Do You Really Have Bad Knees?
August 13th, 2007 · Filed Under: Fat Loss Mindset
I kind of chuckle to myself when people tell me that they have bad knees. I think, “What have they done to you? Should you put them on a ‘time out’ or scold them?”
Your knees are not bad! And for that matter none of the other body parts that may be hurting are bad either.
Yes, you may experience pain, you may have a strained ligament, worn out cartilage, bulging disc in your back, sciatica, and so on. But it does not mean they are bad.
You can take that arthritic knee and add one of two references. You can say, “My knee is bad I have to avoid exercise or at least certain exercises and that probably means I won’t be able to achieve optimal fat loss because I am limited in what I can do.”
Or
“I have an arthritic knee and I’m not going to let that stop me from achieving the body of my dreams. I know other people with arthritic knees that have achieved tremendous fat loss success and I have a clear vision in my mind of what my dream body looks like and I’m not going to let anything get in my way of reaching that goal.”
I’m not going to deny that you are experiencing pain or discomfort, but are you going to let that limit you? Do you think that you can turn that around?
A good friend of mine and fellow fitness professional Shane James told me his story where he was unable to walk or even get out of bed because his knees were so ‘bad’. The cartilage was worn out and his knees came off the track.
The doctor told him that he could never exercise again. Imagine that?
Shane refused to except the limitation instilled upon him by his doctor. Even though Shane was in pain he began to walk on the treadmill at a crawling pace.
Every morning and before bed he would repeat to himself, “I have the strongest knees in the world!” He would even have his friends call him up and say, “Hey how’s the guy with the strongest knees in the world doing today?”
Within a short period of time he had cranked up the treadmill and lost the 25 pounds that he had gained after being a bit depressed and the doctor ordering him to stop exercising.
You can listen to Shane tell the story here:
http://unstoppable-fatloss.com/blog/shane-james/
So are you going to let the references of doctors and other people who have given up on their fat loss goals because of ‘bad’ knees hold you back?
Or are you going to get new references of people who love their knees no matter what state they are in, and those knees are going to help them achieve incredible fat loss success.
Heck, you can even look at Nino Savona’s story:
http://unstoppable-fatloss.com/blog/nino-savona/
He walks with crutches and has fallen off the treadmill countless times. That sure isn’t enough to stop him.
In the Unstoppable Fat Loss interview with Tom Venuto, Tom mentions a study where they were trying to figure out which of two knee surgeries produced the best result. They also did a placebo where people thought they were getting the surgery, they were rolled into the operating room and incisions were actually made, yet nothing was done.
The person who had the placebo reported that his knee was better even though no surgery was performed.
I believe that Tom has worked through the difficulties of a bulging disc in his back as well. Take a look at the incredible physique that he has built even though he had this obstacle.
Take a moment to listen to the short audio clip with Tom as well:
http://unstoppable-fatloss.com/blog/tom-venuto/
I have trained numerous clients with sciatica and bulging discs and they have achieved tremendous fat loss success despite this.
I’ve had knee surgery myself because of a hockey injury. My bone will actually pop out of place at times and I quickly pop it back in. For the most part it’s very stable and I can do full deep squats and it doesn’t limit me from anything.
The work that I’ve done on it myself has been much better than any surgery could have ever done and my knee continues to get stronger every day.
I love that knee. It’s a good knee.
Are you starting to see where an Unstoppable Mindset can take you?
I get asked quite frequently what exercises are best to do when you have ‘bad’ knees. The best exercise for your knees is to exercise your brain and eliminate those limiting beliefs.
Isn’t it time that you started living the Unstoppable Fat Loss Lifestyle?
Your Dream Body Awaits You…
Scott Tousignant, BHK, CFC
www.UnstoppableFatLoss.com
www.FitChicFatLoss.com/blog
www.AskTheFitBastard.com/blog














October 13th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
this is all find and dandy, being mentally strong etc etc, but what else do you do for the knee physically? there has to be something you do to it, or take for it.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Hmmm, I sense that you aren’t taking the mentally side of this seriously. It’s beyond fine and dandy etc, etc. This is beyond powerful for those that apply it and I see it every day.
If I think I know where you’re coming from though… yes with all mental training there needs to be a follow through with physical action.
If you listen to what James did he simply started walking slowly and gradually building himself up.
For myself, Squats and Lunges were brutal after my knee surgery… heck just bending my knee was agony.
But I just forced myself slightly beyond my threshold each workout and worked through the pain as the muscles around the leg became stronger.
Here’s an article that I wrote that tells you how to do a deep squat properly. There has to be constant tension in your quads. Most people don’t do that and they are just going through the motions.
http://askthefitbastard.com/blog/partial-deep-squats-to-blast-your-quads/
If you have to start with some stability ball exercises for the legs, that works too.
Here’s another example of someone who took the mental aspect of ‘bad knees’ and has turned things around. Just a little bit at a time.
http://askthefitbastard.com/blog/fat-loss-advice/
November 15th, 2007 at 3:47 am
i have bad knees! so i was beleving thanks to scott i relised that the negative i made the mental change and started to beleve my knees arent bad and took the POSITIVE belife and next day my knees where better
I HAVE STRONGEST KNEES IN THE WORLD FROM NOW ON….
THANKS.10 fold back to you ..
April 16th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
There are definitely safe and unsafe versions of many exercises, and I admit I was hoping for some tips here. Scott, you must have seen people who got worse from exercising?
Your tip in comment 2 is a good one, and my yoga teacher, an incredibly fit guy who is also a physiotherapist,* gives a variation - when at the bottom of the squat, don’t rest your weight on the lower legs. Another thing he says though is to be very careful with knees, even more than with other things, because knees heal more slowly - when a position causes pain, back off. Better to improve slowly than force the knees and go backwards.
I do agree that it’s mainly mental though - my knees give me pain but when I started doing strength work, including versions of some yoga poses (the squats, and different kinds of one leg balances with bent knee) I was soon doing amazing things like running up stairs. I’ve lost focus for a couple of weeks, and am starting again, with very shallow squats. But I’ll do it daily, getting lower over time (but backing off when it causes knee pain) and will be back to full squats very soon. Thanks for the motivation!
*Having a yoga teacher who doesn’t have proper training and preferably a physiotherapy degree can lead to injury, perhaps years down the track, from bad habits like pushing your body into positions rather than moving into position with the muscles.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Hi Scott,
Thank you for this exercising, informing, & highly motivating email about knees or other injuries.
Scott, I do have some troubles with my knees locking up or twisting wrong but I still want better health for life.
For this reason I welcome the workouts, no pain no gain of muscles or no loss of the bad stuff!
Scott, what forms of adjustments should one make for the knees or other areas that might trouble some people?
Warmly,
Hillary
November 1st, 2008 at 6:35 am
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the reminder to stay disciplined mentally, even in the face of pain. Amazing how I can stay focused on relaxation for example, but lose focus when eating late at night, and hunger is not as aggravating for me as back pain, for example. Mike