Knee joint warm up?

**Secco** · Posted On: 11/03/2005 5:24pm

I did cross country in high school and college, and while it didn't totally **** up my knees, it did a number on them. I've been going around doing intro classes and stuff at a couple of places, and I've found that my knees are really sore for the first ten minutes or so, then they become fine. The normal class warm ups (mostly stretching stuff) don't seem to help. If I show up 10 minutes early, is there some kind of leg bend or something I can do to warm up my joints? Or should I just suffer through a painful first 10 minutes of class...

**Bullwhip** · Posted On: 11/04/2005 8:18pm

warm them up

**oldman_withers** · Posted On: 11/05/2005 5:42pm

Stand feet together and keep your heels on the floor throughout the warmup. Keep your knees together and simply squat down, touch ass to heels (or as close as you can get) and then back up. Do that a couple good times, and then alternate adding rotation of the knees in both directions. That should do it for you, if not talk to your doctor or someone more knowledgeable on here, I think Taebo_master might have much better answers for you. You should also read his thread "Stretching In Detail". It's an awesome resource and he updates it with new info pretty frequently. You might want to post a question there, it's a sticky thread so a lot of folks check it out. Hope that helps.

**VikingPower** · Posted On: 11/05/2005 6:14pm

You can try the "Airborne Dance" we did in Airborne school. Put your legs together, knees slightly bent. Put your hands on your knees then rotate your knees together in a circular motion. You'll look like an idiot but it works. You can also try just raising your knee to the side, keeping your lower leg loose, then rotating that both ways.

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 11/05/2005 9:43pm

We do the "airborne dance" in BJJ. I don't feel a thing, but I don't see any harm in it either, so you might as well do it.

PL

**Judah Maccabee** · Posted On: 11/06/2005 10:22pm

Asides from the airborne dance and squatting with your feet together...

You can spread your feet about a shoulder-width apart, put your hands on your knees, and basically rotate them inwards and outwards. If you were rotating them outwards, your right knee would go clockwise and your left knee counter-clockwise.

Also make sure that your IT band and other muscles/ligaments/body structures are warmed up and pliant also. A *LOT* of my issues come from a tight IT band.

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 11/06/2005 11:34pm

I thought that was part of the airborne dance?

PL

**Judah Maccabee** · Posted On: 11/07/2005 4:47am

Originally Posted by Poop-Loops

I thought that was part of the airborne dance?

PL

No, the airborne dance has your feet together. This has them apart.

**citrus538** · Posted On: 11/09/2005 12:17pm

The airborne dance has your knees going in the same direction, while the other warm-up has your feet apart and knees going in opposite directions, like the whisks on an egg beater.

You could also get your feet shoulder-length apart, get into a squat position (thighs parallel to ground) and gently bounce up and down with your feet flat. Then repeat on the balls of your feet.