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Thread: Is my body simply not suited for squatting?

  1. #1
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    Mar 2010
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    Default Is my body simply not suited for squatting?

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    So I've scoured through pages and pages of instructional information, including Starting Strength of course, and I've been here numerous times about my squats, and how my knees have become grindy and pop from them.

    Yet when I posted my video, no problems with my squat form could be identified. Glaring ones at least. Perhaps my video angle was bad, but after visiting my campus doctor several times, I've been informed that I have flexible joints and this is why my knees hyperextend.

    How am I supposed to approach this? I've run track before and lifted before without ever having this issue, but something about my squats brought it about and now I've been ailed by it for months, if not a full year now.

    Honestly, it's a miracle my motivation has remained largely intact given how utterly worthless my knees have become.

    So basically, my knees don't track straight, they grind whenever I kneel down and this is linked to my having overly flexible joints.

    Should I even be squatting?

  2. #2
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    Yes, I think you should stop squatting. Apparently you're different than everyone else. Thank God every day for your crack campus physician. He may have saved your life.

  3. #3
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    Well I took what he said so seriously in light of the fact we have some of the best athletes in college sports and a huge school of medicine. Honestly, Rip, what the hell else can I do? I've literally been trying to get something positive out of my squats for months and I've posted videos here numerous times and the only feedback I ever got both here and on the technique forum is "Your form looks solid".

    That's more frustrating to hear than "Your form fucking sucks", since then I at least have an explanation for why my knees (and now hips) are so awful. I've put hours upon hours of "rehab" and research into finding some measure of competency with the squat, but all I have for my troubles are grinding hips and poorly tracking knees.

    Even you didn't criticize me for having any glaring problems and suggested I tape my knees. My thinking is that if my form is so solid, then why the hell are my knees and hips the exact opposite of solid right now? I'll post one more video in the hopes of identifying a problem, but I just don't see what I could be doing so wrong.

    I lead with my hips. I don't round my back. I go below parallel. My knees don't bow inward and track with my toes. I shove my knees out. I lift in chucks.

    End result?

    Grandpa knees at the ripened age of 23. This is killing my morale.

  4. #4
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    Do your knees actually hurt, or just make sound?

  5. #5
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    Mar 2010
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    Trust me, it's not just cartilage popping. They're not tracking straight and grind, and yes, there is some occasional pain. It's already been identified as my knees not tracking in a straight line by the doctor and I've been wearing orthotics to help with my "excessively flat feet"

  6. #6
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    And doctors are trained to know about stuff like knee tracking. Grinding is bad. Really, stop squatting. Your knees are different than everybody else's knees. Really. Stop.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    And doctors are trained to know about stuff like knee tracking. Grinding is bad. Really, stop squatting. Your knees are different than everybody else's knees. Really. Stop.
    Speculation, but I would think an orthopedist would have a pretty good idea about how the knee normally functions. Also speculation, but, really, isn't grinding usually a bad thing? Unless you are being so serious in the above post that it sounds like a Dumpster full of burning Texas sarcasm.

  8. #8
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    Of course they do, Ian. They're Doctors, after all. So when they tell you that full squats are bad for your knees, you know that they are right because they have this pretty good idea about how the knee normally functions. They are Doctors.

  9. #9
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    If I was worried and stressed about my knee health and was trying to interpret this thread, I would be left very confused. A sense of humour and the ability to detect sarcasm are dramatically reduced in such circumstances.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    They are sharpened by reading all the previous three years' worth of information on this board regarding this important topic. We maintain this archive of data for your use. As I've explained several times recently, I'm busy with the 3rd edition and I don't have time to repeatedly reiterate things that have been kicked to death already.

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