6 Knee-Strengthening Exercises You Can Do at Home
Sep 18, 2025 • 9 min read
Published on September 18, 2025 | Updated on September 18, 2025
September 18, 2025
NASM Personal Trainer, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist, ACE Sports Conditioning Specialist, NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist
Knee pain is one of the most common reasons people skip workouts and, ironically, one of the worst mistakes you can make for long-term joint health.
Whether it’s stiffness after sitting too long or discomfort during exercise, ignoring the problem of knee pain only makes it worse.
Thankfully, you don’t need a gym or fancy equipment to start building stronger, more resilient knees.
With the right moves, you can reduce discomfort, improve stability, and protect your joints from future strain all from the comfort of your home.
In this guide, we’ll break down why knee strength matters, the key muscles that support joint health, and six simple exercises you can use to start rebuilding strength today.
This is a common misconception, but you don’t actually strengthen the knee itself. After all, it’s just a bony joint.
With that said, what you can do is strengthen the muscles surrounding and supporting your knees.
Think of your knee as a hinge that connects your thigh bone (femur) to your shin bone (tibia) with the help of ligaments, tendons, and cartilage.
Much like a door hinge, the knee relies on strong, stable structures around it to move smoothly and bear weight without strain.
So, when we talk about “strengthening the knee,” what we really mean is strengthening and improving the systems that protect it.
Here are the four key areas to focus on:
Your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes all work together to stabilize the knee.
When these muscles are weak, the joint has to absorb more force with every step, jump, or squat.
Strengthening them helps distribute load more evenly, reducing stress and protecting the ligaments and cartilage from unnecessary wear.
Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense where your joints are in space and control them through movement.
Without it, your knees are more vulnerable to awkward landings, slips, or twists that can cause injury.
Balance exercises and stability drills sharpen this awareness, training your body to respond quickly and protect the joint during real-life movement.
Your knees don’t work in isolation. If your hips or ankles are stiff, the knees often compensate, leading to poor tracking and extra strain.
By keeping the hips mobile and the ankles flexible, you allow the knees to move through their natural range without being forced into awkward positions that cause pain over time.
Strong muscles and mobile joints are only useful if you train your body to move correctly.
Functional patterns—like squatting, lunging, or stepping—teach your knees to work in alignment with the rest of your body.
Practicing proper form reduces unnecessary pressure and builds efficient movement habits you can carry into daily life and sports alike.
Research has repeatedly shown that weakness in the quadriceps and glutes can increase the likelihood of knee pain, instability, and even arthritis over time.
Conversely, when these muscles are strong and coordinated, they help absorb impact, guide proper alignment, and protect the joint’s structural integrity.
Strengthening your knees starts with understanding the key muscles that protect and stabilize them.
These muscles don’t just help you walk, run, and climb stairs. They determine how well your knee handles stress and recovers from everyday wear and tear.
Located at the front of your thigh, the quadriceps are one of the primary movers in most knee-related actions, from standing up to kicking a ball.
When the quads are weak, the knee is left with less structural support during movement, which can lead to increased joint strain. Strong quadriceps help you:
maintain proper knee tracking during bending and straightening.
reduce the load on knee ligaments during activities like running or squatting.
absorb shock more effectively, protecting cartilage from excessive wear.
Often overlooked in knee health discussions, the glutes play a key role in stabilizing your hips.
Stable hips mean better alignment for the knees. Weak glutes can cause your knees to collapse inward during activities, which puts stress on ligaments and cartilage.
When you strengthen your glutes, you:
improve hip stability, reducing inward knee collapse (valgus).
support balanced weight distribution through your legs during movement.
enhance power and control in activities like climbing stairs, standing from a seated position, or running.
Both your calves and your hamstrings (at the back of your thigh) work together to help with knee flexion and stability.
Weak hamstrings can lead to over-reliance on the quadriceps, creating muscle imbalances that stress the knee.
Calves, meanwhile, contribute to ankle mobility, an often-forgotten factor in knee health.
Training these muscles helps to:
maintain balanced muscle tension around the knee.
improve deceleration control during walking, running, and jumping.
support smoother, more coordinated lower-body movements.
You don’t need a gym membership or heavy equipment to start building stronger knees.
With the right bodyweight and resistance-band movements, you can target the muscles that stabilize and support your joints right from home.
These six exercises are simple, low-impact, and effective, helping you reduce discomfort, improve stability, and protect your knees for the long run.
Instructions:
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell or kettlebell at chest height with both hands.
Brace your core and lower into a squat by bending hips and knees, keeping your chest tall and weight in your heels.
Lower yourself as much as comfortable, before pushing through your heels again to return to a standing position.
Sets & Reps: 2–3 sets of 8–12 reps
Target Muscles: quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, core
How it Helps: Goblet Squats strengthen major knee-supporting muscles, improve alignment, and build stability. The front-loaded weight encourages an upright posture, reducing forward knee stress.
Modifications: Start without weight or squat to a chair for extra support.
Instructions:
Lie on your back with knees bent, feet hip-width apart, and arms by your sides.
