10 Knee-Strengthening Exercises Every Runner Should Do to Stay Injury-Free

As a running coach, I’ll tell you what most runners learn the hard way: your knees don’t usually “randomly” start hurting—they get overwhelmed when the muscles that support them aren’t strong enough for the load you’re asking them to handle.

The problem is, strength training is the first thing to get skipped because we’d all rather just run. But gym work (or smart at-home strength) isn’t optional if you want to stay healthy, consistent, and progressing, especially if you’re building mileage or training for races.

In this guide, I’ll show you the best knee-strengthening exercises for runners, moves that build strength and stability through your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves so your knees stay protected on the roads, trails, and long runs.

It takes a little extra effort, but it’s a trade you’ll gladly make: a couple short strength sessions a week now, or weeks (or months) sidelined later.

What Are The Benefits of Knee Strengthening Exercises For Runners?

There are plenty of benefits to performing knee exercises, not just for runners but for everyone. Comfortably bending and extending our knees to their full range of motion makes day-to-day activities such as crouching down and climbing stairs much more accessible.

Strengthening the muscles surrounding the knee joint eases pressure on the knee, which may, in turn, relieve existing knee pain. It can also reduce the risk of knee injury¹Lauersen, J. B., Andersen, T. E., & Andersen, L. B. (2018). Strength training as superior, dose-dependent and safe prevention of acute and overuse sports injuries: a systematic review, qualitative analysis and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(24), 1557–1563. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-099078 and increase knee stability which can help combat the impact of running.

Doing unilateral exercises, working one leg at a time, can also help fix muscle imbalances, so you don’t overload your dominant leg. 

Incorporating lower-body strength work into your routine can help you avoid knee pain and trips to physical therapy, and keep you running.

The following 10 knee strengthening exercises we will look at today will work the muscles surrounding your knee to make you strong, stable, and ready to pound the pavement or trails. 

10 Knee Strengthening Exercises For Runners 

Be sure to warm up with 5-10 minutes of gentle cardio before beginning this workout.

If you are just starting out, you can adapt these exercises to your fitness level. For example, you can perform them with just your body weight and add resistance as you become stronger.

To start, you can do three sets of eight reps for each exercise.

#1: Dumbbell Step-Ups With Knee Drive

You will need a plyo box or step and a pair of dumbbells for this exercise. It targets your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. 

1. Stand with your feet at hip-width apart, facing the box, holding a dumbbell in each hand. 
2. With the dumbbells at your sides, step up onto the box with your right foot while driving your left knee upward to 90 degrees. 
3. Carefully bring your left foot back to the floor and step down with your right foot. 
4. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#2: Single-Leg Box Step-Downs

This exercise must be done in a controlled manner to reap the strengthening benefits. It mainly works your quads and glutes. 

1. Begin standing tall, with your left foot on the box and your right foot on its edge.
2. Extend your arms out in front of you.
3. Bend your left knee as you lower your right foot down toward the floor, barely making contact with it. 
4. Extend your left knee, driving yourself back up to the starting position.
5. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#3: Resistance Band Clamshells

This is a great exercise for working your glutes. It also doubles as a hip-strengthening exercise and helps stabilize your pelvis. You will need a mini-band to perform this exercise.

1. Loop a mini resistance band just above your knees. 
2. Lie on your right side with your knees stacked one on top of the other, bent at 45 degrees. 
3. Use your right elbow to prop yourself up. 
4. Engage your core. 
5. Lift your left knee as high as possible while keeping your feet together, right leg on the floor, and hip stable.
6. When your left knee reaches its peak height, pause, and then gently lower it back down to its starting position
7. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#4: Split Squats

Split squats are a great exercise to strengthen your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors. They can also help increase flexibility. 

1. Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Step forward with your left leg and lower into a lunge position (knees bent at a 90-degree angle) with your knee just above the ground.
3. With control, extend your left knee.
4. Again, in a controlled manner, flex the left knee and lower the right knee toward the ground
5. Complete your reps and switch legs.

