Knee Strengthening

The best way to master the technique of doing a squat is to use a chair or a bench to assist the movement. Start from a sitting position, now stand-up straight and make sure your feet are shoulder width apart. Now raise both arms so that they are directly out in front of you, engage your stomach muscles (try and suck your tummy in a little bit), then very simply push your hips back and sit back down on the chair. For the upward movement, arms are directly out in front of you, your back is in an upright position (no slouching) and by moving your arms and shoulders forwards slightly as you push up through your heels, return to the standing position. Apart from the curve in your lower back as you push off and return to the seated position, your back stays in a straight line. Engaging our stomach muscles is also going to help with the stability of our movements. Start with ten repetitions with the chair, have a two-minute break and then repeat for another ten.

Start standing up straight, hands on hips, feet and knees together, stomach engaged. Keeping your shoulders back step your right foot flat on the ground approximately thirty centimetres in front of you and your left foot the same distance behind you; both feet are facing forwards. Now – as you bend both knees very slightly, the front foot flat on the ground and coming up onto the toes of your back foot, back stays straight, your body will naturally move downwards and take you into a lunge position. For the upwards movement, back stays straight, chest up and push back up through the front foot and the toes of your back foot. The front knee shouldn’t go any further forward than your toes and while as a beginner we would start with only a very small up and down movement, as we build strength we can aim to get our front thigh parallel to the ground. Do ten repetitions on one side and repeat on the other side.

Using the bottom step of your staircase (or any flight of stairs), keeping your back straight, chest up; step your right foot up onto the step, then left foot up, right foot down, left foot down. Repeat twenty times. Want to make this a bit more taxing? Use the penultimate step of the staircase instead, stepping up two steps instead of one.

Again – using the bottom step of a flight of stairs, step both feet up onto the bottom step and holding the handrail, right foot stays flat on the bottom step and left foot is raised off the step behind you so that all of your weight in on your right foot. Keeping the rest of your body straight, slowly bend your right knee very slightly and then straighten your right leg again (left foot remains off the ground). Repeat this movement ten times and then switch legs.

Sitting on an upright chair or stool with your feet flat on the ground and thighs parallel to the ground. Keeping your back straight and the rest of your body still, raise your right foot off the ground until you have a straight line along the length of your leg, then place your foot back on the ground. Repeat ten times and then change legs. For additional resistance, you can use an elastic resistance band and tie one end to the bottom of the chair, and loop the other end so that it fits over your foot; at the right tension this will add to the work that your knee is having to do, adding more resistance and building more strength.