The reason why so many people over 35 have
knee and spine problems is because they’ve neglected some
key muscles.
That is, one important reason to develop
strength is to protect your joints, but if your muscle development
isn’t balanced,
you’re setting yourself up for injuries.
Guys who do lots of stomach crunches, for example, need to counterbalance
with exercises to strengthen the lower back.
It’s the same story with the three
muscles that protect your knees. The most common surgery in the
US is arthroscopy on the
knee to mend tears that result from unbalanced knee strength.
PS: One reason
our knees need extra care is that they’re all carrying
extra weight. Look at European medieval body armor: 500 years
ago, even big, strong knights were smaller: 5’3”-5’5”,
100-120 lbs. Today, our body mass is almost doubled, so our knees
need extra protection in the form of additional balanced muscle
strength.
