Bulletproof Your Knees for the Mountains

One of the most common concerns we hear from future trekkers is this:

“My knees.”

Knee pain. Unstable knees. “Dodgy” knees. Old football injuries. That one ski crash from 2004. Or simply the fear that the mountains are going to chew them up on the descents.

And to be fair - the mountains do ask a lot of your knees.

Steep inclines. Long, grinding descents. Uneven terrain. Rocks. Slippery sections. Snow. A 10-15kg pack. Heavy boots. Fatigue.

That’s a very different demand profile to a gentle lap of Albert Park Lake.

So how do we prepare our knees properly for the mountains?

We build them - intelligently.

 

1. Start With Mobility (Earn the Range First)

If you don’t have adequate range of movement, your knees will simply absorb stress they weren’t designed to handle.

For hikers, the key areas we want mobile are:

• Quads (front of thighs) - video
• Hip flexors (front of hips) - video
• Calves - Bent Knee & Straight Knee
• Glutes - video

When these tissues are tight, your knee often becomes the “compensation joint” - and that’s where discomfort starts creeping in.

Spend time improving range in these areas before you load them heavily.

Mobility isn’t glamorous - but neither is knee surgery.

 

2. Build Strength and Stability Around the Knee

Once you’ve earned the movement, now we strengthen it.

The knee itself is largely a hinge joint - it depends heavily on the muscles above (hips) and below (calves/ankles) for stability. When those muscles are strong and coordinated, your knees feel solid. When they’re weak, your knees feel “wobbly” and unreliable.

Here are five key exercises we use regularly with Mountain Tribe members:

• Straight Knee Calf Raises - video
• Bent Knee Calf Raises - video
• ATG Split Squats - video
• Step-Ups - video
• Romanian Deadlifts - video

Focus on controlled reps, good alignment, and building strength gradually. Your goal is not to annihilate your legs in one session - it’s to build resilient capacity over time.

Strong hips + strong quads + strong calves = happy knees.

 

3. Train for the Downhill (This Is Where Knees Cop It)

Here’s the truth most people miss:

Uphill is hard on your lungs.

Downhill is hard on your knees.

Descending places high eccentric load through your quads - meaning they’re working hard while lengthening to control you as you move downhill. This is where unprepared knees start complaining.

One of the best gym-based exercises for this is:

Step-Downs - video

And when ready, Weighted Step-Downs

Slow, controlled lowering. No collapsing. No bouncing. Own every rep.

Then take it outdoors.

Start with mildly hilly terrain - for example:

• Yarra Bend Park (great intro to rolling trail work in Melbourne)
• Progress to something more sustained like the Mt Macedon Circuit

Gradually build duration and difficulty. Knees respond extremely well to progressive loading — they just don’t like surprises.

 

A Final Perspective

Your knees aren’t fragile.

They’re adaptable.

Most knee issues we see in hiking aren’t because people “have bad knees.”

They simply haven’t prepared their knees for the specific demands of the terrain.

Give them mobility.

Give them strength.

Give them progressive exposure to hills.

Do that consistently - and your knees won’t just survive the mountains.

They'll carry you confidently to the summit... and back down again.

Book a discovery call