Trying to increase cardio training with a bum knee!

[buddy444]

I love to run, and my knee makes this no longer a possibility. I have a hard time keeping up my cardio now, because i am not much of a biker. Does anyone have any low-impact cardio strategies that they could reccommend. I have toyed with pilates, but not really sure about that stuff, im a gym rat! Any ideas would be helpful!

[Vlly4life15]

I love to run, and my knee makes this no longer a possibility. I have a hard time keeping up my cardio now, because i am not much of a biker. Does anyone have any low-impact cardio strategies that they could reccommend. I have toyed with pilates, but not really sure about that stuff, im a gym rat! Any ideas would be helpful!

I have tendinitis in both my knees I had to go through a lot of physical therapy to help but it still bothers me sometimes but I can still run with out much pain. The best advice would be to do strength training for your knees like light weight lunges and building up the muscle but for now I would say use an elliptical machine it is practically no impact on your knees and if you keep your heart rate up with high resistance it should help your cardio work out. If your gym doesnt have an elliptical and you say your a gym rat you can try decreasing rest time during your regular workout its not much but it still helps

[SFT]

Do you actually have an injury? Or is it just a pain you are not taking care of?

In any case, running on grass was much easier on my knees than pavement. In addition, sprint intervals can give you similar adaptations with less distance traveled if your knees can handle short distances.

Also worth consideration are step-ups for time. Start with a box that makes your upper leg near parallel. Initially 3-5 minutes might be tough, with 2 minutes of rest in between sets. As you build up, you can progress to 10 minutes or longer, with around 4-5 minutes in between sets. Use a tempo of roughly 20-30 step ups per minute.

[aempowerlifting]

I have tendonitis in my right knee and have been swimming a lot. Obviously not an option for everyone year round, but it has been good to me so far.