According to studies, about 20% of the adult population suffers from some kind of knee problem. And those with knee injuries or weak knees know all too well what difficulty that causes — not just in the gym, but in everyday life. Walking, jogging, climbing stairs — bad knees get in the way of all of it.
Here’s the thing though: the worst thing you can do with bad knees is stop moving entirely. Like experts say — exercise may be the best medicine for chronic achy knees. Strengthening the muscles around the knee is almost guaranteed to make the knee feel better over time. The key is knowing which exercises to do and which ones to avoid.
Unlike the shoulders, the knees have a smaller range of motion which makes them more susceptible to injuries. The reasons for knee pain are many — overuse, underuse, muscle imbalances, mobility issues, or a combination of all of the above. But this doesn’t mean you can’t fix them or at least work around them while continuing to build your legs.
If you’re not seeing any signs of improvement after an extended period, the first thing you should do is see a doctor and make sure it’s nothing serious. Once you’ve ruled out anything that needs medical intervention, the exercises below can help you train around the condition, experience less pain, and gradually strengthen the knee over time.
Before You Start: The Most Important Rule
Never lock your knees during any exercise.
Locking the knees while lifting transfers the entire load directly onto the joint, taking it off the muscles — which both increases injury risk and makes the exercise less effective. Over time, this damages the ligaments surrounding the knee. Keep a slight bend in the knees at all times during every exercise on this list.
The 11 Best Exercises for Bad Knees
1. Warm-Up and Foam Rolling
A proper warm-up is non-negotiable when you have bad knees. It increases body temperature, decreases the chances of connective tissue injuries, reduces muscle viscosity, and enhances suppleness — all of which directly reduce knee stress during training.
Beyond a standard warm-up, foam rolling is far superior to static stretching for knee health. A foam roller releases muscle tension and massages tense muscle fibers that pull on the knee joint and cause pain. It won’t be comfortable at first — but as time goes by the benefits are significant.
Pay particular attention to foam rolling your quads, hips, and inner thighs. When these are properly loosened, the knees won’t be pulled as far out from their natural position and you’ll maintain proper tracking throughout your exercises.
Spend at least 10 minutes on foam rolling before any leg session. Don’t rush this. It’s not as fun as lifting but it makes everything that follows safer and more effective.
2. Resistance Band Distraction for Ankle Mobility
This one surprises people — but ankle mobility is directly connected to knee health. The ankle’s job is to make your knees and hips work together to create movement through rotation. A stiff ankle forces the knee to compensate, which causes pain and increases injury risk.
How to do it: Put one end of a resistance band around your ankle and the other around a fixed object. Step the banded leg forward into a lunge-like position. From here, drive the knee forward while keeping the foot firmly on the ground — go only as far as you feel comfortable. You can add mild ankle rotations at the end range.
Do 25-30 reps per leg. This is mobility work, not strength work — focus on range of motion, not resistance.
3. Quadriceps Stretch Against the Wall
An excellent stretch that targets the quads, ankles, shins, and knees simultaneously. If your quads are chronically tight — which they are for most people who sit for long periods — this stretch directly reduces the pull on your patellar tendon and alleviates knee cap pain.
How to do it: Kneel in front of a wall with your back facing it. Place the leg you want to stretch up against the wall with the toes touching the wall surface. Support yourself on the standing knee at the base of the wall. Bring the other leg into a lunge position and lift your torso upright. The closer your knee is to the wall, the deeper the stretch.
Hold for 30-45 seconds per side. This should feel intense but not painful.
4. Terminal Knee Extension
One of the most underused knee rehabilitation exercises. It gets blood flowing directly into the knee joint and strengthens the muscles that stabilize it without loading the joint under compression.
How to do it: Attach one end of a resistance band to a fixed object at about 15cm above knee height, and loop the other end around the leg just above the knee. Face the anchor point with the banded leg in front. Step back slightly to create tension in the band. From here, simply bend and extend the knee — focusing specifically on fully straightening it completely at the end of each rep. Only the knee moves — not the whole body.
Do 20-30 reps per leg. This feels easy but is highly effective for knee health when done consistently.
