Iron Fit Personal Training

Our knees are something that we end up taking for granted. We don’t think about it when we are young, but later in life we look back and realize what exercise choices helped affect our achy knees when we are older. Was it the type of sport you play? Was it the style of exercise that you are doing? While we have  heard all about the effects of various sports on our bodies, most times we don’t hear about the effect our training has on our bodies. This post will try to look at knee aches and how to help alleviate some of your current and future aches and pains.

At Iron Fit,  we try and focus on the  posture of our clients while we are training. I don’t necessarily mean we only work on that, but the posture of our clientele during exercise. One of the common imbalances we see is when we see the knee falling too far over your toes. Ideally, you are looking to have your knee come no  farther than the end of your toes when you are bending. Now, we know this isn’t the case with all forms of training, but we are focusing on general training in this article. Whether you are an athlete or someone trying to lose weight, if those knees fall too far past your toes, you’re asking for that walker later on.

Something else to watch is how much stress you are putting on your knees. Many times we see people doing squats, which is a great exercise for everyone. However, a goal is always to sit yourself down to a 90 degree angle. When you think of the chairs, couches or seats you sit on, how low are they? Many of the times they are at a 90 degree angle or lower. Therefore a squat equates out to a great exercise. However, why add any weights to your training if you can’t sit or bend as low as 90 degrees? Focus on getting the correct form and proper knee and hip bend  before adding weights to your program.

During our training, we workout hard and try to push our bodies to the upper limit they could handle.  However, something important that many of us fail to realize is stretching may be a cause of our pain. I’m sure you didn’t realize that many of our leg muscles connect in and around the knee. Our group of quad and hamstring muscles are muscles that we use a ton, but many times we fail to realize the stress they put on the knees. Factor in the tightness of our adductor (inside) and abductor (outside) muscles, and it could create a perfect storm for knee pain. We always think about strengthening those muscles, but try to think outside of the box and think about loosening them.

At Iron Fit, we focus on improving you and your body the safest way possible. There are always faster ways, but you’ll pay for them in your Golden Years.

Contact us to see how we can help you alleviate your knee pain and enhance your workout.