How can I strengthen my Knee's?!
Question:
How can I strengthen my Knee's?
I have weak knees (or so I'm, told) and when I do squats or lunges the outside of my knee's hurt. I'm a college basketball player so having good knees is important to me. What should I do? I do strength training 3 times a week including leg excersises but should I switch it up to be more specific to my knee's? Thanks for your help!
Answers:
Hello,
I had the same problem. I went to a doctor and I was told I had what is called "runners knee". The answer to this is to do leg extensions. It isn't so much your knee as it is your quads. You have to do the extensions three ways. One normal with your foot pointed straight up, the next with your feet pointed inward, then the the third with your feet pointed out.
What this does is strengthen your quads and pulls everything tight. This is what you want. It will strengthen your quads evenly also. You need to do this almost daily with lighter weights to begin with. Then slowly add more weight. The idea is not to incur yourself, but to prevent injuries in the future. If you don't do this what will happen is, you wil go for a rebound, and your knee can pop out of joint. This happens because your quad is overly strong on the outside. It is painful when it happens.
Good luck with your basketball career. Take care!
Michael