5. Leg Extensions
Don’t go heavy here. The purpose is to warm up the quads and prepare the knee joint for the heavier work to come — not to test your strength.
A common mistake is starting with the legs placed too far back, which puts most of the torque directly on the knee joint before the quads even engage. The fix is simple: start with the knees at approximately a 100-degree angle. This forces the quads to engage immediately and takes the burden off the knee.
Do 3 sets of 12-15 reps with a light weight. Rest no more than 2 minutes between sets. This is preparation work — treat it as such.
6. Box Squats
Heavy regular squats are one of the pillar exercises for building strong legs — but if you have bad knees they can become genuinely difficult or even impossible to do pain-free. Here’s why box squats could be the solution to knee pain.
The box squat changes your mechanics in a way that significantly reduces knee stress. Because you push the hips back to sit down onto the box rather than letting the knees travel forward, the shins stay more perpendicular to the floor — which is the key mechanical factor in reducing knee load during squatting movements.
How to do it: Place a box or bench in the squat rack at a height where your hips are parallel to the floor when seated. Take a wide stance, get under the bar, take a deep breath, brace your core hard, and descend by pushing the hips back. Imagine drilling your feet into the floor and forcing the knees out as you descend. Sit fully on the box for one second, then stand back up.
As long as you’re not feeling pain, you can go moderately heavy on this. Do 4 sets of 5-6 reps with 3 minutes rest between sets.
7. Step Ups
The knee does a fantastic job of stabilization, and for many people with knee problems, unilateral exercises — one leg at a time — allow them to work the affected knee far more effectively than bilateral movements. Standing on one leg forces the body into a better technical position and allows you to control the movement more precisely.
How to do it: Stand in front of a bench or knee-height platform. Hold a dumbbell in each hand if your strength allows, or do it bodyweight first. Step up with one leg and climb until it’s fully extended. Step back down with the other leg. Alternate legs.
Do 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps per leg. Focus on control — don’t let the knee cave inward on either the ascent or descent.
8. Reverse Lunges
Forward lunges are one of the worst exercises you can do with bad knees — the forward momentum drives the knee over the toe and puts significant stress on the joint. Reverse lunges have almost the opposite effect. By stepping backward instead of forward, the shin stays more vertical and the knee stress is dramatically reduced while the quads and glutes still get thoroughly worked.
How to do it: Stand upright, step backward with one leg and lower your torso straight down. Keep the torso rigid and upright throughout to maintain balance. When the back knee approaches the floor, push back up to the starting position and repeat on the other leg. You can hold dumbbells or kettlebells to increase difficulty, or add a barbell on your back for more challenge.
Do 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps. Don’t go too heavy initially — the balance demand is significant and form breaks down fast when the weight gets too high.
9. Stiff-Legged Deadlift
Most bad knee exercises target the quads. But neglected hamstrings are one of the most common underlying causes of knee problems in the first place. The hamstrings cross the knee joint and play a major role in stabilizing it — weak hamstrings mean the knee is less supported from behind, which increases vulnerability to injury.
The stiff-legged deadlift directly targets the hamstrings without loading the knee under flexion — making it one of the safest and most effective exercises you can do for knee health and leg development simultaneously.
How to do it: Place a barbell on the floor in front of your feet. Grab it with a grip slightly wider than shoulder width. Lift to a standing position with the bar resting at your hips. Lower the bar by pushing the hips back and letting the bar travel down the legs, keeping the back completely straight and the knees only very slightly bent. Go as low as you can feel a full stretch in the hamstrings, then return to standing.
You should feel this entirely in your hamstrings. If you don’t, either the weight is too light or your form needs adjustment. Go relatively heavy on this one — the hamstrings respond to load. Do 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps with 2 minutes rest.
10. Calf Raises
An overlooked but genuinely important exercise for knee health. The calves control foot and ankle movement and help support the knee from below. Weak calves contribute to poor ankle mechanics which, as we established with the band distraction exercise, directly affects knee health.
How to do it: Hold on to a chair back or stable surface for balance. Rise up onto your toes as high as possible, pause at the top, then lower slowly back down. The slow lowering phase is where most of the benefit comes from — don’t rush it.
