If you’re dealing with knee pain but don’t want to neglect your workout routine, there’s some good news: You don’t have to forgo your usual lower-body exercises. Just focus on doing low-impact moves that target your leg muscles without putting a lot of pressure on your knees. When you overdo high-impact exercises, like running and jumping, it tends to stress the patellar tendon, which connects your kneecap to your shinbone. That can lead to a condition called patellar tendinitis, or jumper’s knee, says Mayo Clinic . It’s a common cause of knee pain. You can help treat this kind of pain by exercising your quads, calves, glutes, and hamstrings. Strengthening these areas lessens the load on your knees and helps stabilize your joints. You see this whenever you do a squat or a lunge. These moves pull your knee down and allow your calf muscle to lengthen. They also slow down your ankle and knee as they bend, lessening the impact on them. Your quads get stronger, and it gets easier to do hip bends that activate your glutes, further safeguarding your knees. Here are seven low-impact leg exercises to try. 1. Reverse Lunge
Stand tall with your feet together and your hands by your hips. Take a big step back with your right foot, and lower into a lunge until your front and back legs form 90-degree angles. Make sure your front knee is stacked directly over your left ankle, and your back knee is directly under your right hip. Push off of your front foot to stand back up and return to the starting position. Repeat with your left leg, and keep alternating until you’ve done 8 reps on each side. 2. Kettlebell Swing
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a kettlebell on the ground a few inches in front of you. The space between your feet and the kettlebell should be a triangle. Hinge your hips back and take hold of the kettlebell with both hands, keeping your grip loose. Push your butt back and keep your back flat as you hike the kettlebell between your legs. Straighten your legs to stand, drawing power from your hips to swing the kettlebell up to your chest. Using the kettlebell’s momentum, swing the weight back between your legs and under your hips, sinking into your hips and bending your knees. Complete 15 swings. 3. Sliding Hamstring Curl
Sit on the ground and place your feet flat on the floor. Keep your knees bent. Slip a small slide board under each of your heels. (If you don’t have sliders, use a pair of hand towels or two pieces of paper.) Lie flat with your arms by your sides and your hands facing the ground. Stretch your legs out in front of you. Pull your heels toward your butt, lifting your hips and lower back off the ground to come to a glute bridge. Squeeze your glutes at the top. Lower your butt toward the ground, and extend your legs back out in front of you to return to the starting position without letting your legs touch the floor. Do 10 reps. 4. Lateral Lunge
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your hands by your hips. Take a big step to the side with your left leg and hinge your hips back, bending your left knee. Keep that knee in line with your left foot. Push off your left leg and move into a lateral lunge with your right leg. Push off your right leg and return to the starting position. Do 8 reps on each leg. 5. Single-Leg Deadlift
Stand up with your hands by your sides, each one holding a dumbbell. Keeping your right knee slightly bent and your back flat, hinge your hips back as you lift your left leg behind you for balance. Lower the dumbbells until your torso is parallel to the ground. Maintaining balance on your right foot, drop your left leg back into the starting position. Do not allow your left foot to touch the ground. Repeat the move, doing 8 reps on each side. 6. Hip Thrust
Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground, hip-width apart. Rest the bottom of your shoulder blades on the edge of a bench, couch, or chair. Cross your arms in front of your chest. Keeping your neck long, press into your heels and lift your hips off the ground to come up to a bridge. As you do this, your neck and shoulders should move onto the bench. Pause at the top, and then slowly lower your hips back down until they are hovering just a few inches off the ground. Press into your heels and lift your hips back up for the next rep. Do 12 reps. 7. Goblet Squat
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold one end of a dumbbell with both hands at chest height. Keeping your back straight and shoulders back, hinge your hips back and lower your butt into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground, or as low as you can comfortably go. Press through your feet to stand back up. Do 10 reps.
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