Knee pain while squatting

theOCdude

theOCdude

Member
I don't remember the moment it started hurting but it happened about a week ago. I squat atg and now when I go below parallel my right knee has a pain in it. Is it a tendon or muscle ripping? I'm 6'2 and never squat over 225 for reps. Might have to get knee wraps but don't want to if I don't need them. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks
 
theOCdude said:
I don't remember the moment it started hurting but it happened about a week ago. I squat atg and now when I go below parallel my right knee has a pain in it. Is it a tendon or muscle ripping? I'm 6'2 and never squat over 225 for reps. Might have to get knee wraps but don't want to if I don't need them. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks
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I wouldn't use knee wraps at all. They should be kept for max effort squatting. Not bodyweight squats. Ass to grass isn't always the way to go because a lot of times people loose tension when they do that. Just below parallel is the way to go. Your form can play a huge roll with your knees. If your toes are pointed too far outwards, your knees can cave in. If you aren't sitting back in the squat, and your knees travel way past your feet, then that's not going to help either. Id check out your form first. Have you had any injuries in the past?
 
Sean1332 said:
I wouldn't use knee wraps at all. They should be kept for max effort squatting. Not bodyweight squats. Ass to grass isn't always the way to go because a lot of times people loose tension when they do that. Just below parallel is the way to go. Your form can play a huge roll with your knees. If your toes are pointed too far outwards, your knees can cave in. If you aren't sitting back in the squat, and your knees travel way past your feet, then that's not going to help either. Id check out your form first. Have you had any injuries in the past?
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K thanks, I might be leaning forward too much. Going to check my form tmarrow and I've only had a lower back injury i got in football in the past so that makes me think that it might play a roll in my back not being in perfect form.
 
Like Sean said, don't bother with the wraps. I have a feeling your knees are coming in on the way down, or coming over your knees. Focus on pushing your knees out on the way down. How wide is your stance?

Post a vid, it'll help us figure out what's going on...
 
youre just squating wrong, no need for wraps

a lot of people cant go atg because their hammies arnt flexible enough. going that low usually ends up pullin your hips in, and fuking up your arch

hard to say without a video, but id imagine you cave your knees or go flat foot when going down. if im correct, imagine shooting your knees out to the side and keep the pressure on the heal and outer edge of your feet. that means you have to mentally think about balancing on the outer sides of your feet
 
OnionKnight said:
youre just squating wrong, no need for wraps

a lot of people cant go atg because their hammies arnt flexible enough. going that low usually ends up pullin your hips in, and fuking up your arch

hard to say without a video, but id imagine you cave your knees or go flat foot when going down. if im correct, imagine shooting your knees out to the side and keep the pressure on the heal and outer edge of your feet. that means you have to mentally think about balancing on the outer sides of your feet
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So focus on pushing my knees out and put more pressure on my heels?
 
Out
 

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theOCdude said:
So focus on pushing my knees out and put more pressure on my heels?
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heels and outer part of feet. and make sure your knees stay out on the way back up. thats where people usually mess up. they bring their knees in while going up

look up the youtube videos "so you think you can squat"

he'll show you exactly what we mean when we say outer part of feet
 
Ill do the advice u guys told me so thanks. One more question, should I squat today if my knee still hurts or wait for it to recover completely?
 
You might also try doing all the trigger points or some foam rolling in your hams, quads and calves especially around the tight knee muscles and see if the pain lets up some afterwards. Sometimes my muscle around the knees hurt so much when I did some trigger points, that the wax would run out of my ears. :sic
I don't know too many people that have not experienced some kind of knee pain during a squat of some kind, thru their training lives.
 
You definitely are squatting with compromised form. I would first stretch out really well and I recommend foam rolling before squatting.

Make sure you have a slightly wider than should width stance and toes are pointed slightly outwards. This will help you push your knee outwards as you descend as a common mistake is knees caving in do to weak hips or flexibility. The first thing to tell yourself is load your hip so push your ass back and break at your hip and knee at the same time to lower yourself in a controlled manner.

2 good cues are ass back and knees out. You almost have to over exaggerate it at first to get it down. Like someone said you probably get your shins too far forward and that puts a lot of shear force on your knee rather than your hips which is why you tell yourself ass back first to help keep that shin as vertical as possible.

Try box squats as well.
 
i guess ill add that you also need to flex them ass muscles on the way back up. if you dont, youll cause a forward lean and hurt your lower back
 
If you have a lacrosse ball, you can place it behind your knees in the pocket and being your calve towards your hamstring and mash it.
 
Ok sorry for not replying, I did what you all told me and my knee felt much better. I used a small medicine ball because my gym has no foam rollers. Do I want to stick my butt out or keep it normal because sometimes it feels like I have too big of an arch in my back. Knee still hurts but nothing compared to how it was, thanks guys I love how helpful and knowledgeable a lot of people on this forum are.
 
You don't want a big arch in your back, you want the natural curvature of your spine, flexed glutes, flexed abs, and a belly full of air. Then it just comes down to sitting way back and spreading the floor like was mentioned.
 
If you get the chest up some, (like you are walking on the beach in front of women) it usually will set the spine/low back enough, to not be over/exaggerated or under arched. YMMV.
 
theOCdude said:
I don't remember the moment it started hurting but it happened about a week ago. I squat atg and now when I go below parallel my right knee has a pain in it. Is it a tendon or muscle ripping? I'm 6'2 and never squat over 225 for reps. Might have to get knee wraps but don't want to if I don't need them. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...

Are your knees tracking your feet or do they cave in?
 
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