I was speaking to a member of my gym and he mentions that he mentions that he used to love running and that he loved doing marathons but that they injure him and he’s made for running.

All of us are able to run in fact we are designed to run. There are only 2 reasons why someone would not be able to run. 1 some break or collision that’s taken out or impacted the cartilage or 2 perhaps after having knee surgery biomechanically it hurts when running.

Apart from that if you haven’t had knee surgery or you haven’t had any impact collision on your cartilage there’s hardly ever a reason you can’t run.

The problem is the way you are conditioned and how you are running and also the impact of your foot on the ground.

So enough on the problem. Here’s what to do fix them and get them strong when of course your not feeling pain in your knee. Note this is how to strengthen and correct your biomechanics to allow you to run safely and strongly and healthy and not how to fix your knees. I’ll write another article on how to fix or relieve your knee pain if you are having pain and still continue exercising and keeping in shape while strengthening your core and leg muscles whilst streghtening your leg and knee health.

 

So step 1 go on to a resistance bike on the gym and put the bike resistance up as high as you possibly can pedal consistently and slowly without knee pain. The golden rule on this is to pedal downwards pushing downwards from your heel and not from your toes which is what 90% of people who don’t know how to cycle properly do. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes pain free and strengthening and warming up. Of course if you have pain discontinue. Note down how many minutes you did pain free. Lets say it’s 3 minutes. Wait to recover. Next time you come back do 4 minutes and so on. So you will always reduce or add a minute each workout depending on pain which requires reduction and rest and pleasure or strength as an additional minute and perhaps resistance required.

Step 2 go on to a treadmill and set it on the maximal hill height and put it on a walking pace of 4 or 5 kmh for a minute and then at 6kmh for another and then 7 and 8 and 9 if you have the stamina so you will have walked until you start jogging and then running at the different speeds.

Step 3 do foot balancing so basically you will stand on one leg with your eyes closed and then the other knee will be raised above knee height.

Do one minute with one leg and then another minute with the other leg. This is really important and with the hill walk and the foot balances the purpose is strengthen, mobilise and activate your feet in ways to strenghten your muscles correctly to support your knees mechanically so that they function well when you train.

Next try skipping for a minute alternating your feet and moving in different directions.

The last step start running for 3 to 5 minutes. Each workout add or subtract 5 Minutes depending on knee pain or strength from running. Eventually with these 8 minute warms ups before running you will be able to powerfully cover a marathon with healthy knees.