High knees exercise benefits are numerous, making this simple exercise worth adding to your workout routine. For starters, high knees exercise benefits help improve your overall health, helping you lose weight and prevent injuries in your lower body and knees. Not only that, but high knees exercises are also fun! So put on some music, warm up those legs and get ready to move. With all the high knees exercise benefits listed below, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start doing this sooner!
What are High Knees
If you’re looking for a way to strengthen your muscles, improve your flexibility and lose weight, high knees are a great exercise. In addition to getting all these health benefits, you’ll also burn calories and feel more energized throughout your day. Plus, it only takes a few minutes to complete!
Is High Knees A Good Exercise
Yes, high knees are good exercise. They have several benefits for your overall health. First, they’re easy to do and don’t require any equipment. Second, it doesn’t matter if you have knee problems; these exercises can help alleviate them. Finally, high knees are excellent calorie burners—one of their main benefits. And that means more pounds lost! So why not try them? After all, it can only be beneficial to your overall health!
Benefits of High Knees Exercise
High knees are often a component of other exercises, but they’re also used as a stand-alone movement that has several health benefits. High knees exercise not only builds leg strength, but it can also increase coordination and endurance. Here are five benefits of high knees exercise.
1. Strengthens the Muscles in The Front of Your Thighs
High knees, also called knee lifts, strengthen and tone your quadriceps muscles in your upper thighs. These muscles play a role in knee stability and can help prevent problems like patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee). It also targets other groups of lower body muscles including hip flexors and calves.
2. Relieves Knee Problems
One way to alleviate knee problems is to strengthen your quadriceps (the muscle in front of your thigh) and hamstrings (the muscles behind your thigh). One good exercise that helps with these muscles is high knees. High knees strengthen these muscles while also building stability around your knee joints.
If you have a knee problem, doing high knees regularly can help strengthen these areas and make it easier for you to stand, walk and do normal daily activities without pain.
Additionally, high knees are an excellent workout for weight loss. It builds lean muscle which will help your body burn more calories throughout the day as well as increase your metabolic rate.
3. Improves Balance
As we age, it’s important to maintain our balance and strength. High knees exercise is a great way to improve your stability and your sense of where you are in space. A lot of us spend hours each day sitting, which weakens our core—that makes it harder to control our center of gravity and track our feet during high knees.
The result is that we’re more likely to trip or stumble. High knees also work your hip flexors and back muscles—all things that make daily life easier as you get older. You can do the exercise while walking down the street, doing chores around the house, taking out the trash—basically anywhere!
It’s a simple addition to any fitness routine because it strengthens and stretches those hard-to-reach muscles that don’t always get worked by other exercises. Plus they help build up your endurance so they’re great for weight loss too!
4. Increases Coordination
Keeps your body in motion, forcing it to coordinate and react on its own. Sometimes, people who find one part of their body isn’t quite up to par with another part can do high knees exercise for weight loss to help keep everything working together as a team.
High knees are also good for beginners, as they’re easy to learn and don’t require any equipment other than the ground. The more you practice the better you’ll get at keeping time with the movement of your hands and feet. If you’re looking for an exercise that’s fun, free-form, and effective this is a great place to start!
5. Weight Loss Booster
The high knees exercise is a bodyweight exercise that works your quads, hamstrings, and glutes to lose weight. It also strengthens your core. When you’re on a weight loss plan, incorporating exercises that work multiple muscle groups can maximize caloric burn by increasing metabolic rate. High knees use all of these muscles, which means it’s great for boosting weight loss while you get in shape.
How To Do High Knees Exercises
The high knees exercise is a relatively easy exercise that can be done anywhere. It strengthens your glutes, quads, and hamstrings (the muscles in your thighs) as well as improves your balance.
Read on to find out how to do high knees exercises correctly so you get the maximum benefit from it. The high knees exercise strengthens the muscles in the front of your thighs.
In addition, it can help alleviate knee problems such as pain or stiffness by strengthening those same muscles. For weight loss purposes, this may not be the best choice because there are more effective exercises for burning calories than just jogging around with high knees.
However, if running isn’t an option for you because of joint pain or other physical limitations, then high knees could still provide some relief.
Different High Knee Exercises
High knees are great for knee health and a whole lot more. It targets your hamstrings, glutes, and quads, which makes it a full-body exercise. They’re also a fun way to elevate your heart rate without even realizing it.
Below are five high knee exercises you can do at home or in your office. You don’t need any equipment to do them; just make sure you have enough space around you so that your movements aren’t limited by anything else around you!
1) Stand with your feet together. Bend your knees until they’re about 90 degrees from the ground and rise onto the balls of your feet as if you were on stilts while keeping your back straight. Hold this position for 10 seconds then come back down to the ground, but don’t rest completely on the floor yet. Instead, bend your legs again and repeat the motion for another 10 seconds. Do three sets of these reps before resting for 30 seconds or going on to the next exercise.
2) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and take small steps forward alternating right leg first and left leg first (about 3 inches). Keep your body upright, keep both heels on the ground at all times, and keep breathing evenly throughout. If you find yourself struggling to balance, put one hand on the wall in front of you and continue stepping. Repeat this process for 20-30 minutes before taking a break.
3) Lie flat on your back with your hands over your head or crossed under your head. Bring one foot towards the other foot until they meet and cross at the ankles. Straighten out one leg so that it’s hovering over the other one, toes pointed towards the ceiling. Without bending either knee, lift your hips off the ground so that only your butt is touching the floor. Lower your hips back down into the original starting position and alternate between lifting each leg individually. Do two sets of these reps before resting for 15 seconds or moving on to the next exercise.
4) Step off an imaginary curb while rising onto the balls of our feet like we did in the first exercise but this time stay balanced on both feet instead of balancing with our hands against a wall. Alternate between stepping off the curb with your right foot and then following it up with your left foot, continuing this pattern as you slowly walk backward away from the imaginary curb. Continue walking backward for about 5-10 minutes before taking a break.
5) Place two chairs opposite each other roughly four feet apart. Place one chair in front of the other so that there are about six inches separating them. Sit on the chair in front of you with your back tall and core engaged. Place your hands behind you to brace yourself. Raise one foot off the ground, extend it upwards as far as possible and then return it to the floor. Return that same foot to the ground, raise the other one off the ground, extend it upwards and return it back to its starting position. Now alternate raising each foot alternately without returning them to their respective floors.
How Many High Knees Should I Do
The number of high knees you do should be based on your fitness level and overall health. If you’re just starting, it’s best to start with ten repetitions at a brisk pace. Don’t worry about reaching your knees to your chest; instead, focus on keeping good posture throughout. As you progress, gradually increase how many times you perform high knees exercises each day. You can even add additional steps in between!
High Knees Muscles Worked
Before you take a closer look at high knees exercise benefits, it’s important to take note of which muscles are being worked by doing high knees exercise. Muscles in your lower body – particularly your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings – work together to perform high knees. For optimal results, focus on squeezing these muscles throughout each repetition of the high knees exercise.
How often should you do high knees?
It depends on how often you exercise and what your schedule is like. If you’re an athlete or workout every day, I recommend doing high knees every day because it adds a little excitement to every workout. For people who don’t work out every day, do a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) routine at least three times per week and perform high knees during one of those workouts. It’s always a good idea to mix things up so your body doesn’t get bored!
How Many Calories Burned Doing High Knees
One minute of high knees burns about five calories for a 125-pound person. If you have no cardiovascular issues and can do high knees for 30 minutes, you’ll burn about 150 calories. At 45 minutes, your calorie expenditure increases to approximately 200, and if you go for an hour, you’ll burn roughly 250 calories. However, keep in mind that all of these estimates are approximate; every individual is different.
The best way to find out how many calories you’re burning during the exercise is by calculating your heart rate with a monitor or by monitoring how hard you feel like you’re breathing. Keep in mind that the more overweight you are, the less likely it will be for high knees to have any effect on weight loss because there isn’t enough muscle tissue to burn fat.
High knees should only be done two or four times per week – not five or six as this would put too much stress on the lower back and increase the chances of injury.
Modified High Knees for Beginners
If you’re new to running or high knees, it’s a good idea to start with a modified version of high knees that has you bending at your waist. High knees are an easy way to incorporate a warm-up into your workout routine and help improve flexibility in your leg muscles.
These exercises also strengthen the muscles in the front of your thighs, which can help alleviate knee problems. The key to performing these exercises correctly is being sure not to lock out your knee joints as you move from one position to the next. Keep your chest lifted tall, shoulders back, and relaxed.
You should be able to see over your toes when you are standing upright. Follow these steps for effective high knees: First lift on the balls of your feet and then shift all of your weight onto them so that they are bearing all of the weight again.
Perform this step 10 times per set. Then lower yourself down on the balls of your feet and bring one foot forward so that it is lined up with the opposite foot (you will now have parallel legs). Hold this pose for 2 seconds before bringing both feet together in front of you. Now return to starting position by lifting yourself onto the balls of your feet and bringing both feet together in front of you (parallel legs). Repeat this 10 times per set.
The disadvantage of High Knees
One disadvantage of high knees is that you need a soft surface for them to work effectively. You can’t do high knees on a hard floor and still get benefits from it. For example, if you have knee problems, you could get injured while doing high knees on concrete because it’s too hard.
Another disadvantage of high knees is that it requires space. The wider your stance is, the better you will be able to perform high knees exercises.