Do 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps. Once this becomes easy, do them single-leg or add weight with a dumbbell held in one hand.
11. Hip Thrusts
The glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle group in the lower body — and chronically weak glutes are one of the most common contributors to knee pain. When the glutes don’t do their job, the knees compensate. Strengthening the glutes directly reduces the load the knee has to handle during every other lower body movement.
Hip thrusts isolate the glutes more effectively than almost any other exercise — and they do it with virtually zero knee stress, making them perfect for anyone with knee issues.
How to do it: Sit on the floor with a bench directly behind you. Roll a barbell over your hips — use a pad or folded towel for comfort. Lean back so your upper back rests on the bench. Drive the hips upward as high as possible, squeezing the glutes hard at the top. Lower back down and repeat.
You can go heavy on this movement — the glutes can handle significant load. Do 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps with 2 minutes rest.
The Knee-Friendly Leg Workout
If you want to put all of the above into a structured session, here’s how to combine these exercises into an effective knee-friendly leg workout:
Pre-workout (10 minutes): Foam roll all major leg muscle groups — quads, hamstrings, hips, calves
Circuit A — perform 4 rounds, 2 minutes rest between rounds:
- Box squats: 8 reps
- Reverse lunges: 10 reps per leg
Circuit B — perform 4 rounds, 2 minutes rest between rounds:
- Stiff-legged deadlifts: 10 reps
- Step ups: 12 reps per leg
Finisher:
- Hip thrusts: 4 sets of 12 reps
- Calf raises: 3 sets of 12 reps
A Final Note
At first, sustaining a knee injury can feel like it derails your leg training goals permanently. It doesn’t. Every exercise on this list exists specifically to let you keep training — building muscle, maintaining strength, and gradually making the knee more resilient in the process.
One important caveat: every knee injury is different. Some people can squat without any problem but experience pain on the leg press. Others can do leg extensions but not leg curls. Use this list as a starting point and through trial and error you’ll quickly find which exercises work best for your specific situation.
To further stabilize the knee during squats and heavier movements, consider using knee wraps or straps. Bandages are generally better for joint issues, while straps work better if the problem involves bone. Either way — wrap them tight to get the full benefit.
Do these exercises once or twice a week consistently and you should feel a meaningful difference within a couple of months.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best exercises for bad knees? The most effective exercises for bad knees are those that strengthen the surrounding muscles without loading the knee joint under excessive stress. Box squats, reverse lunges, stiff-legged deadlifts, hip thrusts, step ups, and terminal knee extensions are all highly effective. Pair these with ankle and quad mobility work for best results.
Should I train legs if my knees hurt? It depends on the type and severity of pain. Sharp, acute pain during exercise is a signal to stop immediately. Chronic dull aching that exists regardless of activity can often be improved through the right exercises. If in doubt, see a doctor first before continuing to train through pain.
Do squats hurt knees? Traditional squats can stress the knees if the form is poor — particularly if the knees go inwards during the exercution. Box squats and goblet squats are much more knee-friendly alternatives that keep the shin more vertical and reduce joint stress significantly.
How long does it take to strengthen weak knees? With consistent training once or twice per week, most people notice a meaningful improvement in knee comfort and stability within 6-8 weeks. Full strengthening and pain resolution can take 3-6 months depending on the severity of the underlying issue.
Are leg extensions bad for knees? Light leg extensions used as a warm-up are generally safe and beneficial for bad knees — they get blood flowing into the joint and warm up the quads before heavier work. Heavy leg extensions with poor positioning can stress the knee. Keep the weight light, start with knees at 100 degrees, and use them as preparation rather than a primary strength exercise.
What cardio is safe with bad knees? Low-impact cardio on a stationary bike or elliptical machine is the safest option. Both get the heart rate up without the impact forces of running. Avoid long-distance running and high-intensity jumping exercises until the knee is significantly stronger and pain-free.
What if you don’t have any cartlidge left between the knee joint? Would you still recommend these exercises to them?
No Rhonda, you cannot do them without any cartlidge. You need to consult a specialist