After f’ing up my knee I am not able to do usual training stuff like running, cycling, cross-training machine thingies etc. As a result I am slowly becoming a blubber monster. I need to find stuff to do that burns fat but does not impact my knee. What doesn’t help is that I hate swimming. Can you suggest what I need to be doing? Eating fewer cakes, obviously, but work-out wise?

What doesn’t help is that I hate swimming.

I hated swimming, mostly because I hardly ever did it and was crap at it (could swim but technique was awful.) If you’re like me then it’s worth having another crack at it and reading up a bit and maybe getting some coaching. I was sort of forced into it by injury but actually started to enjoy it when I got a bit better at it.

You might hate swimming, but it seems to me to be the best possible option. Seriously, can you force yourself to like it?

A couple of years ago, I took out a membership at a gym that had a pool, figuring I could use whatever equipment interested me, but then reward myself with time in the sauna or hot tub or whatever.

It turns out, I really enjoyed the swimming, and never ended up using the ‘luxury’ side of things, because I never felt the need to.

Give swimming another go, but do it with an incentive.

I’m not keen on swimming either, but classes make a huge difference – a couple of sessions a week in a decent group is quite fun, and nothing like as grim as bashing out 100 lengths on your own.

As above, do you hate swimming because you are crap or do you really hate it? I used to be the former, but learning to swim properly (and a weekly club/training session) has changed that.

As above, do you hate swimming because you are crap or do you really hate it?

Basically I hate water on my face – feels like I’m being waterboarded. Bit of a wuss, I know …

Walking is under rated as an exercise, if your knee is OK for it.

Basically I hate water on my face – feels like I’m being waterboarded.

Backstroke?

What’s wrong with your knee? Surgery required or does it just need rehab?

A good rehab session can be as much of a workout as a walk or a gentle swim.

MTFU and swim. Did wonders for my knee after a bike/car interface. That and lots of walking.

DrJ, I was similar. Decent googles that didn’t leak (much), and a nose clip, mostly sorted it, though it still took a long time before I could do a passable face-down crawl. Still haven’t got the hang of swimming without a nose clip, even when I blow out continuously I manage to get water up the nose. So I always wear one. I’m still basically a bit crap but I can have fun and it’s a good break from running and cycling. Learning the different strokes also provides some variety.

It’s okay to say MTFU but some people are scared of water. I’m one of them and in the same situation. Bad knee for over a year, piling on the timber and need something low impact that doesn’t involve hills. Living in W Yorks that ain’t so easy.

iDave to the forum please, iDave to the… Oh, yeah, right.

I’d sell you a training plan, cash upfront, I’ve got to go on holiday first. Oh, and then run away from the forum forever, keeping your money.

(Curse you, Tom!)

It’s okay to say MTFU but some people are scared of water. I’m one of them and in the same situation.

That’s fair enough – but if you take classes the teacher will take that into account, and help you get over your fear. Adult classes aren’t like that sadist school teacher who’d chuck you in the deep end and tell you not to be a sissy!

You could just eat less.

Basically I hate water on my face – feels like I’m being waterboarded

Another ex Guantanamo Bay inmate on the forum – what did they get you for?

Hard to know quite what to recommend without knowing what is wrong with your knee, and it seems you have already ruled out most standard “fitness” activities. I would perhaps not be so quick to reject doing some gym work, with some decent advice on protecting and building up your muscles around your knee it would give you something to work towards and likely bring you back to other activities earlier.

other than that how about joining a weekly yoga class?

or maybe even a geriatrics dance class 😉

I’ll join the ‘shit at swimming but gave it another go’ camp.

It really is worth trying again. I’m still shit, but that just means I get a better work out as I thrash hither and thither.

A guy in the triathlon club was afraid of water, took up swimming with the help of a sympathetic instructor, became a reasonable swimmer, decided to get to grips with this remaining fear of open water so joined the tri club and is now a reasonable triathlete.

If you do take up swimming beware of the “le syndrome choco BN”. Nothing makes me as hungry as swimming.

If you swim, don’t do breaststroke, maybe just use a float infront of you and paddle away with your knees.
Be careful when talking to fitness people about your knees – they will invariably say, if you join my gym, you can build up the muscle around the knees and that will sort out your problems. This is not the case a lot of the time, it can make it worse.
My knees are fecked so I’ve settled for outdoor group classes on a mushy field for the moment, with tubagrips underneath leggings to give as much support as poss.

Badnewz – what you say is true – breast stroke is the worst thing for my knee due to the twisting involved. I have a torn meniscus and I’m trying to strengthen the muscles around the knee to shield it and avoid eventual surgery, since I’m afraid once I do that it will never be the same again. I have a good physio that has sorted out exercises for that but they are pretty static and don’t involve much sweating.

Maybe kicking with a board is the best for now, and then seeing if I can improve the swimming situation.

Annoyingly, the pool is right next to an Italian bakery that makes the best cannoli 🙁

What did you do to your knee that prevents you from cycling on a spin bike? Speaking from experience, a torn meniscus didnt stop me from riding my bike. you might need to adjust your position to keep within pain free ROM, but i’d be surprised if you cant ride.

Mrs Dubleyou had her meniscus surgery with this guy
http://www.wimbledonclinics.co.uk/consultants/mr-jonathan-bell/

Obviously, he was biased towards intervention but he reckoned the sooner you get it done the sooner you can start being normal again…

DrJ, what I’ve found has helped me is using tubagrips around my knees under my jeans whenever I go out. You forget your wearing them and they help absorb everyday impact from things like walking.
My main problem with swimming is picking up colds all the time, no matter how much chlorine is in the pool.

I fecked my knee and had to have surgery, in the 6 months before it I could barely walk, so started swimming. Took about 6 month after before I could ride a bike too.

Like turbo training it can be tediously boring, but if you can find a buddy to go with then it can be quite sociable, even if all you do it follow them up and down and chat for a couple of minutes after each set, that and the friendly competition, a bit like riding in a fast road group.

The other things that worked for me were the cross trainers at the gym for longer sessions and rowing machines (despite rowers suffering with bad knees just as much as cyclists) for shorter (20min) sessions. I found I could often work my away around the gym doing 5min on each cardio machine (elliptical, cross, bike, treadmill, rower) without pain, double up on the least impact ones and I could do an hours solid cardio.

And don’t underestimate walking, it’s still ~400 calories an hour if you can manage a brisk walk.

What did you do to your knee that prevents you from cycling on a spin bike? Speaking from experience, a torn meniscus didnt stop me from riding my bike. you might need to adjust your position to keep within pain free ROM, but i’d be surprised if you cant ride.

That’s true but I am a pretty sorry biomechanical specimen and my feet tend to stick out like a duck, so if I cycle with them pointing forward it twists my knees in an undesirable way. I can ride, but I would like to find alternatives.