What are some exercise tips for toning legs/thighs with bad knees?

The best and safest are going to be the ones with long periods of excercise like the excercise bike, the eliptical trainer or the dreaded stairmaster. These are all pretty easy on the joints and allow for site specific toning. They also get your heart rate up for longer periods of time and that helps with general calorie burning.

Once you get going, you might add some weights into the mix. But becareful of those knees. At least with me, they don't seem to be as tolerant to abuse as they used to be.

Does riding a bike too much make your bum flat since your sitting down for so long? :/

Does riding a bike too much make your bum flat since your sitting down for so long? :/

No, but neither does it help to shape it either. To help create a shaply derrière you need to do squats & lunges.

No, but neither does it help to shape it either. To help create a shaply derrière you need to do squats & lunges.

I don't do lunges or squats. I do tons of elliptical and recumbent bike because of bad knees. I think my tush and legs are shaping up well... and I even took a picture, but I don't want a butt pic on the net! LOL

Yeah lunges and squats not good for bad knees. I would say walking on an incline. When I was using the treadmill on incline it is a great work out and not so hard on the joints. Some people would beg to differ and say walking outside is better. But I found on the treadmill it was much easier on my legs.

I do this workout 3 times a week. I have lost 2 inches on My legs in 3 weeks.

10 forward lunges

10 plié jumps

10 reverse lunges

10 squat jumps

10 step ups

10 leg lifts

10 single leg bridges

10 leg lifts

10 second wall sits.

I do 3 reps of each but I worked my way up from 1.

Sorry I missed the bad knees part.