Puttering along

[bob g]

Grrr-that blows. There must be a way to stabilize the system that will allow you to do what you need to do. You don't want to end up a bench specialist with chicken legs and a huge chest. You need big legs and a huge chest.

[Oldster]

Well, I'll never end up with chicken legs! I have the big legs and big chest, don't imagine they'll ever get any smaller. But I get bored just doing upper body work and who the heck cares if you have big legs and they aren't strong?

[John Bono]

I need goals Jack. I NEED them!

I am bummed today. Met with my 3rd Doc that told me to either stop my heavy squatting or severely curtail it. The reason is that there is so little of the tendon connection left on my knee cap. The Doc told me today that if I thought the pain was off the charts with my bout of acute bursitis, a detached tendon was going to rock my world...

Of course my thoughts are always on how to get around an injury. So I started wondering, what about knee wraps? Would that add stress or reduce it? What about one of those trap bars with the raised handles? We have one, but always keep the raised handles facing downward. Would the shortened distance add or reduce stress?

Kinda thinking about the raised handle trapbar. If starting in a higher position reduced my knee stress I could drop front and backsquatting since it is kind of a bastard of both squats and deads.

I HATE the idea of not being able to perform a nice deep front or back squat. My depth is something I've always taken pride in. The strength of my hips and thighs was always something I took pride in. I'm two drinks in and I'm lost....

If it is that bad, have the docs talked seriously about surgery?

[Oldster]

If it is that bad, have the docs talked seriously about surgery?

Nope. I'm going to talk with my original Doc and go from there.

[DV]

Nope. I'm going to talk with my original Doc and go from there.

Carlos' suggestion about talking to a good ortho who can handle lifters, seems the best bet. I would ask Rip. If I recall correctly he (Rip) is missing some ligaments (ACL I think) in one knee, but can squat with loose wraps and attention to form.

I am not a doctor but I have a close friend who is, plus I have had some dealings with a shoulder specialist due to problems for my wife. It is obvious to me, that they seek to make your life average, not exceptional. So it's soooo much easier to say "stop squatting", in stead of actually finding a way to getting you back to squatting.

This is what happened to my wife. The guy is an expert in shoulders and worked for years at a sports clinic. Yet even he suggested she stop pressing anything heavy, and focused on dinky little excercises. If she does that, then his surgery (for bursitis, incidentally) will obviously never be put to the test. But she wants strong, healthy shoulders, so she is coming back to pressing (bench is pretty much out, though).

I'd post up in Rips Q&A with the exact diagnosis. Some of his best posts are on helping people work around/through injuries, I find.

[John Bono]

Nope. I'm going to talk with my original Doc and go from there.

Yeah, I think it might be worth a serious look. It sounds like you've got a lot of crap down there, and what is going to happen is that the knee is going to cry bloody murder at the most inopportune times. If you engage in any explosive movements, that is when it is going to shit the bed on you.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Damn this is bad news. I wish I had some intelligent advice to offer. But I got zip on this.

[Oldster]

Thanks, guys.

16" Close grip
140x15
240x12
300x5 sets of 6
Dips
BWx4 sets of 20
Ab Wheel
2 standing

Tried a couple standing ab wheel reps to see if there was any stress placed on my knee since it really takes every muscle in your body. Did one, stood around a bit and couldn't really find any stress so I did another one and called it good.

[tertius]

You can squat with quite banged up knee connections. Allow me to third the ortho suggestion. If it's trashed enough, you might end up needing a replacement, but those things are pretty damn good these days, I understand.

Sorry I haven't checked in on your log recently! I'm sure you'll keep us updated, and we'll be thinking about you.

[Oldster]

If she does that, then his surgery (for bursitis, incidentally) will obviously never be put to the test.

I'm am extremely curious, DV. Was she in a lot of pain with her bursitis? Mine was off the scale, registering a full 10 of 10.

You can squat with quite banged up knee connections.

Seriously? I don't know anything about it.

I really didn't want you to know about this problem. I figure when we get to meet it'll probably be during one of Seattles 'Occupying' get togathers, you to protest, me to make fun of all of you and you'll now know to kick me in the knee. Basturd....