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<p>I’ve gotta keep working on my single-leg squats. What gets me is that, uphill, when you have to put a foot up on a ledge and push yourself up, you can gauge how tall the step is and whether your knee can bend enough to get the foot up there. Do the same thing going down, and you don’t find out until the foot is down on the lower step. I guess if I keep working on my single leg squats, I’ll be able lower myself down under control and back up if necessary.</p>
<p>^There are machines for this group of muscles, there is not reason to ruin knees and risk falling, unless it is a great fun. Comments do not indicate much fun though, more like a great danger with high probability of falling.</p>
<p>Exercise machines are not a very good way to build leg strength and stability. They tend to isolate movements to a single plane, when the mark of real functional strength and stability is for hip (and leg muscles) to control motion in three planes. </p>
<p>I will keep working on single leg squats. Those are fantastic for the ability to step up or down under control on uneven terrain.</p>
<p>^Works for me. I am walking on a flat surface and use machines. Outwalked my whole family on a last visit. Couple of them could not recover for few months. Only my 12 y o grandD could keep up. They were called “marches of death”, I had no feelings in my legs, none. I do not know anything about planes, this is way above my head.</p>
<p>I suspect iDad’s beautiful and challenging mountain hikes serve a different purpose for him than walking around Toledo does for you. Apples and oranges, planes and trains, whatever…</p>
<p>I can’t really bend my right knee, but I figured with an exercise bike I could maybe at least use the left.
Going to get fitted for an unloader brace today though, so maybe that will help?</p>
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<p>Which one are you getting? </p>
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<p>Bodyweight exercises are great for individuals of all ages. That includes exercises like a single-leg squat. Meanwhile I find machines all but worthless with the exception of the leg press and lat pulldown. They isolate the body parts and our bodies simply do not work that way.</p>
<p>70 minutes of tennis - just hitting. Not a bad workout as I was working on form and we didn’t have many breaks. It’s a bit warmer and a bit more humid than it has been for a while.</p>
<p>EK- the unloader brace I had (custom fitted) when I broke my knee skiing in 2007 kept my leg straight. I couldn’t have done anything exercise-wise except the sprints on the crutches that I did in the office parking garage!</p>
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<p>I didn’t really understand it at first either, but it’s really just common sense. Say you are standing on one leg and trying to remain stable and upright. Your bodyweight can move in three planes. It can shift side to side. It can shift forwards or backwards. And, it can move up or down. To keep from falling over, the hip (and leg muscles) have to stabilize the motion in all three planes.</p>
<p>You might say, “so what”, but almost everything we do, including walking and especially something like your rollerblading, involves supporting your weight on one leg at a time.</p>
<p>Ran my 3 mi at a different park today. Ducks, dogs, wind. Bakery nearby so I was forced, forced I tell you, to stop in and make a carb purchase on the way home. ;)</p>
<p>^Oh, you reminded me, I miss rollerblading, maybe will try in spring, still not ready and it is messy in a fall. I am just too afraid, but it is such a fun. I do not have good balance, my feet are narrow, but rollerblading is the same for everybody. The legs are definitely stronger part of me, upper body is just not there, I can’t go to bowling alley, the ball rarely reaches the end, i am worse than little kiddies, but 10 miles fast walk would be no problem.</p>
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<p>Well, I thought that hiking would make for a nice mellow low to moderate intensity workout day. I was in for a bit of a surprise when I found out that, at least for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy like me, hiking in the mountains is a high intensity workout. At least right now, these hikes have been my most intense workout each week and I would have a very hard time doing more than one a week.</p>
<p>I like the other kind of walking, too. the one hike I did to the water slide/swimming hole on fairly flat trails was terrific. I hope to get back to some of that this fall and winter. That’s why I bought the snowshoes! Alas, the really scenic hiking in NH (views and waterfalls) tends to go with hilly, rocky terrain.</p>
<p>Ugh. I just spent 90 min driving to Bellevue, getting on a freeway exit i didn’t want- almost ended up at Microsoft! :eek:
Finally found it-but the medical supply is staffed by a receptionist who is going to have to call me to set up an appt after she talks to their rep.</p>
<p>Hopefully the brace will shift the weight so I can put more weight on my leg, and start to build the muscles a little more.My dr doesn’t want to do a replacement, yet- too young he says- although I’ve talked to several who have been very happy with theirs.</p>
<p>At least the insurance covers 95% of the brace.</p>
<p>So jealous of your hikes Idad! Very impressive. It’s hilly where I am but no terrain like what you have. </p>
<p>Since the weather is getting worse I’m being forced inside. Took a Zumba class. I moved my feet and flapped my arms to music. I hear I will get better.</p>
<p>H and I are going on our anniversary trip in 45 days, we’ve made a pledge to exercise and eat healthy until then. We will be active but no bets on the eating healthy.</p>
<p>Downhill is definately more demanding than uphill. First, you can analogize it to the difference between positive and negative motions when lifting weights. Second, when going down hill, you must engage your core muscles to maintain control and balance against gravity induced momentum. During August, I did a 10K hike in the mountaons of Cinque Terra Italy going from one town to another. The leg out was about 60% of the distance and mostly climbing. Conversely, the leg back was 60% down hill at the tail end. The trip out was mostly cardio demand. My quads got creamed on the way back from controling my descent.</p>
<p>One of the reasons I love a TRX workout is that it is 3 dimensional and requires engagement of the core and secondary control muscles to maintain good form. I find that it enhances natural body biomechanics and movement.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity4, How long do these knee replacements last?</p>
<p>If you health goes downhill because of your bad knee, you may not live that long anyway.</p>
<p>Aren’t you in your 50’s?</p>
<p>Don’t knee replacements last 30 years?</p>
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<p>I hear that Zumba is quite popular in Maine! :)</p>
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<p>That’s a good point. The “eccentric” (lowering the weight) in weight lifting is supposed to induce a lot more soreness that the “concentric” (lifting the weight). Usually, I feel the downhill hikes in my hips. Yesterday, my quads got hammered. I’m not sure exactly what the difference was. The core challenge of walking with a backpack on such uneven terrain has been an eye opener. I came home a couple of times with sore obliques.</p>
<p>I’m fortunate that I really don’t experience any knee pain (or any other joint pain) from hiking. Back when I first started out walking at 250 pounds, I used to feel it in my knee walking uphill. But, that resolved itself as I got in better shape. I suspect that it was actually hip dysfunction producing symptoms at the knee.</p>
<p>Knee replacements supposedly last 10-20 yrs. I’m thinking he looked at me with my Doc Martins & my vegan moto jacket 
& thought I would push myself too hard.
Which may be right, but I am way too young to need a cane to get from my house to my car.
I turned 55 a couple weeks ago.
I’ve always had unstable joints. Very loose ligaments, my knees hyperextend, and while I used to hike & walk a lot, I would have problems on longer or steep hikes.
When I went to SF a couple years ago, we walked all over and I was definitely feeling it.
Love to go back though.</p>
<p>[FDA:</a> New Smith & Nephew knee could last 30 years - Memphis Business Journal](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2010/04/19/daily26.html?page=all]FDA:”>http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2010/04/19/daily26.html?page=all)</p>