Start your workouts right! Strengthen your knees first

Practice these exercises regularly to keep knee pain during workouts away.

Written By: Bhakti Paun Sharma | Updated : March 17, 2016 2:47 PM IST

Strength training is the best way to prepare and strengthen your knees. With age, knees suffer maximum stress and tension and become a cause of concern. The constant pain stalls your exercise plans and overall fitness regime. Hence, it is important to work on your knees while you are training to tone your arms, hips, and thighs. Muscles around the knees have to be strengthened to keep the knees strong, and following are 4 exercises will help you achieve that.

Quad clenches: Quads, if weak, can cause knee pain as they are the muscles that help straighten the knee. Quad clench is a perfect exercise for those who have suffered from any knee injuries. In this exercise, your knee is stationery but by creating a stretch in the quads, you strengthen them, thereby working on your knees indirectly. This video shows you how to perform the exercise:

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Buttock kicks: Hamstrings are the next set of muscles that need to be strong so that you do not experience any discomfort while bending your knees. This exercise helps in improving the flexibility of the knees and also improves circulation. Check this video for a step-by-step tutorial:

The clam: Weak glutes is one of the common causes of knee pain. Your buttocks and glutes need to be strong to help pass the force to the knees. Hence, exercises targeting the glutes are a must for making your knees strong. The clam prevents excessive weight on the knees, saving you from knee pain.

Heel raises: Calf muscles are right below the knee and help in supporting them. Heel raises are an excellent way to work on the calf muscles and thereby reduce stress on the knee.

Sit to stand: A combination exercise to help strengthen all the muscles around the knee is an excellent way to work on your knees. The sit and stand exercise is a simple yet effective way of achieving the results. It strengthens your glutes and quads and increases knee mobility without causing any strain on them.