knee issues while heavy lifting any advice page

[gdonnellyjr]

Im very active, my job is strenuous and I work out 5 days a week but, I have been suffering from chronic dislocating petella. After being primal for over two months and from day one doing primal fitness and my knee felt great, but I recently started lifting at the gym squats and power cleans and my knee is a wreck. Common sense says if it hurts dont do it but I am really dedicated and want the most out of my workojts any advice?

[JVib]

I gave up weights and went with bodyweight workouts. I'm 43 years old and suffered too many injuries lifting heavy weight. A good body weight program is challenging and has far less risk of injury.

Personally, I'm getting better results with combined primal/paleo eating and body weight exercises than I ever did from CW eating and weight training.

[skeedaddy]

Check out the advice of Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore as found in "Starting Strength". He explains the stresses imposed on the knees during squating, and how to minimize them. Grok ON!

[Danielle5690]

I have experienced and heard from others that proper form makes a huge difference in how your knees feel during squats, either with or without weight. Have you had someone check/correct your form?

[gdonnellyjr]

Yes I have been trained previously but I did an experiment with weights and just body weight and im having tremendous results with just body weight and following a lot of the advice of a man named al kavadlo at alkavadlo.com his body weight work out leave me feeling energized and feeling good. So I dropping the weights for now.

[ryan54]

Like someone said, maybe form is an issue? Knees caving in? Maybe a weakness somewhere else in your body causing knee issues?

[federkeil]

Stop lifting 5 days a week if it's causing injury...

I lift 3 days a week: Squat, Bench and Deadlift are the major features ala Leangains RPT split

Also, video your form for your lifts and compare them to others you find online. Or post them here and ask for advice.

[Forever Young]

Yes strength training is a means to an end, i.e. a stronger healthier body. If it is causing you real pain, then you are on the wrong track. No exercise, no matter how many people proclaim its efficacy, is of any value if it is causing harm to you. Not everyone is built to handle every kind of workout. You may just be overdoing it. It takes far less then most people realize. In any case, the good news is that there is a solution for almost everyone and a sensible approach that will yield high levels of fitness and health. Listen to your body!! Failure to do so will result in chronic debilitation later in life, thus lowering quality of life and shortening your lifespan.

[teach2183]

Have you had any recent injury? I fell rollerblading once and it ended up causing major knee problems, I almost had surgery for it. It seemed like a minor fall at the time, but my muscles became very imbalanced when I returned to exercising after healing. As a last ditch effort to avoid surgery, I started wearing a brace that restricted the movement of my kneecap. The trick though, I wore it AFTER exercising. So I would do my rehab strengthening, and then put the brace on when my muscles were tired and sometimes would sleep in it. This helped my muscles to heal in the correct position. I felt better after about a week of that and now only wear the brace when the pain suddenly develops. But I still only wear it after exercising/when resting so my muscles have to work fully and are not supported falsely while working out.

[stumprrp]

You need to take a step back and re-learn the proper way to squat. As far as everyone recommending you to give up heavy weights thats pretty bad advice. Weight training is very beneficial. I cant really explain too well how to squat but your stance should be where ever you feel comfortable. The first move should be pulling your hips back and keeping your chest high. As you decend your knees should never go over your toes, so you need to keep pulling the hips back and pushing your inner legs and knees out. Slightly break parallel and return up by driving your heels through the floor, arching your back, and squeezing the glutes.

Now, if you have an injury thats a different story. Heal it up and then work on the form starting with body weight or a broom stick.