First time taking a video as well, any advice in this regard would be very well taken!
Thanks to this fantastic community in advance, because they always come through!
Please elaborate a bit more about your knees: Previous injuries, actual problem and what exactly you want opinions from others about?
Iāve got really bad valgus knees, my knees really cave in when I squat. On the video I did about three reps of an 18 kg kettle bell goblet squat to demonstrate. And the really ridiculous thing is after I get a thigh pump or even a calf pump, my knees go even more knock knees. In fact, I think we can see the Sisyphean absurdity of it- in the video after Iāve done the three reps of the goblet squat, my knees have gone in so much that itās very similar to what Athlean x would call p*** knees- you know , holding the knees together because of trying not to p** thankfully itās transitory, but even more absurdly, even after farmers walks, when I get a huge leg pump, ( well relative for me, yes, I know Iām very, very weak!); my knees immediately go into the knock knees position. I know Iāve always had problems with the squat patterning, but it seemed to get much worse after 2020, and my left knee one day completely collapsed and I was walking with a cane, but quite stupidly, I ordered a physio knee sleeve and I think it was wearing that too long, and even in bed to sleep when they said to take it off, because it took away the pain. But in hindsight, I think wearing the knee sleeve has left me with permanently tight hamstrings and calves, and I was diagnosed with really bad mobility: tight hamstrings, tight, lower back, for instance I failed the touch the toe test- by a sports specialist GP ( Iām from the UK) and this was in 2019, so I think wearing the wretched knee sleeve for me has exacerbated those existing problems, and overuse of the knee sleeve keeps my knees in a permanent 90Ā° state of flexion, and to this day I cannot straighten my leg and keep it straight for any length of time, and doing that my hamstrings feel really really tight, and I get a massively transitory and fairly light pain sensation - on the scale, I would say three and itās not really a pain more a āpullingā sensation. But more worrying for instance when my thighs are pumped and my hamstrings and calves, any straightening of my knees pulls on my kneecap. And Iāve always been upper body dominant, so what little strength I have (!) I always can very weirdly use my upper body to compensate for my lower body, and when Iām really detrained and deconditioned as I am now, it gets really bad, but I really rely on my upper body; itās not all gloom ā I just really over compensate: for instance because I really like doing farmers walks and I can get a hamstring pump and thigh pump and calf pump from that, and use heavier weight - two 18kg kettlebells in the rack position- which is not much I know, but as someone has said ā heavy is relative ā so thankfully it doesnāt hurt to walk in daily life; and I donāt mean to offend the atheists or anything out there, but I am grateful to God for at least small mercies.
And Iām really detrained and deconditioned, because last month : fourth of July, Iāve moved into a new flat, and everything has had to be newly set up , and so Iāve had to adjust to a new home gym set up, and my lifestyle and eating habits have completely gone to pot- Iām definitely under eating, not having enough water, not having enough calories, and my sleep is very very rubbish, and itās taking me much longer than a month - itās now 16th of August, and my lifestyle is still very very rubbish.
so in terms of movement patterning, Iām much more comfortable doing the kettlebell deadlift and kb bent over rows, but Iām still knock knees: my knees really cave in but I can compensate more easily in deads and rows, because in terms of movement a double kb squat, one has to control twice the weight on the concentric and eccentric, and even a few months ago, I could double kb squat, but I tried that a few nights ago, and today I started off with a double kb squat and damn near nearly killed myself 
Now that Iām very de trained, the core really is the first thing to go, but touchwood, I think it comes back relatively quickly, at least I feel that if I can really hammer farmers walks , but I guess my squat patterning will permanently suck. And I used to love doing relatively heavy double or KB swings, but now I have the really real risk of either falling forward flat on my face or falling a** backwards 
But if I can be a bit impertinent how can I generally not suck and get stronger? Do I need to take my lifestyle far more seriously, as well as my general lifestyle, but is there anyway to improve my squat patterning fairly quickly so that I can have a fighting chance at a solid foundation for doing things? For instance, very weirdly enough, I noticed a few months ago, when I started doing double kb goblets for low reps, I could miraculously start doing double KB bench presses, once I figured out how to rock back with the damn things on my thigh 
and obviously now Iām right back to not being able to doing a KB bench press without the very real risk of falling off
So as well as specific help, does anyone have any general advice in how generally not to suck?
[ I hope I havenāt offended with the language!]
-Sorry for the rambling epic personal history, I hope I havenāt clogged up this fantastic community !
And I only have, for the foreseeable future, my very minimalist home gym set up.
Iām sorry if I missed it, but somewhere you said youāre very detrained. What does that mean? Do you have an athletic history and then took time off?
In the video, youāre clearly capable of squatting with your knees out when you concentrateā¦ so youāre going to have to do more of that.
What does your program look like? Have you tried anything to strengthen your glutes or flexiĆ³n positions?
@j4gga2 For a legit opinion, but I donāt see anything that would terrify me unless weāve really been working at it and itās not improving.
What is the magnitude of the deformity? Do you know how many degrees?
Can you afford surgery? Sometimes honestly you are better off just getting an osteotomy type procedure for bad knock knees IF itās as severe as you say it is (thatās a big IF)
Can lead to abnormal shear forces imparted on the joint (causing premature wear and tear) as well as pathological instability from misalignment. Instability itself can cause ligaments to go poof.
You are in the UK so we know the NHS sucks at the moment. Is going private an option?
Not really an athletic history, I started weight training in 2019 with a PT, in a commercial gym, and then Covid hit in 2020, so I was able to set up a barebones basic home gym set up with kettle bells primarily, a small weight bench, so from 2022- early this year, my ātrainingā was was quite different at first getting used to using kettle bells as free weights, and free weights generally, got really dependent on machines in 2019; but my progress has always been very on off, because my lifestyle has been all over the place in terms of generally not getting enough sleep, quality or quantity, when I donāt sleep enough, Iām too tired to eat, I donāt drink enough water, and I definitely donāt have enough protein, but sometimes when I hit a purple patch, everything just flows - relatively for me, not that I have any great strength standards to brag about! So prior to this month, in fact from 30th of June- up till fourth of July, and unfortunately until now, my lifestyle as regards my weight training, and sleep , recovery nutrition went completely to pot, because concentrating on moving in to the flat, I had to put my own lifestyle on the back burner, as regards my training and health, and so Iāve stopped regularly working out, because I wasnāt eating enough for the energy, and my lifestyle canāt at the moment support it , when I try, so Iāve lost whatever little muscle mass I had and neuromuscular learning that I had, but luckily I can use my upper body to compensate, which doesnāt always end well
As specifically regards the knee valgus, yes when I concentrate on pushing out my knees, then I can do it , but as I say thankfully, itās temporary or transitory rather, in that when I donāt think about it, my knees drift in, and I found this in the recent past that yes provided I put in the work, I can do it, I suppose, but I do need to think about pushing my knees out. Itās not a default position.
And yes the NHS is spectacularly rubbish, and thereās no option for me going private ā I spent money on things I shouldnāt have spent money on, instead of sorting out my lifestyle , and in December 2016, I had to have a laparoscopy, and then they botched it up, and I had to have a second abdominal surgery anyway, and I got peritonitis, so I was in ICU for eight days, and then when I came home in Jan. 2017, I had to start off by just almost ālearning āto walk again , not quite it was really the effects of disuse and abdominal weakness. Being on tramadol was fun though. 
thatās when I decided to try to take better care of my health, and getting into fitness. Unfortunately, in a very cack handed way, I started walking for distance, and then jogging, that went well , and then thankfully I rediscovered t nation and the wonderful world of resistance training ! And since Iām 42, and I would say Iāve got the training age of a one-year-old if thatā¦ so t nation has really been a godsend really- not to be melodramatic about itā:rofl:- but actually, yes- I was shocked that doctors really donāt give good lifestyle advice at all, and Iām from from a medical family- parents retired GPs ancestor is practising. Iām the odd one out as a philosophy BA, and hoping to go to law school as a mature student. Although what I can say, off the record and through the grapevine ! Is that yes, doctors can earn Ā£100,000 a year, and from my jaundiced life experience, itās an absolute travesty. Iām not saying there arenāt good things, there are quite a lot, but I think the negative outweighs the positives, and Iām betting I can sort this or at least mitigate the effects through hopefully sensible training, and bluntly put I just need to kick my own a** into gear. Itās thanks to Dan John articles, that I started doing loaded carries, KB swings, and goblet squats, I think my posterior is very weak so I need to properly start doing my 36 kg hip thrusts again as well.
If I may say, as I thought you guys have been fantastic once again itās 6:26 am, and I havenāt really slept through the night Fantastique, et Cāest la vie, nāest-pas?
