OW

Peter and I met for a session today, and he made up for missed time! I honestly think I won't be able to walk tomorrow.

He kind of discovered something today: I need help strengthening my hip abductor and adductor muscles, and that will help align the rest of my leg muscles and keep my knee where it's supposed to be. Then I won't have as much pain. I did this really tough exercise with these big rubber bands, one around my knees and one around my ankles. With the bands on, I had to squat down, and rotate each knee in and out. Then both knees together. Then, still squatting and still with the bands on, I had to take several steps to my right! Oh man, that was really hard! Much harder than the normal hip abduction/adduction machine. I recommend it if you want to work on your hips.

Another exercise I like, and helps build up the little stabilizer muscles in the legs... OK, let me see if I can explain this. You need a pair of dumbbells and a step platform. 

1. Stand in front of the step platform, dumbbells in hand. Let's start with the right leg in this example.
2. Step up onto the platform with the right leg. While standing on your right leg, bring your left knee up. Keep your foot flexed.
3. While standing on your right leg with your left knee in the air, curl the dumbbell in your right hand up, then press the right hand straight up. Do all this slowly, as the idea is to spend as much time balancing on your right foot as you can.
4. Bring your arm back down, curl the weight back down, lower your left knee and step back off the platform.

You can alternate legs, or do reps on one leg to fatigue and then switch. Again, the idea is to balance on one leg while all this other activity is going on, so go slow! It's really challenging, but kinda fun! If my explanation doesn't make sense, leave a comment, and maybe I'll make a video to demonstrate.