Three bodyweight exercises to ‘life-proof’ your knees, according to a fitness expert

Let’s be honest, training knees doesn’t sound sexy, at least not in comparison to arm day. But, it is important, especially if you want to walk, squat and pick things up with less pain and keep them fully functioning as you age. You don’t have to carve out a chunk of time for them either. Personal Training duo, Milad and Ryan, founders of Tailored Fit PT, have shared three simple exercises that will take you no longer than eight minutes and all they require is your bodyweight and a few items around the house.

Knee pain is highly common and, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it can worsen as you get older, thanks to degenerative wear and tear and conditions like osteoarthritis. However, Harvard Health says that knee pain is often caused by problems occurring above or below the knee. For example, you may have tight hips causing your pelvis to drop adding more pressure to your knees, or you could have weak knee stabilisers. However, the three stretch and strengthening exercises below will improve the way these joints function, relieving knee pain.

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All you’re going to need for this workout is a couch, a wall, and something soft to place your knee on, like a cushion. Perform the three exercises below either during your warm-ups or when you’ve got five spare minutes. Give your knees this TLC at least times a week and Coach Milad and Ryan say they’ll seriously thank you for it. Here are your exercises:

• Couch stretch into hamstring stretch – 20 reps
• Wall sit with heel raises – 45 seconds
• Tibialis raises – 20 reps

Once you find the wall sits becoming too easy, Coach Milad says you can upgrade them to a single-leg wall sit with heel raises, and to increase the difficulty of the tibialis raises, just move your feet further away from the wall. For more knee-strengthening exercises check out these other five PT-approved exercises or, if the pain is interfering with your squats, then give these knee-friendly alternatives a go.