Iām far too tired to properly. Paragraph all this so Iām sorry for the wall of text, but this reminds me of CTās article- how to keep muscle during a layoff: 30th of October 2015, I think itās in the archive now. I think it kind of can fit my situation as well, in general terms . Just to really illustrate things from the medical side- I went to my new GP (heās also a family friend ) and he said wow youāre really got knock knees, referred me to NHS podiatry- had to wait although I guess four weeks isā¦ well something and it was a 10 minute assessment, and as useful as a fa** in a hurricane! He said Iām spending too long in the gym, I should super set like him, and I should do bodyweight calf raises , where Iām balanced on one foot. And this was at a time when I had a relatively home gym training block going- itās just when I to the GP, and then I finally saw the podiatrist, in those four weeks of self training, Iād become much better in my movement- but that was about 1 1/2 years ago!!
Tbh, I know itās not as simple as, but in my case considering the advice, I just need to squat, while consciously pushing my knees out, and I need to regularly and consistently get back into training, so that I can get neuromuscular patterning back.
I wouldnāt have known any of this before or had these opinions - as in opinion ><knowledge, but even this little that I do have is thanks to T Nation! And I remember the first question I ever asked, which was last year(!) and the advice was similarly helpful! Thanks so much 
very gratefulā:folded_hands: and now I really need to get to sleep 
!
All very true, and I was diagnosed with patellofemoral disorder and flat feet by the sports specialist GP in 2019. But thankfully after regularly going to the gym from 2019, the horrendous pain from my tracking disorder - knee not tracking over The second toe, kind of ā got solvedā . I think because my lifestyle was much better, and I was regularly doing farmers walks, and hip thrusts in 2019. But no, it just feels I have to build everything back up from Ground Zero, which is great
Are you hypermobile? Or is this an isolated issue?
asking because hypermobility spectrum disorders and whatnot are usually associated with flat feet, Patellofemoral issues etc and tends to get worse over time
NHS as of last year refuses to diagnose HSD and hEDS
Sports physio here and Iām confused
Can you please share a video of you squatting with ānaturalā and intentionally āgoodā technique, filmed from waist height so we can see your full body without parallax error. A video of you walking, showing head-to-toe alignment would be very useful as well
Iād also like to confirm:
- Do you or do you not have a permanent knee extension (straightening) deficit. That is, are your knees completely unable to straighten?
- In 2020, did you ever recieve a clear orthopaedic diagnosis for the left knee condition, including imaging? Please note that ābad mobilityā is not a sports medicine diagnosis.
Also, perhaps bluntly, you come across as someone with a high degree of health anxiety. Do you have any form of anxiety disorder?
Not hyper mobile, in fact, Iām very stiff and inflexible- very tight hamstrings, very tight, low back,
Also very internally rotated in my shoulders. Flat feet is a genetic gift for me- my dad has flat feet, but growing up in India and wearing slippers and walking barefoot, and he never aggravated it by really bad exercise choices which I did in 2018- doing the cardio, I used to do the stupid Health rider machine, and I knew even less than I know now about mechanics, and even the importance of recovery etc so my patella femoral disorder manifested, after being latent. Which is something else I found out after the fact. !
No health anxiety disorder as far as Iām aware; the knee straightening issue actually only happened after I used to wear the orthotic sleeves on my knees too much, so now my knees are in flexion as it were. Maybe my dad was right ( as a retired GP of 35 years!) I need to strengthen my thighs, stretch my hamstrings, and I found strengthening my glutes, and increasing my hip and mobility really helps.
I used the wrong word when I went to see the private GPSI - GP with a specialism in sports science- heās my dadās friend and a cyclist in his off time- he diagnosed me with tightness, nothing about bad mobility. No direct diagnosis or imaging about my knee, but end of last year my new GP referred me to NHS physio ,and Iāve already spoken about that.
Thank you for your advice, but I donāt see where youāre getting the implication of health anxiety from.
Iāll try taking a new video- it was my first time taking a video, and Iām only using my iPad, so I find that quite tricky. As I said, it doesnāt hurt when I walk, thankfully but you can see a slight bend and caving in of my knees. Itās only in my squat patterning
Interestingly, now , well I suppose that after exercise, itās expected, the inner part of my left knee itās really caving into my inner thigh now, and thereās a really painful pulling sensation on that side of the kneecap.