How are your knees?

Many of my clients over the years have had knee issues, at some point in your workout career or general daily life we will most likely experience knee pain. Often an exercise mat, even folding it in half, doesn’t give them the support they need.

Bang it on a table, too much running, health issues, skiing accident….

Many things can bring knee pain and many times once you have it, it tends to stick around.

One of my clients showed me an article from Sunday’s paper (Chicago Tribune…I think) about a little gadget that can help relieve knee pain when you are doing exercises that require you to put pressure on your knees such as modified push ups, glute presses and spinal balance.

I had her send me the link and these actually look pretty cool. They can be used for anything, not just working out (even though we should all be exercising!!). My first thought was how my knees kill after sitting on our hardwood floors to help my daughter with a project; these can be helpful around the house as well.

They also show a small wedge to help relieve wrist pain when you are doing an exercise that requires pressure on your wrists, push ups, planks, renegade rows…

If you are avoiding certain exercises or not working out at all because of pain check it out.

NO, I have no part of the company (wish I thought of it!) but wanted to pass along the info :)

dodfitness

Here’s to your knee health ~ Cheers!

What’s most amazing about this video is that I shot it wearing shorts after a beautiful warm run on the lake. I’m now sitting here typing this in long pants and a sweatshirt. If you are in Chicago (or anywhere in the Midwest) you feel my pain! C’mon already with some sun and nice weather.

Anyway… I have a hard time getting myself to do yoga on a regular basis. I enjoy the poses, the stretch it gives me and how it’s made my body feel better in the past. Still, even with the benefits I have a hard time committing to a 90 or even 60 minute class where I am supposed to be quiet and centered. I’d much rather run, punch, kick, lunge and burpee my way through an hour.

I’ve started incorporating some basic yoga into my stretching routine after my runs. I think it really helps relieve my tight muscles more than a traditional sitting on the ground stretch and really helps the hips and lower back.

Use the moves here for a post-run or post-workout stretch. If you would like to do a little more yoga on your own you can also use this series as a workout. Instead of flowing pose to pose do a flow from downward dog-plank-crocodile-upward dog-downward dog between each pose for a longer and more intense yoga session.

Example: Flow - Runner’s lunge - Flow - Runner’s lunge/Warrior I - Flow - Runner’s lunge/Warrior I/Warrior II - Flow….

You build on the series by repeating the move you did before and adding a new one on each time after you move through your flow of down dog to up dog and back to down dog.

Hope this all makes sense.

Have a great week and I hope we get some more sun and warmer days ASAP! Diana