What are the Most Common Joint-Friendly Exercises?
There are many reasons why a person may need to incorporate exercises into their routines which do not place a large amount of stress on the joints. Suppose you have had an injury, recent surgery, are new to exercise or may be overweight. These are all instances where high impact exercises may not be the best fit, but that doesn’t mean you cannot perform a highly effective and productive workout with exercise options that will be right for you.
Why Joint-Friendly Exercises?
Looking at the first two reasons given that you may need to perform exercises that would be easier on the joints, injury, and recent surgery, it may be obvious why you will need to go this route. A doctor may have outlined certain movements you will need to avoid while your body heals and adapts. If you are new to exercise you will need to give your body time to adapt to the new stresses you will be putting yourself under. Ballistic movements such as jumping, landing, and running are all considered to be harsh on the joints. Many people dive head first into an exercise program to only find themselves in pain and possibly injured in just a short time by not taking proper progressions. This would defeat what you were trying to accomplish by starting and exercise routine and cause further setbacks. An overweight individual would want adapt, strengthen and lose some of the excess weight for the same reasons, reduced stress and uninterrupted progress.
So What Are My Options?
Some of the classic low impact exercise are biking, ellipticals, versa climbers, cross-country skiers and swimming. These are terrific activities that will keep you moving, increase your aerobic capacity and keep the stress on those joints at a minimum. There are a few catches here, though, you’ll need access to this equipment or to a pool. Sure there are gyms that have these amenities and it’s a good place to start your road to recovery or your fitness journey but what happens when you want a little more out of your workout?
When you are ready to start strength or interval training there are some challenges that will be faced. You will not be doing endless box jumps, jump squats or be loading up with the heavy weights but with patience and an understanding, your progress will make strides and bounds.
Here are some ways you can modify common exercises:
Instead of Box Jumps do Step Ups.
Why? Box Jumps are a ballistic movement where you jump from the floor up onto a box of a fixed height. If you are having problems with your knees or ankles this is not an exercise you should be doing. The constant landing will take its toll and you’ll risk injury if you already have some instability in your joints. The better option here would be to simply perform a step up, stepping up from the ground onto a box of fixed height. To start, the box should be no more than 6-12” in height and make sure you either alternate your steps or do the same amount of reps on each side.
Use a Suspension Trainer Such as the TRX.
The TRX is undeniably the most recognizable suspension trainer on the market but there are many other brands and versions of this wonderful tool. The great thing about suspension trainers is that you can modify almost any exercise to your current capabilities. Using the TRX for squats and lunges can deload the exercise, allow you to use your upper body to get in and out of these positions as well as give you assistance in your balance which may be critical if you are rehabbing a sprain or surgery.
So far we have been looking at the knees and ankles but many people have problems with the wrists and elbows as well. A normal push up or pull up will place stress on these joints, but a suspension trainer will allow you to bring yourself to a level where you can perform variations of these exercises without stressing the joints. The average person does not own or may not even know what a suspension trainer is or how to use it effectively. A trainer can assist you with getting acquainted and the TRX website is a great source of information when it comes to using this product.
Instead of Jump Squats do a Total Body Extension.
Jump squats are awesome, they use some of the largest muscles in the body which get the heart pounding and the muscles screaming. Why miss out on this great exercise when you can modify it and still grab all it’s benefits without risking yourself being sidelined for 4-6 weeks. A total body extension will mimic the movement of the jump squat, you will start will your feet just about shoulder width apart, drive down into a squat and then move quickly upwards as if you were going to jump in the air, except here you will not leave your feet to avoid the impact of landing.
Try Standing on One Leg.
A single leg stance is more difficult that you might imagine. When you stand on one leg you have just cut your base of support in half. This will force you to start using smaller muscles and stabilizers that might be otherwise asleep. Strengthening these stabilizers will strengthen the joints that are associated with them and again, no impact here. If you need assistance with this stand close to a wall to assist you with your balance. Many people tend to think they have poor balance, but these people are not suffering from vertigo, their bodies are just not familiar with using the muscles associated with proper stability.
Sources
https://superhumancoach.com/low-impact-high-intensity-training-for-fat-loss-with-minimal-equipment/
