Kat and Puccah's Strong is the new sexy log

[Dustin07]

but my left knee has been bothering me.

is it behind the knee, in the knee or in front? do you wear sleeves ever? my knees feel the healthiest they've ever felt at the moment, but I really cannot lift without sleeves unless its 90 degrees, humid and I'm on vacation in which case I still only go to like 70% or less.

 

[love2liftkat]

A camping weekend sounds great! Enjoy. Good job putting in the work ahead of time.

Thank you! One of my favorite trips of the year!! I love camping!

Yeah getting away sounds awesome, and thanks for the kind words!

Haha you really are great at explaining things and very intelligent!!

Hope you guys have a blast camping.

Thank you!

is it behind the knee, in the knee or in front? do you wear sleeves ever? my knees feel the healthiest they've ever felt at the moment, but I really cannot lift without sleeves unless its 90 degrees, humid and I'm on vacation in which case I still only go to like 70% or less.

It is mostly behind the knee and then I feel pressure/restriction all around when I try to fully flex it. I actually haven’t worn any sleeves since I quit my more power lifting style training 5-6 years ago. I did grab one of my hubby’s regular knee sleeves last night to see if wearing that a few days would help…but unfortunately it was too big. Haha I got rid of my lifting sleeves. What all have you done to improve your knee health?

 

[Dustin07]

I’m wondering if it’s the RDL’s and maybe the days I went a little heavier, if I may have been a bit off and strained it.

Knee didn’t limit much but I did feel it more in my training than when it started a week or so ago. I feel it most in my mobility work just feels like it won’t/can’t fully bend if that makes sense.

It is mostly behind the knee and then I feel pressure/restriction all around when I try to fully flex it.

@gphagan1 and I both had knee injuries this year. Mine was Dec 20, 2025 at a wrestling meet with my son working on take downs with the varsity kids. I could not drop into a squat and even just taking a knee to look under a table or something was nauseating. I might have let out more than one big F word between Dec-Mar lol. over time I started noticing a correlation with my knee pain (behind the knee largely) with potentially tight hamstrings and glutes, thats what caught my eye on your mention of RDL's

I did grab one of my hubby’s regular knee sleeves last night to see if wearing that a few days would help…but unfortunately it was too big.

I really would have been concerned if that fit you lol.

What all have you done to improve your knee health?

well, always knee sleeves. I think squatting in general has given me far healthier knees but last winter when my knee was absolutey miserable I spent the first week hitting it with redlight every day which I do think improved it drastically. from there I found that if I warmed up on the leg press, it would allow me to get into a barbell squat. or even at least an assisted one in the beginning. barbell left in the j-hooks, my hands on it as I drop into a squat. then air squats, then light squats. it took me about 4+ months of rehab on my own but by around May/June one day I realized that I was squatting and not thinking about my knee anymore.

I mean I've been to PT so many times that my protocol now days when something hurts is to find ways to do the painful thing in less tramatic ways until I can do it full/normal ROM again lol.

 

[Anderson_09]

Puccah and I have decided to make one kick butt joint log!

She was the first person I met on here! She has been and continues to be a huge motivator for me as I'm sure she is for many of you! We are both working hard to reach our goals...So we thought what's better than coming together and push each other more to make our dreams a reality!!!

As most of you know, I just finished a lean bulk/recomp with Ostar1ne, successfully putting on 11lbs while losing a little fat! Now it's time to shed fat and get really lean! My current goal is to get down to 15% bf ~125lbs by summer time!

I'm taking it slow to keep as much of my hard earned muscle as possible! A friend of mine, with tons more experience/knowledge is currently helping me with my training and nutrition! Training is 4 days a week of lifting using a push/pull program. Taking the weekends off from lifting to be with my family. Cardio/conditioning is done 4-6 x's a week using mostly Tabata/HIIT.

My nutrition is similar to the biorythm diet. Fats are consumed primarily in the earlier part of the day, while carbs are saved for the later part of the day/evening. My calories/macros will continue to change while I am cutting down, since I am still pretty early on. They're roughly 2,230 200p/200c/70f on training days and 1,690 200p/65c/70f on non training days.

Supplements

LG Sciences: Protein powder, bcaas, glutamine, Ghenerate, C2K, LCarnitine, Creatine, Epic

ECA stack

Subbed to this! The macro split and biorythm approach look super interesting

 

[love2liftkat]

@gphagan1 and I both had knee injuries this year. Mine was Dec 20, 2025 at a wrestling meet with my son working on take downs with the varsity kids. I could not drop into a squat and even just taking a knee to look under a table or something was nauseating. I might have let out more than one big F word between Dec-Mar lol. over time I started noticing a correlation with my knee pain (behind the knee largely) with potentially tight hamstrings and glutes, thats what caught my eye on your mention of RDL's


I really would have been concerned if that fit you lol.



well, always knee sleeves. I think squatting in general has given me far healthier knees but last winter when my knee was absolutey miserable I spent the first week hitting it with redlight every day which I do think improved it drastically. from there I found that if I warmed up on the leg press, it would allow me to get into a barbell squat. or even at least an assisted one in the beginning. barbell left in the j-hooks, my hands on it as I drop into a squat. then air squats, then light squats. it took me about 4+ months of rehab on my own but by around May/June one day I realized that I was squatting and not thinking about my knee anymore.

