Just joined a gym. Having some long term knee problems just running barriers in cyclocross, what little running that equates to in a 40-60 minute race, wreaked havoc on my leg this season. Having an MRI Thursday but feel it will be negative. My gut says this is due to some type of muscle imbalance at age 41.

Tried stretching yesterday and my IT band was as tight as a rope. So right now struggling a little bit to find a rhythm at the gym. Goal is to build strength for cycling specifically cyclocross.

My knee doesn't feel strong. I've taken a 6-week break with no activity post-cross season but no improvement. I can ride it's just that my leg wasn't improving so I thought I would take a break to see if I could recover but now I'm jonesing to get back on the bike so I think I will start next week. Figured cross training at the gym couldn't hurt. Was 85% last cross season and want to be 100% for the upcoming season. But haven't been able to run for almost two years and even running about 200m a few months ago to test my leg I could tell it did damage so something isn't right.

Would love any thoughts, tips, suggestions for using my time wisely at the gym.

Weights
Starting out doing 4-5 arm exercises low weight, high reps, focusing on form. Then I do legs the other day same drill just 4-5 exercises whatever machines are open e.g. squats and leg extensions, hamstrings etc.

Cardio
Struggling as my only real option is the elliptical trainer which I can do for about 45 minutes. I try to mimic cross country skiing and use the arm wands as much as possible. When it's a cool down I try not to support my weight but rather "run" in place without cheating. I do forward 75% and backward 25%. This is fine but it gets boring like any stationery machine does.

Rowing machine I can last 3 minutes. I really struggle on the rowing machine although I wish I could do it more because I like the machine which uses water resistance so the swirl of water is a nice touch but I can't do anything approaching endurance. 3 minutes is an eternity.

Stationery bike. I just can't with a Firefly parked at home.

Treadmill. I haven't been able to run for 2 years which is why I'm in the gym so I don't really feel like walking on a treadmill inside so don't do anything on the treadmill for now.