Lower Body Workouts that are Easy on the Knees?

[motherofsix]

My knees are getting stressed from Cathe's Lower Body Workouts. What can I do that doesn't put so much stress on my knees? Since I do her Step workouts do I need to do alot of lower body strength training? Are there alternatives to doing squats, lunges, and leg presses? The inside of my knees started to hurt last week when I was doing leg presses. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.
Heather

 

[Stacy]

I've had knee problems for a few years and a pear shape, so I know your dilemma. What helped initially was lowering my step height from 8 to 6 inches. I'm contemplating lowering it again soon to 4, but can't mentally do that yet lol.

What has also helped is doing more kickboxing and power yoga in place of step.

But, the biggest difference was when I did the following, which I've been doing for about 3 weeks and I can already feel a difference. I workout in the basement and I kinda gauge my knee by how much pain I'm in walking up the stairs after my workout and for the past 3 weeks it's been none! I've substituted interval workouts on my recumbent bike for other cardio workouts. I've been doing the bike 2-3 times a week. What has also helped tremendously is slowing down the rep speed of all of my lower body work. For instance, I've still been doing squats and lunges, but I'll do a 6-2 count like Cathe does in the Slow&Heavy series. I've been doing a total body workout 3 times a week that a friend of mine who is a trainer suggested. I stil however avoid leg presses b/c no matter how I do them, they hurt. So I just decided that I can live without them.

Hope that helps!

Stacy