Hi. I'm 23, female, 5'3", 125lbs. My goal is to lose 15 lbs in 6 months. I have a small frame and have much potential to be a very small lady. I have flat feet and bad knees. I wear shoe inserts to help form an arch in my feet. My problem is trying to find variety in my workouts. In my youngers days (I'm only 23 now) I used to be able to run on the treadmill for miles. Now, after a half a mile my knees hurt and ache! So I switch to just walking on an incline. I can do this for about 2 miles and then my knees hurt again and I have to switch to the elliptical. The elliptical does not hurt my knees at all, but I dont feel as if I'm getting the optimum workout and I have to stay on it longer than I would if I just ran on the treadmill. Swimming is not an option. I do weight training about twice a week and I can do everything but squats. The thing is...if I'm having knee problems at 23, what will it be like when I'm 43? I wouldnt say I'm 'overweight' now, but will my knees improve if I lose this 15lbs? Should I up the weights and decrease the cardio since weights are easier on my knees? I dont want to become jacked up. Right now I do low resistance, lots of reps. It's been a month and I'm not seeing a change. Can anyone recommend pounds/reps for someone my size? thanks-
Chances are your knee problems are not related to your weight. Losing weight may or may not help the problem, but I suspect that the latter is the true. It is very possible your knee pain is related to your foot problem, however, even that might not be exclusively the problem. There are a few things nutritionally you can try. Start taking glucosamine and chondroitin, CLA, and fish oil. Another important thing to ensure is that you are drinking plenty of water. Stay away from any exercise that causes your knees to hurt. Don't worry about your weight/rep scheme right now. Just stick to what you feel most comforatable with. After about 2-4 weeks if your knees aren't feeling any better then I recommend you go see your doctor and seek out what is going on.
Losing weight might help. I've also heard that MSM, an organic sulfur and DMSO are great for treating joint pain, also read "Treat Your Own Knees" by Jim Johnson and James R. get gentle, pain relieveing exercises..also try a treatment called BioTape and take a calcium supplement, try a form called calcium oratate (IntraCal)
I'm 26 (27 tomorrow) and have been a runner for about 6 years. I started having knee pain last year. It was very hard for me to stop running, but I had to. After about 6 weeks, and no pain at all for 2 weeks, I slowly began running again. Within a few weeks, I had pain again. I started taking glucosamine and chondroitin (I was already taking fish oil) and, after about 2 weeks, I had no pain. I started running again and haven't had a problem since.
