5 Exercises to Stregthen Legs and Avoid Injury

Last January, my wife tore her ACL skiing. She had surgery a few months ago and received new parts, but the road to recovery is long and arduous. Twice a week she goes to physical therapy, which she thinks of as the town social center; apparently half of our little community lost a fight with a mogul last winter. She describes physical therapy as having insurance pay for a doctor to be her personal trainer. That's pretty good perk if you can get it, which is why Anthem will only cover 24 visits for her. Still, she is receiving excellent rehab and her legs are stronger than ever.

The workouts that her therapist gives her are designed to strengthen the muscles that support the knee to take the stress off her new ligament. She works her quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. My wife's surgeon, Dr. Gloria Beim, chief medical officer to the US Winter Olympic Team at Sochi among various other distinctions,  has written a book about preventing and treating injuries in women athletes, and part of her message is that women have vulnerable knees. Women, especially, need to strengthen all of their leg muscles to avoid injury.

With summer coming, and with it lots of hiking and bike riding ahead (which my wife isn't allowed to do this year), I thought I'd share the top five exercises her doctor has prescribed for getting legs in shape and preventing injury in the future:

1. Straight leg raises - gets the quads firing again in order to work up to more strenuous exercise. Here is a link to how to do them. There are lots of variations.

2. Clams - Clams strengthen the quads, hamstrings and glutes. Here is a link to how to do them. Again, there are lots of variations, and it is easy to add more reps.

3. Squats - Works your glutes, hamstrings and quads. Here is a link showing proper form. They can be a bear to do at first, but it is easy to add a few more each day. This is a great exercise to do during TV commercials or when you take a five minute break from work.

4. Lunges - Works your entire lower body. Click here for a video showing proper form. This exercise is very scalable, and can be quite a workout. Start with a few, work up to many. You can add weight for upper body and to make it harder once you master the basic technique.

5. Calf raises - These can be done seated or standing to work various parts of the calf. Make sure to stretch afterword so you can walk later. Seated calf raises can be done sitting right at your desk.

To your health,
Ryan