Note: Ensure your front knee does not collapse toward the middle of your body; keep it strong, constantly pulling outward. 

#5: Lateral Lunges With Dumbbells

Lateral lunges work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, abductors, and adductors.

1. Stand tall with your feet together.
2. With a dumbbell in each hand, bend your elbows and bring them toward your chest, keeping them together. 
3. Lift your right foot and take a large step toward your right side.
4. Bend your right knee and sit back as if you were sitting back in a chair.
5. By pushing off your right foot, return to the starting position. 
6. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#6: Lateral Band Walk With Resistance Band

This exercise will help with stabilizing our knees. As the resistance band constantly pushes our knees inward, we need to ensure they stay in an outward position. No collapsing knees, please.

1. Begin in a basic squat starting position, standing tall, with a mini resistance band looped just above your ankles. 
2. Lower into a basic squat, then take several steps to your right, keeping your knees in place and preventing them from collapsing inward. 
3. Then take several steps back to your left. 
4. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#7: Side Planks With Leg Lifts 

Even though this seems like a core exercise working those abdominals, which it is, the addition of the leg lifts helps strengthen our glutes and hip abductors as well. 

1. Lie on your right side with your legs stacked one on top of another, propping yourself up on your right elbow.  
2. Extend your left arm straight into the air, forming a straight line between both arms. 
3. Lift your top leg (left leg) so it lines up with your hip. 
4. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#8: Slider Reverse Lunges 

Let’s put a twist on your run-of-the-mill reverse lunges. This exercise not only strengthens our quads, hamstrings, glutes, and even our calf muscles but also improves our hip mobility and flexibility. You will need sliders for this knee strengthening exercise.

1. Place sliders under both feet. 
2. Bend your left leg and, with control, slide it back into a low lunge position, the left knee just about extended and your right knee bent in front of you at 90 degrees. 
3. Slide your left foot back to your starting position.
4. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#9: Glute Bridges With Single-Leg Hamstring Curl 

This is a tough one, but a good one. Let’s work our glutes and hamstrings with this glute bridge plus hamstring curl. 

1. Begin in a single-leg glute bridge position with a slider under your left heel and your right leg extended in the air.
2. Controlled, slide your left foot out in front of you, extending your leg as far as you can without your bridge position collapsing. 
3. Using your heel, drag your left foot back to the glute bridge position.
4. Complete your reps and switch legs.

#10: Single-Leg Deadlift

This exercise primarily targets your hamstrings, glutes, and core, while testing your stability. For these single-leg deadlifts, you will need two kettlebells. 

1. Stand tall with your left foot slightly in front of your right, knees slightly bent with a kettlebell in each hand. 
2. Keeping the slight bend in your left knee, lean forward, hinging at the hips until your torso is parallel to the ground. Your right leg extends straight behind you while simultaneously lowering the kettlebells toward the floor. 
3. Engage your core and bring yourself upright to your starting position.
4. Complete your reps and switch legs.

Note: With all deadlifts, you must ensure you do not bend at the waist or lift the weights with your lower back. This exercise should be felt in your hamstrings and should never cause lower back pain. If it does, recheck that your back is straight when you hinge forward. 

If you have access to gym machines, you can also include leg extensions, leg curls, and weighted calf raises to really make it an all-around workout.

After you complete your workout, you can perform some light stretching, such as a quadriceps stretch, glute stretch, and hamstring stretch.

Now that you have a complete lower-body workout, what about your upper body? Check out this next guide:

Upper Body Workout For Runners: Benefits + 11 effective Exercises

References

• 1
  Lauersen, J. B., Andersen, T. E., & Andersen, L. B. (2018). Strength training as superior, dose-dependent and safe prevention of acute and overuse sports injuries: a systematic review, qualitative analysis and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(24), 1557–1563. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-099078