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Originally Posted by poppywise  anyone have good do-it-yourself-from-home strengthening exercises for KNEES? besides my IT band problem on my right side, i am noticing some general knee malaise and i really would like to avoid injury. ideas?
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I've had some minor knee problems for awhile; wore away the cartilage under my kneecaps running in high school. For my issue, stabilizing the muscles around my knees keeps my knee problems under control. When I was doing physical therapy, there were several things they had me do that I can do at home.
They had me lie on my back with my knees bent at a 90-degree angle and my feet flat against a wall. Push against the wall for a count of ten and release. If you have access to weight machines, you can also do the machine like that. I think of it as the astronaut machine, where you lie down and push a platform with your feet.
I also did leg lifts. Lie on your back and slowly lift one leg several inches, contracting your quad and keeping it contracted while you hold your leg up for a ten-count, then lower your leg and relax your muscle.
Single-leg squats. I do these standing sideways with one foot on my bottom stair and the other foot hanging out in space. Squat until the outer leg touches the floor, then stand up.
Toe raises. I also do these on the edge of the stairs, with my toes and the balls of my feet on the stair and my heels over the edge, so I can get a larger range of movement.
I don't have a balance board, but if you do, that would be good. At physical therapy they had me stand on one foot on the balance board while I bounced a tennis ball off the wall and caught it. It was an embarrassing exercise in coordination for me.
I hope some of these help you! Doing just a couple of them regularly (I do the squats and toe raises every day) has made it possible for me to run.
blueridgewoman--two miles a day is definitely not something to be embarrassed about. It's great to have you join us!
Gaye--awesome running group! I need to find a running group; I'm terrible at pushing myself but when I'm with a group I find I have more speed than I thought.
Today I decided to work on that compassion thing when others are sick, so I let DH sleep in all day (because he's so sick
). Oops, eyeroll is not compassionate. Scratch that. Entertained my kids, read them four books, shoveled the driveway again by myself. Cheerfully and without resentment, which is a major step forward.
DH woke up and I went out for a run, thinking I'd do six or seven miles. Ten minutes in I realized it was 3:00 and I hadn't had anything to eat since a bowl of cereal at 9:00 in the morning and I probably didn't have the fuel for six or seven. Heck, I barely had the fuel to finish my 3.5.
I had read another thread (evil threads around here about food....) that mentioned hot buttered Cheerios, which sounded intriguing. I decided to try them. Maybe it was just that my body was hungry enough to try to digest itself, but they were yummy.
I've found that when I'm not running I tend to crave sugar, but when I am running I crave fat. I sometimes look at that stick of butter in the fridge and just think I could nibble it all up. I compromise by eating big bowls of vegetables drowning in butter, so at least I'm getting some nutrition with my fat.
I reluctantly let DS eat some of my Cheerios and now he is demanding more. I guess I'm not the only weird one, then.
I'm inspired by all these Dingo goals!
) and kanga hopefully. can you turn on the tractor beam and reel them in? 
it would be like the powers-of-lurk in reverse.
will return ....hm...
I do wish I shared some of those complications Geo. I need another race to create a get-together. Or something, perhaps just out for coffee and a knit-along.
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