5 essential movements for powerful knees

Runners are always putting high demands on their knees–but to make those demands sustainable, it pays to strengthen the muscles around the knees (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves and tibialis anterior) to stabilize them under load or impact.

Here are five easy movements to strengthen those areas and avoid any future injuries.

1. Hip thrusts

Focus: Glutes, also activates hamstrings, quads and adductors

Your glutes are among the most powerful muscles in your body. Strengthening them will allow you to generate more force with each step forward–especially when running fast.

1. Set up with your back on a box, bench or chair. Your shoulder blades should rest on the edge of the bench.
2. Lay a dumbbell or barbell across your hips. Keeping your head in line with your spine, hinge at your hips to lower your glutes toward the ground, as low as you can go. Keep a neutral spine (don’t arch your back).
3. Press your heels and toes into the floor, thinking about pushing the ground away from you. You should feel this in your glutes.
4. Avoid swinging your hips up or tucking your pelvis. Continue pushing the floor away until you reach full hip extension. Repeat 10 times.

2. Banded adduction and abduction

Focus: Knee and hip stabilizers

• Banded pulls (feel these on the sides of your glutes and outsides of your legs)
  1. Sit on a bench and wrap a resistance band around both legs, just above your knees.
  2. Move your knees away from each other in a controlled movement.
  3. Stop when your legs begin to rotate outward, and very slowly return your legs to the starting position.
  4. Keep your feet on the floor throughout the exercise. Repeat 10 times.

• Stability ball squeezes (feel these on the inner thighs)
  1. While seated on a bench, place a stability ball between your knees. 
  2. Squeeze your knees together as hard as you can. Hold for 10 seconds, then perform 10 controlled pulses. Repeat three times.

3. Weighted calf raises

Focus: Calves

1. Sit on a bench with your knees in line with your ankles. Rest the balls of your feet on a plate or slightly raised surface, and place dumbbells on your thighs.
2. Think about pushing your foot and toes into the plate to raise your heel off the ground.
3. Hold at the top for one second, and then lower slowly. Repeat 10 times.

4. Dorsiflexion holds with resistance

Focus: tibialis anterior (front of your shins) and toe flexors

1. Wrap a resistance band around a stable object and the other end around your forefoot. Sit on the ground with your leg outstretched.
2. Slightly bend your knee to relax your quads. Pull your toes toward your face, thinking about curling them around the band to activate your toe flexors.
3. Hold for 30 seconds per leg.

5. Romanian deadlifts

Focus: glutes and hamstrings (also activates your calves)

1. Holding two dumbbells, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent.
2. Hinge at your hips, and think about pushing your glutes towards the wall behind you. Avoid bending further at your knees. Stop when your hips no longer move backward.
3. Think about pressing the ground away from you with your entire foot to stand back up.
4. Repeat 10 times.