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Right, I'll be going skiing in about three months. The thing is, I have a dodgy knee (cartledge removed about 20 years ago) and every time I go skiing it balloons up due to the mild (and not so mild)hammering that it gets.
So, I'm thinking that this year I'll be a bit brighter and do some exercises in good time to build up some muscular stability around the knee to hopefully prevent at least some of the problems.
One of the things I'm thinking of doing is squats. Now, I've not really done much in the way of weights before so is this a good idea or should I start with something else?
I'm a member of a gym and will have a word with one of the trainers there, but I thought, as always, I'd see what the good folks of STW thought too.
I do a lot of weights due to having torn cartilage in my left knee (hoping to have this fixed soon!). It depends on how strong you are from cycling, but as a starter I'd suggest starting on light machine weights - leg extension, hamstring curls, leg press etc, and some exercises that involve you using your body weight. Do stuff that challenges your balance (wobble board, bosu ball etc) as this should help with your proprioception skills, in turn improving your body's ability to hold itself correctly during movements. Also, dont ignore your core strength or exercises that work your glutes, as these have more influence than anything.
BTW, i'm not an expert, just someone who's had a lot of trouble with this sort of thing. Lastly, a question for you - how does mtb'ing affect your knee? It screws mine up at the moment, and am looking at a major meniscecomy at some point. Just wanted to know how you getr on with it?
Cheers for that.
I find cycling in general is great for my knee; it keeps a decent amount of muscle mass around it and is obviously low impact and there's very little twisting. I do need to be careful with saddle height though, I need to get a good leg extension otherwise it starts to hurt. Plus I use Time cleats/pedals so there's a nice amount of float.