Raise your hips into a bridge position, creating a straight line from shoulders to knees.
While keeping hips level, lift one foot a few inches off the floor, maintaining the bent-knee position.
Lower it back down and switch legs, marching slowly while holding the bridge.
Sets & Reps: 2–3 sets of 8–10 marches per leg
Target Muscles: glutes, hamstrings, core
How it Helps: Alternating Bridge Marches build posterior chain strength and hip stability, reducing knee strain during walking, running, and climbing.
Modifications: If it’s challenging holding your hips up during the march, perform a standard bridge without it.
Instructions:
Stand facing a sturdy bench, box, or step.
Place one foot firmly on the surface, keeping your knee aligned with your toes.
Push through the heel of your front foot to lift your body up until both feet are on the step.
Step back down with control, leading with the same leg before switching sides.
Sets & Reps: 2–3 sets of 8–10 reps per leg
Target Muscles: quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves
How it Helps: Step Ups mimic real-life movements like climbing stairs, strengthening knee-supporting muscles while improving balance and coordination.
Modifications: Use a lower step for less strain or hold onto a wall for added stability.
Instructions:
Secure a resistance band under your front foot and hold the handles at shoulder height.
With one foot forward and the other back, stand in a split stance.
Lower your body by bending both knees until your back knee hovers just above the floor, keeping your torso upright.
Return to a standing position by pushing through your front heel.
Sets & Reps: 2–3 sets of 8–10 reps per leg
Target Muscles: quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, core
How it Helps: Handle Band Split Squat strengthens knee-supporting muscles while training balance and unilateral stability, reducing side-to-side imbalances.
Modifications: Use lighter resistance or perform without a band until you’re comfortable with the form.
Instructions:
Strap a resistance band just above your knees while standing with feet hip-width apart.
Lower into a half-squat, keeping your chest upright and core engaged.
Step one foot to the side, then bring the other in without letting the band slack.
Continue stepping in one direction, then reverse. Maintain the lowered stance throughout.
Sets & Reps: 2–3 sets of 8–10 steps per side
Target Muscles: glutes (especially gluteus medius), quadriceps, hip stabilizers
How it Helps: The Lateral Walk enhances hip stability and knee alignment, reducing inward knee collapse during movement.
Modifications: Use a lighter band or take smaller steps for less resistance.
Instructions:
Stand tall on one leg, lifting the opposite knee in front of you.
Lean forward at the hips, extending the lifted leg behind you while bending your standing knee into a half-lunge position.
Keep your back straight and arms reaching slightly forward for balance.
Return to the starting position without letting the lifted foot touch the floor.
Sets & Reps: 2–3 sets of 6–8 reps per leg
Target Muscles: glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, core, ankle stabilizers
How it Helps: Balanced Half Lunge improves single-leg strength, balance, and stability, reducing risk of knee misalignment.
Modifications: Lightly tap your lifted foot to the floor between reps if needed for stability.
Before jumping into knee strengthening exercises, it’s worth taking a few minutes to prepare your body and think about how you can protect your knees while working out.
A short warm-up—even just 5 minutes of warm up before lifting weights—helps increase blood flow to your muscles and lubricates your joints.
Adding a few mobility drills for the hips, knees, and ankles can further improve your range of motion and make the exercises feel smoother.
Mobility techniques that make a difference include the following:
Foam rolling: Target tight quads, hamstrings, and calves to ease tension.
Hip circles and leg swings: Free up stiff hips so your knees don’t compensate.
Ankle rolls: Improve mobility at the base, which allows your knees to track correctly.
When it comes to protecting your knees, technique is everything.
Rushing through reps or relying on momentum shifts stress to the joint instead of the muscles that should be doing the work.
Aim for slow, deliberate movements that you can fully control from start to finish.
Alignment is another key factor: your knees should track in line with your toes, not collapsing inward or bowing outward.
Think of pushing your knees slightly outward as you squat or lunge, which engages your glutes and helps stabilize the joint.
At the same time, keep your core active to reduce unnecessary strain on the lower body.
This combination of controlled tempo, proper alignment, and active muscle engagement creates a safer, more effective workout.
There’s a crucial distinction between the “burn” of working muscles and the sharp sting of joint pain.
Muscle fatigue feels like heaviness, warmth, or a gradual burn as the set goes on. That’s normal and means your muscles are being challenged.
Knee pain, on the other hand, is sharper and often sudden, like a stab, pinch, or grinding sensation in the joint.
If you feel that, it’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right.
Stop immediately, check your form, and if needed, scale back the range of motion or switch to a different variation.
Remember: lasting progress doesn’t come from ignoring pain, but from training consistently in ways that strengthen and protect your body over time.
In short: yes, you can work out with knee issues by curating a tailored set of knee strengthening exercises, even at home.
Stronger knees aren’t built by targeting the joint itself but by developing the muscles, stability, and movement control around it.
The exercises above work together to strengthen your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core while also improving balance and joint alignment.
While this combination of workouts helps strengthen your knees, it can also help increase your confidence in movement again, and supports long-term mobility.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!
