Doing exercises with weights will help to strengthen your muscles, ease joint pain and speed your metabolism. They don’t have to be super heavy and you can build up to more weight as you get stronger.

Strengthening the muscles around joints is particularly important. For example, if you have knee pain, doing exercises to build up the muscles in the leg above the knee will reduce the pressure on the joint.

Here are links to some sites that have exercises you can do at home. If you don’t have dumbbells, use water bottles, cans or books – whatever you have. If you don’t have a mat for floor exercises, lie on a carpet or blanket.

Resistance Exercise: Dumbbell Workout

Strength Training 101

Workout at Home Using Weights