What is a good workout that can help protect joints?

Fitness regimens should be tailored to an individual's needs. Andrew Feldman, MD, discusses factors to consider when planning a workout routine.

Transcript

00:00

Did you have a meniscus tear? Do you have arthritis in your knee? Did you ever twist your ankle and have ligament damage?

00:07

Whatever it might be, you may want to pick something that you do to not exacerbate those issues. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:20

Firstly, it's an individual endeavor. And I think that the key thing is to understand that there are certain physiological facts.

00:27

Fact number one-- when we age, our muscle mass decreases. Our fat content increases. Our hand-eye coordination is worse.

00:35

And that's an exponential thing that happens more and more as you get older and older. So who you were and what you want to be

00:44

may be two separate things. And they may not be able to match. So you have to know, number one, I'm an older athlete.

00:52

Number two, your injury pattern-- did you have a meniscus tear? Do you have arthritis in your knee? Did you ever twist your ankle and have ligament damage?

01:02

Whatever it might be, you may want to pick something that you do to not exacerbate those issues.

01:08

Number three-- I'm a very big believer in cross-training because I think the body needs to be fooled in terms of working out.

01:14

If you do the same routine over and over again, which we all tend to do-- we go to our gym, we're there at 5 o'clock, we leave at 6:00-- you're not actually, in a total way,

01:24

working out your body. So I think you should go and swim one day. And I think you should run another day if you want to do aerobics, and maybe bike a third.

01:32

If you're doing weight training, switch it up. Sometimes I'll even go to different floors in the gym

01:38

just to think I'm in a different gym so that I'll do different routines. I think that will give you more longevity and less impact.