Is my body simply not suited for squatting?

[Steve Hill]

Is that anything like Cauliflower ears? We taped 'em up for no reason?

I hate cauliflower. Fuck it, I say.

[Vader]

Three words... knee replacement surgery.

[Misery]

Aside from the cutting issue, you’ve mentioned in this and other posts that you do or have done track and field and that you at one point earlier in your SS were doing “hundreds” of bodyweight exercises and stretches.

So I have a hard time understanding why you are so sure that it is the squatting that is causing the problem instead of revealing that the problem exists. It’s entirely possible for squatting to be uniquely painful when your knees are messed up. Doesn’t mean that squatting is the cause of the problem.

Something like chondrolamacia patellae is generally caused by highly repetitive, low-intensity movements. Like running. Or “hundreds of bodyweight exercises”. Your symptoms seem to line up with something like chondromalacia.

Of course, they could line up with any number of other things as well. Have you had an MRI? If not, how are you so sure that the diagnoses you are receiving are correct?

Also, you’re not making it clear whether the improper tracking issue is something you have decided is happening, or whether a professional who knows his/her stuff has determined this. You do realize that, in normal knees, the patella often has the appearance of drifting to the side in the deeper angles of flexion? If you are self-diagnosing bad tracking and trying to tape yourself as a result (I imagine corrective taping also requires a certain degree of experience/expertise), consider that it may take someone with more experience and knowledge to make that determination accurately.

In addition, have you fixed the form issue you were having a few months ago with sitting back excessively?

As for the cutting, it is stupid to be cutting if you’re still on SS. The point of SS is to take full advantage of the time when your body is capable of simple linear progression. The intensity of the program is calculated for someone who is consuming enough calories to be gaining. The book makes this very clear, and I don’t care to think about how many times Rip has had to reiterate this point over and over again to people who don’t want to believe it. If you short yourself on calories in an effort to cut during this phase, you are putting more stress on your body than you should, period. Injuries, chronic inflammation, etc. can result.

I would take honest stock of what kind of stress anything else you are doing--exercise-wise and nutrition-wise--is placing on your body. And I would wait to worry about a little extra bodyfat until after you manage to satisfactorily troubleshoot what is going on.

Or you could just stop squatting. It sounds to me, honestly, that you’ve already pretty much decided squatting is the problem and that you shouldn’t do it anymore. If that’s the case, then stop worrying about getting anyone’s permission to stop. You should know already that this is not the place to ask for such permission. Whether you’re wrong or right, it’s your life. Do what you think is best.

But if I were you, I wouldn’t decide I understood what was happening without at least an MRI.

I don't recall ever saying I did hundreds of bodywiehgt exercises. If so, it was silly hyperbole to get across the point that I've tried all types of stretching, foam rolling, stepups, terminal knee extensions and even dabbled into some yoga to get my knees feeling stable again. I've been to a othorpedic clinic, got an x-ray and was told there's nothing structurally wrong with my knees. The doctor at my university said my symptoms sound just like chondrolamacia, and that's why I've been forced to wear orthotics and was recommended to squat.

MRI is probably the last thing to try on my list, other than PROPERLY wrapping and/or taping my knees. Sorry for the lack of the promised videos, but I will definitely have them up Monday, and they will be three different, clear views of my Squat, Bench and Deadlift. None max effort, but all of them are done with my usual form.

And I've been told by some pretty strong advocates of SS that the program is great for cutting because it allows you to retain more muscle during the process than what other programs would allow. My goal of a single digit bodyfat percentage is something I'm not giving up on, so that will remain a constant through all this. But let me re-state that the problems I've complained about have persisted long before I decided it was time to cut.

[Viktor]

Well if he has to ice his knees from a day of walking up the stairs, something is wrong and it's no longer an issue of "man up".

My mums sister (38yo) had to walk on crutches for almost 10 years due to knee pain, since she removed gluten her knee pain is gone and she has no longer any problem with walking or running.
That's one person and doesn't prove much, but still interesting.

[Patrick L.]

Rip, I thought you were into Paleo and all that. They recommend no gluten and nightshades, among other things. It's not superstition.

Sorry...I had to jump in regarding this comment. When on this site, book or during a seminar has Rip advocated a Paleo diet?

And I beg to differ...it is nothing but superstition.

[elVarouza]

And I've been told by some pretty strong advocates of SS that the program is great for cutting because it allows you to retain more muscle during the process than what other programs would allow. My goal of a single digit bodyfat percentage is something I'm not giving up on, so that will remain a constant through all this. But let me re-state that the problems I've complained about have persisted long before I decided it was time to cut.

This is the opposite point of the program.

http://startingstrength.com/articles...n_rippetoe.pdf

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Well if he has to ice his knees from a day of walking up the stairs, something is wrong and it's no longer an issue of "man up".

Most of us are not saying “man up” in the sense you mean, Viktor.

The problem is twofold. A) He is not DTP; he is not eating enough for recovery, and he has been doing SS for far too long with inadequate calories. B) He is not seeking the kind of medical attention/information he needs.

Instead, he is dicking around on the Internet, self-diagnosing, relying on what is obviously inadequate information/attention from the people he has consulted to date, and fixating on minor form details that should not be capable of destroying a healthy young man. All instead of actually doing what he needs to do to figure out what is going on.

So I would say that he does need to “man up”.

Granted, as a woman, I don’t use “man up” to mean “stop acting [weak and whiny] like a woman [as sexist assholes perceive them]”. Because this would suggest that he is complaining about a trivial non-problem that only a woman (as sexist assholes perceive them) would bitch about.

I mean “man up” in the sense of “act like a grown man with a sense of agency”. This does not cast doubt on the possibility that he has real issues with his knees/hips/back. It merely points out that his approach thus far to identifying and solving the problem has been less than grown up.