More Knee Problems

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hello all.

I have been trying to get back into heavy lifting for my legs but I keep getting pain in my knees and I don’t know what to do. Here is a recap of my previous injuries. About a year ago, I started getting some pretty bad knee pain during squats. I figured it was just tendonitis, but after about 6-8 months of “taking it easy” I decided I needed some help.

I went in to the doctor and realized I had a partial tear in my patella tendon. After rehabbing it up to speed, two weeks later I sprained my ACL and bruised my kneecap playing lacrosse. That was about 3-4 months ago. As I said previously, I am trying to get my leg power back. I have been incorperating more and more leg work the past month or so battling minor pain in my knee, and decided to start up a program from CT’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde book.

I started the program last week and the quad dominate workout called for 6 sets of 5,4,3,5,4,3 squats, 5 sets of 5X1 leg press (clusters), 4 sets of six for hack squat and then 3 sets of lunges. Since the workout, I have had a lot of pain and didn’t feel comfortable performing the workout today.

A year ago I was squatting 365 for 4 sets of 8, and on this past workout I was using squat weights of 300-315. I don’t know what to do, because I don’t feel like I can do heavy squats anymore. My form I feel is good, though I do have the tendancy to go up on the balls of my feet a little bit at the bottom of the lift. I wonder if a severe injury I had as a kid can play a role.

When I was 5 (I’m 20 now) I sprained my ankle quite severly. This injury, I now realize stunted the growth of my right foot, resulting in about an inch and three quarter difference in feet length. Could this have affected something.

I’m not sure what to do. I’m sick of my knees hurting, but don’t know if I need more rest before I get back into heavy lifting. I hate not being able to lift legs, it seems sick to me that the distance between my maxes for squat and bench are becoming closer and closer. What do you guys make of all this.

Thanks for reading, I know I wrote a book, but I wanted to give you guys all the info I know to help me know what to do.

Like I said, I’m twenty years old. Have been training for about 3 years, with 2 of them being well dieted. I weigh 198 and am 5’10".

Thanks alot guys (and gals)

2

Man, I feel your pain. Did you read knee health related articles on this site ? 18 tips for bullet proof knees by Mike Robertson is an awesome piece of work.

Working on hip/ankle mobility, foam roller and EFA supplementation should be you’re priority now. train smart and safe, a great tip I learned from Dan John : learn how to sit between you’re legs during squats this will get a lot of stress out of your knees. Getting some knee sleeves won’t hurt !

3

Go to rehab.

Training your knee heavy while you are still in pain will most likely lead to further injury.

It’s not enough to be big, you have to be able to walk too.

I understand the need to train heavy, but you better start treating your body with more respect or it won’t last you til you’re 30.

Want a challenge? Go to rehab. Do what they tell you. Learn more about your body and how to fix it. Go to the gym and train every single other bodypart that you can, even harder.

See it as an opportunity to improve your overall health, and an opportunity to focus on your upper body without having to listen to anyones crap about how you don’t train legs.

4

Forget the heavy squats for a while and fuck off the hack squats forever.

Do some 1 legged squats to parallel if you can pain free. Work on your ankle like previously suggested and hit your glutes with some single legged deadlifts.

5

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think back off and focus on upper body for awhile.

I think my biggest problem is that once my knee starts feeling better, I try to jump right back where I was before.

Thanks again for telling me what I needed to hear.