I cringe when I hear people say: “I don’t do anything like squats or lunges because I have bad knees.” Nobody has perfect knees but you’re not doing your knees a favor by staying away from loading them. Loading your knees in a responsible way is a great way to build durability and health in your joint surfaces. Loading is nourishing for your joints, it’s like a multivitamin for your knees!
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This video is an example of how you can sneak in some comfortable knee loading even during your upper body work without having to do full lunges or split squats. If you’ve avoided loading your knees like the plague for awhile now don’t go all willy-nilly and do a ton of loading tomorrow. Try finding a comfortable range of motion and doing 2-4 holds at the comfortable depth for 15s per hold. Do this a few times per week to get started.