still so raise up as high as you can it probably won't be that much and then lower keeping it straight the knee that's two doing 10 of these three four just think about your posture don't start to let the belly button drop back five so up nice and Tall six 78 should be feeling that all the way down the front of this thigh nine from the hip down to the knee and 10 good okay let's switch the feet over so same thing on the other side so make sure this leg is straight push your belly button forwards so you're up nice and Tall keeping the leg straight raise it up as high as you can activate these muscles on the front of the legs one two 3 four good five try and keep your body upright so it might be easy to kind of start swaying so keep your body uppr right that's six seven eight should be feeling that that on the front of the thigh nine keep the posture last one and 10 good right should have put that into the thighs okay next one we're going to do is we're going to go into a split squat so this is where you can use your step to turn into more of a Bulgarian split squat if you prefer which is what I'm going to do so that means that I'm going to have one foot quite a long way further back behind me so not like the kickstand squat when it was relatively close this time we're going to take the feet further apart so we're going to just try and place a bit more emphasis on the front leg as you go down so back foot either just on the step behind you or you can have it on the floor and then the movement from there then is I'm going to make sure I'm hinging from that hip so I'm going to bring my torso forward slightly pushing the bottom back bending this front knee so most of the weight's on this leg and then drive back up to standing we're going to do 10 with one 10 with the other now if you want to use the weights can use your dumbbells and just hold them to the side of the body as you're going up and down but that's optional so set yourself up ready either with both feet on the floor or with the back foot on the step okay get ready and off we go so leaning the P torso forwards a little bit Bend in the knee drop down as low as you comfortably can stand back up that's one so again worked through your range of movement that you've got two without inducing any additional pain [Music] 3 4 five watch that front knee as it's bending make sure it stays in alignment with the toes of the foot six so it shouldn't be coming inwards seven you might be starting to feel that around your bottom eight two more nine last one and 10 good right let's swap over to do the same on the other side so split squat stance if you use using the step back up on the step set yourself up ready make sure You' got the width in your stance so you got good balance and off we go so hip hinge bend the knee as low as you can tolerate stand back up that's one 2 3 four good keep the control five six 7 last three eight nine one more and 10 good right pop the weights down actually you could actually keep hold of them if you want to for the next one let me show you what it is without the weights first we're going to do a hip hinge so this is where you want your feet to shoulder withd wide and then from there we're basically working from the hip so we're trying to get these muscles on the back of the legs that go over the back of the knee the hamstrings to try and activate so the movement is feet shoulder width wide you're going to keep your hands close to your legs and then from there I'm thinking about pushing my bottom back as I bend up the hips as low as you can until you feel stretch here on the back of the legs at that point you'll then return the hips forwards to get yourself back up to an upright position if you want to use the weights for this one add a bit more resistance keep the weights really really close to the thighs and do exactly the same thing so I'm sliding the weights down the thighs as far as you can till you feel the stretch and then bring your hips back up and forwards again going to do this 10 times so set yourself up ready and off we go so hips right back lower feel the stretch and then come back up to Upright it's one two good again good control good technique three keep the head and the chest up that'll stop you from bending the back over and flexing the spine four five IM you've got to draw the that's open behind you and you're pushing it close with your bottom six so push it right back right back right back right back F the stretch seven good eight two more nine last one and 10 excellent right pop the weights down okay last exercise before we go into do some stretches we're going to go back seated again and we're going to finish off this last one which is a sit to stand but rather than do a traditional to sit to stand which is kind of like doing a half squat uh what we're going to do is we're going to do a single leg so from here I'm going to straighten out one leg in front so this is then placing all the way through this left leg I'm going to cross my hands over the chest or you can keep them out in front it's entirely up to you but essentially I'm going to hinge at the hip forward Ward so I got the weight through this left foot and then push the left foot into the floor to get myself up to stand in it might feel a bit weird cuz this leg is not really doing anything it's kind of stuck out in front and then allow the hip to go back as you lower back down until you're back to a seated position okay so we're going to do 10 on one side and then 10 on the other so you probably need this to be quite high up if you're really low