It could be one of many reasons; Knees not tracking properly over your toes, tight hamstrings/PC/IT band, poor form, actual knee problems . . . Take a video and watch it. See if you can notice anything glaringly wrong.
what sucks is when you feel something is a bit awkward during the lift but film it and it looks rather true to form. Proves our perception of what we are doing isn't always the best to go on though.
What's even worse is when a lift feels really good, but when you watch the film you see something horrific in your form.
My knees are constantly achy and pretty much hurt me a little every time I squat. I just try to do enough mobility stuff and warming up to minimize it. At that level it's completely manageable.
I usually have a slight ache in one knee or the other after intense squatting. And getting into child's pose is a sure fire way to get just about my whole leg to crack it seems like.
Thanks! I was doing the control version but my hips were getting a bit aggravated with the pause squats so I'm taking a break. Been doing the hypertrophy version for 2 weeks now. I started at 80% of my projected 1RM, which was 250, so I started at 200. I was able to get 245 3x6 last week pretty easily, so I am pumped about breaking through my old 1RM at 3x6. I've been adding 5-10 lbs consistently every week so far. Goal is to get to three plates this summer.
I was thinking this morning... I used to be all about the aesthetics, bro splits, etc... But since I've been training more for strength, I don't think I can ever go back. Granted I still want to be aesthetic, but that's not my primary goal anymore. Adding a few pounds to my big three has become almost an addiction. It's a much more fun way to train for me personally. I haven't read a BB.com article in months and that's actually really refreshing to me for some reason. Dear diary and what not
If you're not taking a glucosamine/chondroitin supp and fish oil, try that. Over time, things get worn out, especially if you've lived a very active, physical life. I was diagnosed with chondromalacia patella a few months ago, which is basically softening or deterioration of the patellar cartilage. Chiro recommended I start taking Osteo Biflex and a good fish oil supplement. The recommendation to rest was completely ignored. About a month later, I was cured. I'm sure partial credit goes to Odin/Allah/Haysoos/flying spaghetti monster/Xenu, but the rest of the credit goes to the GC/fish oil combo.
The confidence that comes with being stronger than the mere mortals you walk amongst on a daily basis is more noticeable than the beach muscles you hide under your Ed Hardy shirt.
My knees have been a little dodgy since I had a major MCL tear over a decade ago but have noticed them aching more than usual lately. Maybe I'll try glucosamine
That's pretty much my main goal these days. Had to lose 40 pounds to get close to aesthetic though(30 down, 10 to go), downside of that is it's not very conducive to adding weight to any lifts. Very much looking forward to being done with cut so I can start to progress again.
Knee sleeves will help keep some heat in the joint, but in my experience they don't do much to help with the aching/pain that comes from conditions stemming from degenerative cartilage.
Foam rolling and LAX ball helped my knee pain because I was losing form at the bottom of my squat. It was IT band related. Knee pain location is a big key to web md diagnosis For pull-ups I can only do around 3 bc I need to lose all the pounds. As for ass thetics, traps are the new abs. 175 OHP is awesome. I want to be able to OHP my body weight.
Nobody on here is going to be able to diagnose an injury with any certainty over the internet. There's a reason that manual testing and imaging are done and that's because, well, it's accurate. As far as knee pain goes, any past injuries? And I do mean injuries, not necessarily bouts of nagging pain here and there. Second question would be, are your heels staying down when you squat? Other than that, I'll roll with everyone else. Hip and ankle mobility are a good place to start. Make sure you're doing plenty to warm up. If it's not helping, maybe throw 5-10 minutes on a bike just to make sure the joint is warm and lubricated. Knee sleeves may help keep the joint warm during exercises but unless you're taking 3-4+ minutes between sets, that's probably not a huge issue. Last thing would be to make sure you're training both quads and hamstrings...and I'd start doing some standing calf work. The gastroc crosses the knee so it does play a role in knee stability. Not saying it'll help at all but 5 minutes devoted to doing 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps certainly won't kill you. Train the hamstrings for both knee flexion (think ham curls, GHR, nordic ham curls) and hip flexion (think RDL, Goodmornings, 45 degree back extensions, etc.) These are all surface level thoughts, obviously. If it persists or gets worse, you may want to see a sports ortho just to make sure it's not anything structural or degenerative.
I do 5 mins on the bike to warmup, moving the seat position a couple times so the knees are being hit at multiple angles. I've also found that pause squats are a lot easier on my knees. So you might consider replacing some of your regular squat volume with some pause squats.
Yeah pause squats and tempo squats and shit like that are a great way to keep relative intensity high while lowering the load. Good stuff for higher frequency. I have healthy knees, relatively speaking (tore LCL and lateral meniscus in '06, further tear of meniscus in '07- decided no surgery), and nothing really bothers me so I can't speak to how those will feel. I'd imagine it'll depend on what's going on in the knee but I think it's a good idea to at least try.
Knees are so hit or miss. I had terrible tendinitis in high school, tore my acl, mcl, meniscus soph year of college. The only time my knee bothers me now is when I don't lift. I've got no problem with heavy squats, or any other work outs. If I miss two weeks for whatever reason my knee let's me know it
Nothing wrong with 'em, IMO. I don't do anything for my forearms except masterbate with great intensity.
Squats deads and overheads today. Who knows maybe even calf raises..I don't know if we'll have time Spoiler
Yeah, who looks stupid now? We do donkey calf raises where we're latched to each others rear. Both of us get a good simultaneous pump
Did 225 box squats today. Knee still isn't feeling back to normal, but my quads are slowly getting stronger.
Finally bought some lifters and proceeded to have one of the most awful days of squatting I've had in a while.. to be fair, it probably had very little to do with the shoes.
I've been very #bLeSsEd with genetically gorgeous calves. Haven't hit them directly in a year-ish I guess.
just talked to Inzer. My belt is shipping today or Monday and should arrive end of next week at the latest. Fuck. Yes. I'm ready to use that bad boy