i picked up a pair of neoprene sleeves and squated yesterday. wow! what a world of difference.
Speaking as someone in his late 30s who came back to lifting after more than a decade away, and who has ITB issues (common in ex-Army)... before doing any gym work, I did pushups, situps, squats and inverted rows using my bodyweight only, working up to 30+ of each, then going for 3 sets of 20.
Only when I could do all three sets of 20 for all four exercises did I feel ready to get under the iron.
I still do 3x20 of each these on my non-gym days. No knee problems in lifting. Go back problems, but that's another story
i picked up a pair of neoprene sleeves and squated yesterday. wow! what a world of difference.
Apologies for slight thread necromancy
I've been having the same pains exactly as the OP for a while now, self-diagnosed as quad tendonitis and confirmed by my physio. I realised the form issue and corrected it, feeling less stress on the knees while lifting, but the pain in general life persisted, particularly when standing up after sitting down
I found the wide range of solutions online that result in having no idea what to do, and was uncertain if training through it was a good idea or not, so went to my physio, who seems better than most - played sport at elite level and supports national teams, big believer in compound lifts for functional strength.
He has me working them through squats and extensions, but with minimal depth on squats and with no quad stretching allowed until the issue is resolved. His rationale is that the tendon needs to work to deal with the problem, but the insertion of the tendon into the patella shouldn't get flexed too much until it calms down.
The fact that he believes in working through the problem and has treated similar injuries (national volleyball team physio) gives me some hope he knows what he's doing, but the partial squats concern me from everything I've read on these forums and in SS. Does anyone have any guidance with respect to why the flexing of the insertion is a real or non-issue?
Dragar,
I'd trust my physio. on this one. He's giving you sound advice. Limited ROM squats and leg extension are not the route to great strength, but your physio's goal in to rehab your quad tendonitis. With regard to flexing the quad tendon insertion issue, you are allowing the inflammation in the tendon to subside while avoiding deconditioning.
50 yo 6' 200lb
I have been doing SS for a year.
I have found that a 5min ride on a stationary bike, at fairly brisk pace (~80 -90 rpm) makes a world of difference in the way my squats feel. I also do 25 body squats before beginning my weighted warm up sets.