PerpetualBob

Hi,

I tend to get sore knees after long rides and I believe that the best solution would be to strengthen the muscles around the knees to have better stability of the knee cap and less friction that causes the pain.

I'm looking for a good set of strength exercises that I can repeat (At what interval?) to get to a place where I don't have to fear this problem.

I ride a MTB.

Can anyone recommend? Thanks.

Carbonfiberboy 

Sore knees where? Sore in front of knee, raise saddle. Sore in back or side of knee, lower saddle. Sitting normally on the saddle, which your heel on the pedal, your knee should lock completely out at the bottom of the stroke.

Other than that, straight legged high kicks are very good. Do a set with one leg, switch, repeat, etc. Every other day is usually good.

Other than that, ride with lower gears. Keep your leg effort down. It shouldn't feel like you are pushing on the pedals at all when riding normally. You will have to push on them some to climb.

Schwerelos

I also tend to have sore knees (under my knee cap) after long rides. My saddle's plenty high and I'm definitely a spinner so I had to look elsewhere for causes.

In my research, I found that it may be due to weak hip muscles. Apparently, weak hip muscles can cause over-pronation of the feet, even if you don't have flat feet, and lead to knee pain.

I'm going to try the exercises below and see if they help.

https://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8118...litation-e.htm


Good Luck!

Carbonfiberboy 

Exercise is good. Do try the kicks:
https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-172208.html
Also google straight leg kick.

rykard

thanks, those exercises look very good.

IndyFelt

Strength exercises are good, but you should also look at your flexibility. Stretch the muscles around the knee, ankle and the hip. All of these things can play into knee pain.
You might want to look up IT-band. A tight IT-band can cause some knee pain. I find rollers work well on breaking the crud in my muscles.
Remember with any exercise make sure you are getting a full range of motion.

PerpetualBob

Thanks All.
Great Tips.
I'll try it out.

late

Tell us exactly where it hurts.

You could have a bike fit problem.

Or a muscle strength imbalance.

Or simply pushing too hard (likely to be a part of it).

Is it under the kneecap, just below the kneecap, to the side, back of the legs...?

PerpetualBob

It's under the knee cap. it's kind of faint so I find it difficult to locate it's exact location.
I should mention that last year I had a knee pain that had me stop cycling for a couple of months.
Back then I suspect it was pushing too hard and the diagnose was tendinitis.
Thing is, it was on the left knee leg know its on the right.

I have a suspicion as to the reason it started again.
Due to the fact that pushing too hard was the reason, I started using much lower shifts and heightened my seat way up.
I had the suspicion the this caused a situation in which I am thrusting my left near the end of the spin (On the lower part) which causes minor shocks to the tendons and makes the light up and ache.
This is sort of far fetched but on the last ride I decided to try to use slightly higher shifts (which made my push more and thrust less).
I finished the ride with no pain what so ever.

Makes any sense?
Thanks!

late

Too hard too soon happens to everyone.

But... the fact that you are making big changes makes me wonder if the
fit is off.

How much difference in leg length do you have?

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes and no. I don't understand your use of most of the words you use to describe the problem.

On saddle height: With your heel on the pedal, your knee should completely lock out with your heel just barely touching the pedal at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

When you pedal, pedal with your heel. Feel it fitting into the heel cup in your shoe.

Try doing some one-legged pedaling next time you go out. Prop one foot in the frame triangle and just pedal with the other one. Do that several times to exhaustion, alternating legs. I'm assuming you're using clipless pedals or toe clips and straps. Similarly, you can get better at pedaling by pedaling at very high rpms in very low gears for several minutes at a time.

Pug

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift