Did I bust my knees?

[RunsWithHatchets]

I hang my head in shame that my first post here is not a success story, but a, "I think I done and broke myself."

Anyways, I have been doing the SS novice routine for the last three weeks. I had been working out machines for several months before this program, until I got smart and realized they were stupid, and gay.

Anyways, Monday I added 10lbs on my squat. I started the program pretty light so I could work out my form, adding 10lbs on Mondays and 5 lbs on Wednesdays and Fridays.

I went up to 175x3x5, after properly warming up of course. I had no trouble doing 165 the Friday previous. However, I busted a nut doing the last rep of the last set, attributing it to probably not waiting long enough between sets. Tuesday I started feeling sore on the outsides of my knee. Usually it was just my ass and legs that felt a little sore. Yesterday I went up to 180 and just figured I would push my way through it. I really had no issues finishing all 3 sets. Definitely not like the last rep from the Monday workout. I really think I am now using my adductors properly since they felt good and sore.

Now today my knees are still sore on the outside. When I tap on them, they feel sore. I'm not referring to the side of the knee cap, but the side of the leg itself. And when I extend my legs completely straight, as if I were stretching, I get a really sore feeling. This is not feeling just like the leg muscle being sore, this is something else.

I don't want to sound like a whiny bitch, but I'm worried that my form went to shit on that last rep Monday, and that I really damaged something. I probably should have just dumped the bar, but I pushed through it. After doing some reading, I feel I may have torn the meniscus. I had a previous mountain biking incident where I tore the meniscus and had surgery. But this doesn't feel anything like that. When I damaged it before, my knee would pop and the joint would lock up. I have no noise coming from the knee, but it does feel weak. I can squat without pain, but extending the leg and stretching causes soreness.

Any ideas on what I should do? I'm going to give the squats a break tomorrow and just do the bench and add in some pull-ups. And this weekend we will be in Texas visiting family, so I'm going to give Monday a break also. Do I need to go see a doctor or should I give it a week or two? Any ideas what I may have done?

[TartanEagle]

This sounds like it could ITB syndrome. Google this.

[RunsWithHatchets]

Thanks fot the reply. I looked up ITB and it seems that the symptoms fit my condition. However, two things concern me.

First, is it possible for me to damage that band from just a bad squat set? I'm not much of a runner, so I'm pretty sure I haven't been slowly building up to this condition. Also, it says ITB is usually caused by weak abductors. However, before I started SS, I was using machines. The abductor/aductor machine was part of my routine, and I maxed the weights out on it. Even so, I continued to use it since I knew they were important muscles.

Second, I haven't seen any symptoms that mention a "weak" or off balance feeling. A couple times I have caught myself wobbling a bit when I stand up. It seems the more I move though, the better it feels. I know being off balance is a symptom of a meniscal tear. However, I don't have any visible swelling, shooting pain, or popping in the knee, which seem to be big indicators of such an injury.

Have you read anything about having a balance issue with ITB? Thanks.

[Patrick L.]

A 20 lbs jump per week is a lot...slow down, Killer!

[beast]

Those jumps may be appropriate i remember when i started at 135lbs for my squat i added 75lbs the first week then 30lbs for a couple of weeks then to 15lbs a week.

[RunsWithHatchets]

The program says that you should increase your squat 10 lbs per workout the first several weeks. I hadn't been having a problem with the weight until my last set last Monday. Even Wednesdays increase posed no problems, but I gave myself more time between sets. I thought I was taking it easy going up 20 lbs per week. I wanted to make sure I had the form down right. And I didn't want to injure my knee. The same one I damaged in a mountain bike accident was also injured 2 years ago in a motorcycle accident. The ligaments attached to my kneecap were torn and it ended up on the side of my leg. So I been careful making sure that I am squatting properly.

My knees are feeling much better today, and I will resume squatting tomorrow. I am going to deload some weight and work back up again. Hopefully I won't have any knee pain this time. I imagine that I must have collapsed my knees when I did that last set a week ago. Hopefully I will avoid any future incidents.

[Patrick L.]

Agreed that 20 lbs a week may be appropriate. For myself, I would rather have my progression slope be a bit shallower. It gives me more confidence and doesnt take the slack out of my program prematurely. All the power to you, to anyone who can do it...