down in your chair you're going to find this quite difficult so you do need to be quite high up so set yourself up ready and off we go so lean the body forwards and then push through that foot now I can't get up push through the foot get to standing and then push the hips back slowly as you go back down that's one drive up two slowly as you go back push the BM back drive up three good and again push through that left foot for or right foot if you didn't the other round and again drive five slowly back and again push up through six you should be really starting to feel this in your quads on the front of the thigh again seven slowly back down three more eight so nothing's really going on with this leg it's just stuck out straight in front two more power up slowly down last one one drive up slowly down okay my quads are on fire on that one let's switch over do the same on the opposite side so set yourself up again so this leg's out straight with the heel on the floor remember all the weight's going through this opposite foot so lean the Torso forwards feel the weight on that foot and then power up to stand in that's one slowly back push the hips right back bend the knee till you tap the seat back up again two slowly sit down good three slowly back push the hips back as you're bending that knee four good five slowly down keep that control so we're really working into this front thigh six slowly back s seven and again eight just two more this is the last exercise as well nine slowly down last one and 10 good work okay right now we finished off those main exercises what we're going to do now is do a few stretches just as part of a cool down to finish off the first one we're going to do is we're going to stretch out the muscle we've just worked these quads so two ways of doing this if your knee's quite flexible you got good mobility in IT stand close to something for a support and then you're going to take hold of the foot to try and bend the knee as much as possible get the heel of the foot up as close you can to your bottom and then this bent knee you want to try and bring in towards the other leg and also try and pull it back now if you got knee issues that cause restrict your Mobility a little bit then instead place the foot behind you on that low step make sure this knee is further back back behind where your hip is and then push your hips forward so you're trying to stand up tall and that generate a little bit of a stretch still on the front of this hip here and down the front of the thigh so that's an an alternative if you can't bend the knee too much so set yourself up so you can feel the stretch and then we'll hold the position of the stretch for about 20 to 30 seconds as you focus on relaxing your breathing good and then swap over same on the other side so again if you need to use the step or just put the toes back on the floor behind you and then push hips forwards that's fine but if you can get the knee to bend more and do it this way that's good it get more of a stretch on the quads good okay let's go seated for the next one that was a quad stretch we're now we going to do a hamstring stretch for the muscles on the back of the legs so for this one I'm going to straighten one leg out in front making sure that knee stays straight placeing my hands on the other leg I'm going to sit myself up tall and that might already engage a stretch on the hamstring if it doesn't keep your posture and just hinge at the hip as you go forward so trying to push the belly button forwards and to create that stretch on the back of that leg good bring that foot in let's do the same the other side so leg straight at the knee heel on the floor hands on the opposite leg sit yourself up tall and then hinge at the hip as you go forwards until you feel that stretch on the back of that straight leg good okay next one we're going to do is an adductor stretch for the inner thigh so for this one take your feet out as wide as you comfortably can knees out going wide as well and then bring your elbows down onto the inside of the knees and just let the body go forwards and you can use your arms to push the knees out wider so you feel a bit of a stretch on the inside of the thighs you might feel it in the lower back as well if your lower back's a bit tight like miners good come back up and then the last one we're going to do is a perform stretch which is a muscle that comes deep around the side of the hip so I want you to bring one foot across onto the opposite knee and then this knee that's bent I'm going to try and just push that knee down slightly towards the floor at the same time as I'm trying to get my belly button to go forwards towards this calf muscle so I'm pushing that knee down and I'm also taking my torso forwards and as I push my belly button forwards towards this lower leg that's going to create more of a stretch here around the side of the hip good and then switch over same on the other side so knee down and then think about pushing your belly button forwards to for the stretch around the side of the hip and release good and you're all finished well done I hope you enjoyed this second summer workout and I'm looking forward to next week when we focus on exercises for the hips if it has helped you then please give it a like by clicking the Thumbs Up Button below and consider subscribing if you haven't already you can check out the description below for further information and ways that you can help support this channel but thank you so much for watching and until next time stay active and keep moving to feel better