Knee problems are one of the most frustrating physical ailments that an athlete can endure. While any kind of injury is of course going to interfere with training for both athletes and those who want to just get into shape, the knee is particularly problematic as it is involved in so many different movements. This is particularly true for those who do running sports of course, or who are trying to lose weight, but even if you are more of a bodybuilder/weight lifter you are still going to find that a pain in your knee is enough to make it difficult to maintain your ideal training routine as you will have to lift heavy weights while standing on that leg. Just getting into the position then where you can start curling or pressing can be difficult and place a lot of strain on your sore joint.

The good news is that there are ways you can continue training with a bad leg that won't exacerbate your injury. Here we will look at some of those.

CV

For CV running is of course out of the question and likewise you should avoid any other exercise that causes impact on your legs. Depending on the nature of your knee injury however, you should be able to exercise it so long as you maintain a steady pressure with no impacts - so cycling, swimming, the stair master or an elliptical machine should all be suitable. Once you do start to rehabilitate and begin running again, you should make sure that you put your treadmill on a slight incline which will take some of the pressure off the knee itself.

If you have a particularly bad knee problem it might be that you can't weight bear. This means you can't cycle or row because you are still putting a lot of pressure on the knee through a range of motion. A solution is to consider using the 'supine' bike which will have you leaning backwards and cycling your legs in front of you.

Lifting

For muscle development swimming will have to suffice for your legs until you build strength back in your knee. The rest of your body though is fine to train as long as you aren't bending over to pick up heavy weights - either during the exercise itself or while setting up.

One way to accomplish this is to use resistance machines. These are the machines that have you sitting down and pressing handles that are attached to a series of weights. You don't need to set up these weights and you can easily change the amount of weight without even getting up.

Another option is to use a spotter and get them to pass you the weights. If you want to do shoulder press for instance you can just sit on the bench and have your spotter put the weights in your hands. This then means you can do any seated exercise, but obviously you won't be able to return the favour by spotting them so this should be a good friend who is eager to help.