exercises to strengthen legs w/o bending knees

[bcurly]

A client of mine wants me to make her a leg workout to strengthen her quads,hams and glutes, without having to bend her knees, I have a couple exercises in mind, but need some advice from other trainers!!
Thank you so much

[regl8r]

Why?

You are the trainer she should not be telling you how to do your job.

[PerFit]

Why?

You are the trainer she should not be telling you how to do your job.

im assuming injury?

[Joshuapittman]

Training the legs without bending the knees...I take it you mean to work the quads and hams, since you don't need the knees for adduction, abduction or calf work.

For Quads, try using full range squats. If the range of motion is just limited then you bend the knee as much as permitted and then stand up straight. You must load the weight 3-4 times what you normally for this to have any effect. Since you can't use reps you measure progress by time under tension.

I must emphasize that you need lots and lots of weight for this to work. Sometimes, with de-conditioned clients, this will be impractical. In this case, you could lower the weight and then train them on each leg using the same principles.

You can get to the hamstrings by using good-mornings, you don't need to bend the knee for them.

If you want to train the internal and external rotators of the hip without bending the knee, I'm not sure I can help.

[nsiegel5]

There are a few options but not all that many truely effective ones.
Often in rehab after a knee surgery the leg extension will be used in an isometric manner so that the client can push as hard as they can against the pad at a nearly full extended position. The rectus femoris can also be worked as a hip flexor and can be done without bending the knees.
Glutes, there are tons of ways to target ie reverse hypers as well as abduction with cables, lying leg planks etc.
The hamstrings can be done with SLDL or anything that works the hip extension portion.
Ofcourse non of this will be a very well rounded leg program without bending the knees and dont forget about the adductor muslces gracilis sartorius etc that you will be missing out on hitting. Something is always better then nothing and will help in the long run when the client gets back to full health.

[Jsmith30]

There are a few options but not all that many truely effective ones.
Often in rehab after a knee surgery the leg extension will be used in an isometric manner so that the client can push as hard as they can against the pad at a nearly full extended position. The rectus femoris can also be worked as a hip flexor and can be done without bending the knees.
Glutes, there are tons of ways to target ie reverse hypers as well as abduction with cables, lying leg planks etc.
The hamstrings can be done with SLDL or anything that works the hip extension portion.
Ofcourse non of this will be a very well rounded leg program without bending the knees and dont forget about the adductor muslces gracilis sartorius etc that you will be missing out on hitting. Something is always better then nothing and will help in the long run when the client gets back to full health.

good advice. i like this advice

[bigw10921]

Try Xband walks. lying hip abduction,adduction, flexion, extension with ankle weights

[bcurly]

im assuming injury?

yes, injury not to mention
and age and deterioration.

[bcurly]

There are a few options but not all that many truely effective ones.
Often in rehab after a knee surgery the leg extension will be used in an isometric manner so that the client can push as hard as they can against the pad at a nearly full extended position. The rectus femoris can also be worked as a hip flexor and can be done without bending the knees.
Glutes, there are tons of ways to target ie reverse hypers as well as abduction with cables, lying leg planks etc.
The hamstrings can be done with SLDL or anything that works the hip extension portion.
Ofcourse non of this will be a very well rounded leg program without bending the knees and dont forget about the adductor muslces gracilis sartorius etc that you will be missing out on hitting. Something is always better then nothing and will help in the long run when the client gets back to full health.

Great advice, thank you
I have several hamstring exercises for her just was wanting some more ideas for her quads,

Thank you all for your input!

[regl8r]

Could you offer a little more insight like what the injury is, age, Etc. I'm assuming they experience pain after a certain point of bending their knee.

Are you doing things to increase joint mobility? I would make that priority number one over strength. Throw in some TKE's if you aren't doing them yet.

[carl.c]

bcurly: I'm not picking on you since many people come here and ask for advice but fail to give any info on why they asked the question.
It would be silly and wrong to give any advicve on what excersises to recommend with out know exsactly what injuries and or limitation the person has.

[McJimmie]

You need to convince her that by bending the knee she will strengthen the joint and not wear it out !

[Keltron]

so I'm assuming this client is also advised not to walk up stairs or take a number two unless there are side rails that will let her use her arms to get her off the toilet..

[chadmackey]

so I'm assuming this client is also advised not to walk up stairs or take a number two unless there are side rails that will let her use her arms to get her off the toilet..

lol

[kneedragger85]

so I'm assuming this client is also advised not to walk up stairs or take a number two unless there are side rails that will let her use her arms to get her off the toilet..

I'm actually going to use this Monday. Thanks, Keltron.

[jkdman81]

U can't train the quads w/o bending the knees
But stiff legged deadlifts. Are great for the hams
If your client can't bends. Their legs how do they get. there
Just. Curious

[davidjmacmillan]

I have knee injuries, chondromalacia. I can't do squats or lunges, but I can do the top ROM for leg extensions. But I've also been using the stationary bike to strengthen my quads. I approach it like sets: I'll do a minute at a hard resistance and a minute at a light recovery resistance. This is working well to build some strength around the knee and relieve joint pain.

There's also an exercise called terminal knee extension, although I haven't tried it so I can't offer any opinions.

[Own3r]

I hace a few clients with Osteo and they should not be doing exercises which putting strain on knees or lower back, so for quads I make them do step ups with light weight and they all love it.

[Keltron]

I'm actually going to use this Monday. Thanks, Keltron.

lol no prob. How did it go?

[Mr.ILL]

Kettlebells. Serious, they do wonders for certrain knee conditions.

[WoofieNugget]

For Quads, try using full range squats. If the range of motion is just limited then you bend the knee as much as permitted and then stand up straight. You must load the weight 3-4 times what you normally for this to have any effect. Since you can't use reps you measure progress by time under tension.

I must emphasize that you need lots and lots of weight for this to work. Sometimes, with de-conditioned clients, this will be impractical. In this case, you could lower the weight and then train them on each leg using the same principles.

You can get to the hamstrings by using good-mornings, you don't need to bend the knee for them.

If you want to train the internal and external rotators of the hip without bending the knee, I'm not sure I can help.

notsureifsrs.jpg

If this is actually your advice, please don't tell me you are actually a paid personal trainer.

[nickmanzoni]

I would've fired most of you.

Pay raises to those who asked "why".
Termination for those who blindly prescribed with no history
Word of mouth trash talking for those of you who prescribed bent knee exercises when the rule was NO knee bending.

[brspecialists]

A client of mine wants me to make her a leg workout to strengthen her quads,hams and glutes, without having to bend her knees, I have a couple exercises in mind, but need some advice from other trainers!!
Thank you so much

3 of the quads group only action is extension at the knee so getting results for the quads will be difficult. You can do a seated straight leg lift I guess. For the hams you can do straight-legged dead lift, which will also hit the glutes. More importantly though is getting your client to bend her knees, even with injury you can bend your knee safely when done correctly. Good luck.

Matt
www.brspecialists.net
www.bodyrenewfitness.com

[kevinvee]

Wall squats!