Ask a Trainer: Are Squats and Lunges Bad for Your Knees?
In this video, Nike master trainer Holly Rilinger discusses how to know if your squat and lunge routine is helping — or hurting — your lower body.
You may already know how great squats and lunges are for strengthening your lower body (and let’s face it, giving your behind a little lift). But word on the street is all that body-lowering action isn’t doing your knees any favors. Must you sacrifice a strong lower-half to preserve your knees?
The type of pain you’re experiencing while or after doing squats and lunges makes all the difference here. If you’re feeling muscular pain, a.k.a. soreness, that’s a sign that those muscles are working and getting stronger. Now, if you’re having a shooting pain anywhere in your body or you’re having pain in your knees, “that’s a totally different thing,” says Holly Rilinger, Nike master trainer. “I would check with your doctor or your trainer [to see if] you’re doing the exercise properly. And just make sure to monitor that pain.”
- Holly RilingerCoach, trainer, and 10-year veteran of the fitness world, Holly Rilinger is known as one of the most inspiring motivational trainers in the game.
References
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. (2020). Patellofemoral pain syndrome.
UptoDate. (2022). Patient education: Knee pain (beyond the basics).