Squating problems b/c of knee & other problems - help

[gettin'old]

Hey all. I need help. I have a serious set of chicken legs and am a "hard gainer" to begin with. Over the years I've built my upper body up but egad . . . the legs.

The problem is that I can't do the good leg lifts like squats and presses because I have serious pain in both knees. Apparently, I have a two-pronged problem. First, my quads are small and weak and so they don't do much to keep my knee in its groove. Second, my hamstrings are super tight and also seem to be "stretch resistant." This compounds the problem by also pulling the knee out of its groove, causing extreme pain during deep knee bending (as in squats and presses).

I try to build up the legs doing curls and extensions, but this doesn't get me very far (I need to be able to do the squats damnit)!!

I found a way that has helped. I ride the stationary bike and do leg curls and extensions to warm up the leg. Then I stop, and before proceeding to squats, I go to the mat and stretch out the hams. This worked nicely for me a couple times. I was able to do DEEP squats with no knee pain. However, I went in yesterday to repeat this protocol and my knee went out bad on my 4th set of squats ending my day.

Once the knee goes, usually it's all over for at least a few days.

Anyway, through trial and error and this most recent workout, I'm convinced the tightness of the hams is THE CENTRAL PROBLEM.

Accordingly, please let me know all the ways I can best warm up my hams. Keep in mind please, you are giving this advice to a person whose hams are, apparently, tight as carmen electra's ass. Also, b4 my workout I rode the bike for 10 minutes and did lots of leg curls. YOu woulda thunk that would warm em' up.

Any ideas are appreciated

[YellowJacket]

Stretch man, I know you said you did, but take 10-15 minutes and stretch out real good. Depending on what type of pain, where exactly at at the level of pain, 95% of knee pain from squatting comes from compression on medial and later mensci. And if your's is cut or compress where it squeezed the fluid out, thats some serious pain and very uncomfortable. The auds serves more of a problem with tightness as opposed to the hamstrings. Stretch your quads real good too. Slow, relaxed stretch to pain and bring it back slightly and hold it there for 10-12 seconds... try that brother...

[SCORPIO]

Check out this thread, thought it might help:


http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...threadid=98056

[ironviking]

http://physicaltherapy.about.com/cs/kneepainrehab/

this might help some, I blew my knee out when I was in the Army, the best thing would be to go see a phys therapist, it took me about six months but they got me back to where I could do squats again

Also doing hip abductor and adductor exercises may help.

Good luck

[gettin'old]

thanks.

[BULLDOG]

It would help that when you squat set up wider, most people squat with legs spread shoulder with that is to narrow and will cause knee joint problems spread out wider than that

[gettin'old]

I do.

[Biggs]

have you tried increasing training frequency and decreasing volume? just talking about legs in this instance, but I'm thinking if you don't try to bust out 4 heavy sets at a time, but rather concentrate on prolonged warmup with one maybe two working sets every few days... I know people who can do slightly higher reps for squats and still get results, so you might try that... a torn triceps tendon among other personal issues really ****ed my training up for about a year, and that method allowed me to get back in and exercise it more frequently, while keeping the volume low.

[gettin'old]

That is a fair proposal. I'm going to stick with what I've got going for a while. But, I am going to hit the medial head of the quad more often, as you suggest.

[doctorb]

Do not forget MsM or fish oil to lubricate all the joints. As we getting older(if over 30) the joints need a lots of tune-up like cars. the cartilage is getting weaker and weaker.

[tunnelrat]

Improve hip mobility!!! Trust me!! I had the same issues. Open up your hips!

I use a little wider than shoulder width stance with a low bar position. Initiate the movement by breaking at the hips; then SIT BACK, and keep going til you're past parallel. Drive out of the hole using your glutes. Repeat... I get a bit of dorsiflexion, but not so much that my knees hate me the next day. Oh... PVC roll the IT band, which will help your kneecap track properly.

I've had three knee surgeries: one to release my left patella, another to release my right patella and remove cartilage, and finally a third to remove cartilage from the left knee; so, avoiding pain and decreasing tension on my trochlear grooves is a top priority for me.

[tunnelrat]

Improve hip mobility!!! Trust me!! I had the same issues. Open up your hips!

I use a little wider than shoulder width stance with a low bar position. Initiate the movement by breaking at the hips; then SIT BACK, and keep going til you're past parallel. Drive out of the hole using your glutes. Repeat... I get a bit of dorsiflexion, but not so much that my knees hate me the next day. Oh... PVC roll the IT band, which will help your kneecap track properly.

I've had three knee surgeries: one to release my left patella, another to release my right patella and remove cartilage, and finally a third to remove cartilage from the left knee; so, avoiding pain and decreasing tension on my trochlear grooves is a top priority for me.

[tunnelrat]

Guess I should've looked at the date!!!! Yikes!!! Lol