Knee-friendly exercises

Gym exercises that do not load the knee, to train glutes, back, chest, shoulders and core if you have knee pain, patellar issues or an injury.

Knee pain is one of the most common complaints in the gym. It can come from a meniscus or ligament injury, a problem with the cartilage behind the kneecap or simply overuse. In many cases you do not need to stop training: choosing exercises that do not require bending the knee under load is enough.

For the legs, the hip thrust, the glute bridge and the abductor and adductor machines train the glutes and hips with the knee nearly still. Most upper-body and core exercises do not stress the knee. Squats, lunges, the leg press, jumps and leg extensions do load it, and are best reintroduced gradually with professional guidance.

The list shows the exercises in our catalog that do not load the knee according to our classification. It does not replace an assessment: if the pain appears at rest, comes with swelling or keeps you from walking, see a doctor.

73 exercises do not load this joint.

Lower body

Hamstrings

• Romanian deadlift
• Barbell good morning

Glutes

• Kettlebell swing
• Machine hip thrust
• Barbell hip thrust
• Floor glute bridge
• Cable glute kickback

Abductors

• Hip abduction machine
• Seated banded abduction
• Side-lying leg raise
• Clamshell

Adductors

• Hip adduction machine
• Standing cable adduction

Calves

• Standing calf raise
• Seated calf raise
• Leg press calf raise

Upper body

Chest

• Barbell bench press
• Incline dumbbell press
• Machine chest press
• Push-ups
• Pec deck fly
• Cable crossover

Triceps

• Parallel bar dips
• Cable triceps pushdown
• Overhead triceps extension
• Skull crusher
• Bench dips

Shoulders

• Standing overhead press
• Seated dumbbell shoulder press
• Machine shoulder press
• Dumbbell lateral raise
• Cable lateral raise
• Front raise
• Reverse pec deck
• Face pull

Back

• Pull-ups
• Assisted pull-ups
• Lat pulldown
• Straight-arm cable pulldown
• Barbell bent-over row
• One-arm dumbbell row
• Seated machine row
• Single-arm cable row
• Seated cable row

Biceps

• Barbell curl
• Biceps curl (machine or seated dumbbell)
• Hammer curl
• Cable curl

Core

Abs

• Machine crunch
• Standing cable crunch
• Floor crunch
• Reverse crunch
• Dead bug
• Lying leg raise
• Flutter kicks
• Scissor kicks
• Single-leg lowering
• Hollow body hold
• Tabletop crunch
• Toe touch crunch
• Front plank
• Captain's chair leg raise
• Hanging leg raise
• Farmer's carry

Obliques

• Bicycle crunch
• Heel touches
• Side plank
• Machine torso rotation
• Pallof press
• Cable woodchop
• Russian twist

Lower back

• Back extension

Cardio

Cardio

• Arm ergometer

If you have an injury, pain or a medical condition, check with a professional before doing this exercise.