I mean I've been to PT so many times that my protocol now days when something hurts is to find ways to do the painful thing in less tramatic ways until I can do it full/normal ROM again lol.

Yikes! That’s definitely sounds more intense than mine! Haha I’m so glad it’s better now! I definitely considered it might be tight in surrounding areas! I’ve been foam rolling, using a massage gun and attempting to stretch. I did pull out my red light mat tonight, thanks for that suggestion!! It’s actually a little swollen today. Guessing the bursa possibly bc it’s just above the knee.

 

[love2liftkat]

upper body day 2

Mobility/stretching

Circuit
Pull-ups 3 sets of 10, 2 sets of 8
Hanging toe touches 8-12x5 sets
Push press 45x8, 65x8, 85x5, 95x5x2

Chest supported TBar row
+70x10, 80x8, 85x8

Narrow cable row
120x10x3 sets

Push ups 5 sets of 10 superset throughout back work.

DB press /lateral raise Dropset
35 x10,8,8
10x12, 5x20(front/side with the 5’s)

Superset with
Rev flyes
85x12x3 sets

Good session overall. Pretty sore everywhere but in a good way minus the knee. Hopefully with a few days rest, it will calm down.

 

[gphagan1]

Thank you! One of my favorite trips of the year!! I love camping!



Haha you really are great at explaining things and very intelligent!!



Thank you!



It is mostly behind the knee and then I feel pressure/restriction all around when I try to fully flex it. I actually haven’t worn any sleeves since I quit my more power lifting style training 5-6 years ago. I did grab one of my hubby’s regular knee sleeves last night to see if wearing that a few days would help…but unfortunately it was too big. Haha I got rid of my lifting sleeves. What all have you done to improve your knee health?

@gphagan1 and I both had knee injuries this year. Mine was Dec 20, 2025 at a wrestling meet with my son working on take downs with the varsity kids. I could not drop into a squat and even just taking a knee to look under a table or something was nauseating. I might have let out more than one big F word between Dec-Mar lol. over time I started noticing a correlation with my knee pain (behind the knee largely) with potentially tight hamstrings and glutes, thats what caught my eye on your mention of RDL's


I really would have been concerned if that fit you lol.



well, always knee sleeves. I think squatting in general has given me far healthier knees but last winter when my knee was absolutey miserable I spent the first week hitting it with redlight every day which I do think improved it drastically. from there I found that if I warmed up on the leg press, it would allow me to get into a barbell squat. or even at least an assisted one in the beginning. barbell left in the j-hooks, my hands on it as I drop into a squat. then air squats, then light squats. it took me about 4+ months of rehab on my own but by around May/June one day I realized that I was squatting and not thinking about my knee anymore.

I mean I've been to PT so many times that my protocol now days when something hurts is to find ways to do the painful thing in less tramatic ways until I can do it full/normal ROM again lol.

Yes Dustin and I went through our knee injuries about the same time. Mine was eventually diagnosed as a torn meniscus after all the imaging was done, and I really believe Dustin’s was a torn meniscus as well. Mine started, from of all things, when I was stretching and warming up before starting legs. I felt something tweak on the side of my knee, then eventually it started swelling and hurting behind the knee, and even down my calf. I could feel the pressure all around the knee from the swelling, but most of the pain was on the side and behind it. I started PT and I go to an ART therapist, and he helped tremendously. I continued to walk as much as I could, did my PT exercises, stretching and band work for probably two months and then I was able to get back to doing leg press with partial ROM and light weight, and just tried to go deeper and deeper each week. I would have to look at my log, but I think, like Dustin, I was back to a fairly normal leg workout after about 4 months maybe 5, I would have to check. But I’m 62 and with all my injuries I just try to work around them, and do what I can until healthy again, actually I think we all do that. Dustin and I have talked about it, and we absolutely believe us continuing to stay active, and work around the injury, to keep supporting muscles strong, and then training legs as soon as possible helped us both to heal quicker. As a matter of fact Smont had a similar knee injury as ours and did the same thing and tried to get as much work in as he could. I do believe in the early weeks all the walking I do helped. Also I injected BPC 157 and would rub the knee down with transdermal curcumin, and those both helped tremendously.
Here is a decent video on identifying a torn meniscus and exercises you can do to help, besides the gym. Now with that said I still feel physically the best work I did to help was in the gym doing my stretches and extensive band work, and riding a stationary bike when I could. And I do believe you should get you some knee sleeves. But anyway here is the video… hopefully this all helps.