You can still build strength with a few simple, seated exercises . In 2020, Aarthi Ravindran, then 23, was using a leg-press machine at her gym when she suddenly felt an intense pain in her right knee. She was new to strength training and had tried to lift too much weight.
A doctor quickly found that Ravindran had torn a flap of cartilage from her knee, and said she should recover with a brace and physical therapy. But two years later, she still couldn’t climb stairs without pain and felt hopeless about being able to move as she had before. “It was devastating,” Ravindran said.
“I thought I’d never be able to go back to the gym or do things I love,” such as going for long walks. Then, last fall, a trainer introduced her to low-impact, seated exercises. By progressively adding weights to these chair workouts, she has been able to strengthen the muscles around her knees.
Now, she can ride a bike and climb stairs without pain..