Normal Pain or Oh Crap my Knees are Screwed Pain?

[pumped2112]

Ever since I started to add a lot of weight to my squat, I would get the occasional knee pain or inflammationish annoyance. It always went away with some foam rolling and stretching and I would continue to lift. Well I was not feeling well so I took last monday off. All of the sudden, my knees that prior sunday and even into monday when I wasn't lifting seemed to hurt. They hurt on the inside of the knee where the quad meets the knee, and then under that near the patellar tendon. Now only one knee bothered me, then both. Then they got progressively more annoying as the week went on. I lifted wednesdya and friday and really focused on throwing my knees out very far. This elimintated a bit of the pain DURING the squat, but after my sets on Friday, I felt like I had "Jumped up in the air and landed on both of my knees." They felt like they had been hit with like a bat or something. I figured it was just the pressure from adding weight and squatting for over three months now with no real breaks. I mean that seems like it could be a reason. I have flat feet, and for that reason cannot quite get my knees slightly past the toes when I squat but rather a bit behind them. I do not know if this is contributing to the pain I am feeling or not. So anyway, this weekend they got pregressively worse and wavered in and out hurting in different knees and different areas at different times. Sometimes when I sat in the car they would hurt, sometimes when I was walking or even trying to sleep. Then I would get a pain behind my kneecap. It is weird man... So I took an ice bath and then later in the day had my dad massage them. he said that my legs must have literally doubled in size since I started the program, and maybe the stabalizer muscles around the knee joints arent adapted to the changes yet. I do not know... I am going to post a form review. I take msm chondroitin and multivitamins as well. It bothers me because my 155 lb friend has NEVER eaten according to the program and has only gained about 5 to 10 pounds in the 3 months we were on this. He has, however, increased his squat to 275 for 3x5 without stalling yet, and I am at the same weight as him and am using a belt and have reset once already. he also has bad back hyperextending and bad form and never gets hurt. he is 5 foot 5 and I am 6 foot 2 so maybe that has something to do with it. he cannot deadlift for shit tho... HELP ME

[pumped2112]

I must also point out that the quad part right above my knee is extremely developed it looks like. Like the muscle hangs over so that If I look straight down, I cannot see my kneecap.

[pumped2112]

nobody knows?

[Grumpypeon]

Have you posted any squat check videos? They would be helpful to see any faults in your form that may be causing the pain. I think you're referring to the vastus medialis..

[veryhrm]

a) take a deep breath

b) hard to say what's up with your knees, but usually stuff that comes on slowly and is just overuse of some sort rather than a tear or other irreversible stuff. That said, joints are not something you want to mess w/ since they heal slowly and sometimes not at all (compared to muscles which heal comparatively quickly and usually completely). So consider taking some ibuprofen and at least one workout off if not more. The pain itself isn't SUCH a problem, but if you have swelling inside your knee then that changes the mechanics of the knee and can cause it to be worse. Oh, and when you press on the area right above your knee cap, does that hurt ?

check out e.g. spar's advice in this thread. it's pretty reasonable.
http://startingstrength.com/resource...d.php?t=24622&

c) different people gain strength at different rates.... don't worry about it too much.

[pumped2112]

Thanks... It hurt less today when I kep weight on my heels more. I think a part of the problem Is that I am so obsessed with getting my knees slightly over my toes, that I think I lean too far forward and come off of my heel a tiny bit on some reps. And no it doesnt hurt when i touch below knee.

[Grumpypeon]

Not everyone squats with knees slightly ahead of toes. And just because their knees are in front of toes does not mean that their weight is shifted towards the front either. It all depends on your anthropometry. You should post some videos because it sounds like you have form issues that can be irritating the muscles around the knee.