Egad - Help: Chicken Legs B/c Of Bad Knees!!

[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 I-T band, that group of muscle that runs up the side of the leg, is super tight on me, and 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)!!

This has been going on for years now. I try to address the problem by doing quads and by stretching the legs. However, to get to a point where I can do squats requires me to stretch for about an hour a day and never miss a day. This is too onerous given my schedule (job, wife, kid, life, lifting, etc.).

I have not found any silver bullets for this problem and am willing to work hard to try to fix it. I sure could use some help if anyone has some ideas.

Thanks much.

 

[Rhinoman]

Have you seen a Sport Medicine Doctor?

If not that will be a good place to start!

 

[gettin'old]

I have and that is how I am able to identify the dual problems. It is also how I have come to "work around" the problem and/or attempt to address it by building up quads and stretching. Still, this has been a long and fairly unrewarding process of dealing with knee pain through the years.

Basically, I am at it again, trying to build my quad strength to support my knees and stretching when I have the time. Genetics are a bitch in this case with the small legs AND the super tight leg muscles. Man, my legs muscles are like steel twine - - inflexible!!

Anyhow, I was hopeful someone else on here might have the same problem and a solution, or, just advice in general. One good suggestion I received was to try straight leg dead lifts to put some mass on without hurting the knees.

Thanks.

 

[ex_banana-eater]

After you staticly stretch, to get the blood flowing that mimics squats, do some active stretching. Jogging leg extension in the front, high knees, etc. That should help warm them up alot and start to get a pump. Then go on to the extensions, etc. Of course does not even compare to a squat... we can't get you there.

 

[sage]

as exBE said, warming up is crucial. as far as exercise goes, many say hack squat (whether on machines or free weight) is lighter on the knee and tendons but i dont see how. more stress and emphasis on the quads and like a smith machine, pretty much a phix plane of movement. but thats me, ive had had times with em and pretty much like em (hey, even front squats i dont use too much due to the same reason, minus the plane of motion) if you have access to the hammer strength lunge/squat/shrug machine, some ive heard rave about how much easier its on your knees. body weight squatting can give you that burn between sets but without weight resistance, the full benefits are not there and i would stay away from sissy squats cuz they kill the horse shoe end of the quads and knees. even though a full developement of your entire legs cannot be stressed due to your problem, you can still stick with compound, very effective movements like stiff leg deads, which would be easier on your knees...but for quad developement.....