Knee pain

[nitecrawler]

Hi all,

I have slight pain in knees after I do squats, deadlifts. I think I perform these exercise in good form and make sure that knees doesn't cross toes. could this be of weight (89 Kgs) Is there any exercise / stretch which will enable to strengthen the joints to avoid such kinda pains ?

I am new to sqauts and Deadlift and only lift moderate weight, 50 Kgs is 5RPM for squat and 60 Kgs is 5RPM for deadlift (total weight of a lift also includes the weight of barbell)

Thanks in advance.
Cheers

[swanso5]

you need to actually push yuor HEELS through the floor when doing squats and deads...concentrate on where gravity is taking you... bet is it's taking you forwards so the stress is on the balls of your feet...it's almost as though you're about to tip over...a little knee over feet is fine as long as you're pushing through the heel...you might also have some tightness which doesn't allow you to do what i just described in which case you'll nned to stretch the following:

- hip flexors
- quads
- gastocs

and activate / strengthen the following:

- glutes
- hams
- tibialis anterior (front of calf, rise your toes to your head keeping leg straight and you'll know what i mean)

have someone (qualified) assess your form and get back to us

[nitecrawler]

Hi swanso,

I go in a local gym here and I don't know why but no one prefer to do squats/ deadlift here they just keep doing stuff like bicep curls..

well I still ask someone to give feedback on how i am doing, and according to him by back is almost straight and when i try to go deep it get curved.

yep and you are right regarding the fact that i am tipping little bit forward. I think that is due to fact that how the barbell is placed on shoulder.

I keep it behind traps so that I do not hurt shoulders..

Swanso could you please recommend me a lower body routine.

Currently routine is like :


Day 1, 3 , 5 --> Bench press , row (seated or front or back), Squats , Deadlift* , some arm work.
Day 2 --> Mainly I stress on shoulders and triceps doing exercise like shoulder press, lateral rise, front raise, 1 arm triceps extension and rope pushdown.
Day 4 --> Mainly I stress on Back and biceps.

all sessions are like -->

20 mins warmup
45 mins weight lifting.
10 HIIT
10 min Abs + stretching.

For stretching legs I basically do good morning w/o weights , touching toes , quad stretch etc..... will these stretching be OK ??
http://www.halhigdon.com/15Ktraining/Stretch.htm


Thanks all

[swanso5]

yeah those stretches are fine...really stress the quad and itb one though...i would have you do full body but a lower/upper split is the second best option

lower 1
squats 4 x 8
reverse lunge 3 x 12
stiff leg deadlift 3 x 10
abs

upper 2
inverted or seated cable row 4 x 8
bench press 3 x 10
bodyweight extensions 3 x 12
single arm snatches 3 x 20 each arm

lower 2
deadlifts 4 x 8
static lunge 3 x 12
leg curl 3 x 10
abs

upper 2
chins / pull ups 4 x 8
db shoulder press 3 x 10
reverse bb curl 3 x 10
cleans 3 x 20

what do you think of this??

[nitecrawler]

Swanso,

do you want me to do upper / lower on same day or on alternate.
also I believe I was doing full body workout.. rest this looks OK to me.
(also is something wrong with workout and I forgot to tell I was doing 2 sets of 8-6 reps for each exercise)

Also i don't know what you mean by:

bodyweight extensions 3 x 12
single arm snatches 3 x 20 each arm
static lunge
Cleans.

also due to weight I am unable to do pull ups...so currently i am following this plan :

1. first 2 weeks hanging on pullup bar for 30 secs -- 3 reps
2. second week I will try to push me up with support or help and then will try to only come down.
......

Bregards...

[swanso5]

it looked as though you were training 4/week which you couldn't do full body so i split it up

bodyweight tricep extensions

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter- ... riceps.htm

single arm snatches

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do? ... 3-training

static lunge

http://www.cathe.com/static_lunge.htm

cleans (might need someone to tweach you this one)

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Oly ... Clean.html

for pull ups follow this:

• if you can’t do 1 rep use this protocol. Build eccentric strength 1st by only doing neg’s of 2 – 3 x 3 with 10sec neg’s. Once you can get all 6 – 9 reps with 20sec neg’s, get a partner to hold your ankles, then 1 ankle then with minimal overall from partner pushing on the lower back. Start with longer rest and decrease as you get stronger. Use grip training as well

[nitecrawler]

Thanks swanso,

Except cleans, everything looks doable. Actually I am a bit scared of doing Olympics style lifting , that I may injure myself. Also I tried what you said and tried to push heels, there was lil pressure on hams but there was no other issues and I also feel relaxed in lower back area after coming from squat.

I think I can follow the plan you have given me with minor changes here and there..

[swanso5]

just start off light on the cleans, they will be hard enough anyway...they're basically in there as a conditionor not a muscle builder so as long as make the movement as quick as you can, you'll benefit

[nitecrawler]

Update.

knee is lot better now, just a little pain and that too when i go to extreme.
I try to push hard on grounds and also allow knees to go a little forward then knees.

except that I felt really grt after doing one hand dumbbell snatch. will there be any good of trying other one hand dumbbell moves like clean, swing, shoulder press or bent press... I think i can use them to replace some of cardio

thanks all

[Liquidmetal]

Nitecrawler,
While your just getting into form you may try using a smith system when doing squats. It takes a little pressure off the back and you can focus on just leggs. If I have a problem curving back when I squat heavy weight I use the the smith system and it really helps form. Also, it's nice to be able to do squats without having to ask for a spot all the time. Swanso has some great advice.

Finally, if your knee is still hurting after a few more day's have it checked out. I'm willing to bet it's a tendon but I'm no doc. I pulled a hip flexor from running too much (trying to cut) and I ended up out of the gym for 2 weeks. Something like that will only stop hurting if you take the weight down a bit and don't stress it. I'm not saying don't go heavy. I'm just saying you may be going TOO heavy right now. You have your whole life to get big and strong there's no hurry so take it slow and grow.

Good luck.

[Boss Man]

If you're going to Smith Squat, might be wise to use a 10-2 position. You might find it relieves some pressure of the Patella area.

[swanso5]

i wouldn't do smith machine for anything except push ups and inverted rows, it's not a natural movement

learn a few other olympic lift variations and use them as cardio if you like such as snatches, hand cleans, high pulls etc...they're not that hard really jsut putting them all together like a wtlifter is where it gets hard

[nitecrawler]

Thanks for the advice Liquidmetal,

yes I have dropped the weight a little but and have cut the running from the days I do legs.
Regarding smith machine I don't feel much comfortable while doing sqats with smith machine, when I started to do sqats I started with smith only bit it felt very odd. so I moved towards Barbell and never tought of going back to smith

What I was saying is that if a particular weight I go till parallel then its OK. but when I try to go to bottom then knees hurt a bit.

I was planning to take 3-4 days off and then go back to gym again !!

Thanks swanso,

I gonna try cleans next week..hope i will enjoy it