KNEE PAIN Help! Here is what happened

[Mack]

Last year I really crushed it. Started doing leg extensions first for pre exhaust.

No squats but heavy leg press on Wednesday and heavy hack squats Saturday both days wrapped on top end sets.

Did the stairs cardio machine at least 6 days a week for 20 minutes.

Zero pain.

Took 2 weeks off end of December.

Since January my knees have been terrible.

Pain at the joint so bad I’m going through the motions on leg exercises it no hard or heavy training.

For all practical purposes I would not call it training.

Stopped all cardio.

I’m taking zero supplements. Deca yes.

Anybody got any tips?

 

[zonebreaker]

From an olympic lifting background, I find that full range of motion in squats keep my knees healthy. I can't go full range with leg presses and they hurt when I do them. Maybe start stretching the knees, like hurdlers stretches, and your knee pain may go away.

 

[Mack]

Thank you

 

[sonyabyrd]

Depression is very serious. Once, when I was a teenager, I had depression. It was a very sad experience, every day you feel bad, you don't have the mood to do anything. The only thing you do is think and always think about the bad.

 

[florinevier]

It's such a pain. I understand you perfectly. I had exactly the same situation. Everything will get better, I assure you, the main thing is not to worry more than necessary. Because otherwise you will only make it worse!

 

[doobiedude]

I had some knee pain for a while when I was first starting to squat above three plates. I started only doing light sets at 135 and I did them 3-4 times a week before most of my workouts. It took a month or two to get better. Biggest thing is don’t put heavy weight on it til you are pain free because you don’t want long term injury.

Now I know some things that might make it go a little faster. When your hip flexors are weak/tight, they pull on your IT band which pulls on your knee and even your ankle, which I was also having a problem with. So throw in some leisurely sets of hanging knee raises. Not to failure, we just wanna activate it without making it tight again.
There could also be a problem in your foot. Walk around barefoot for a little while if you can. Strengthening the muscles in your feet can improve your stability a lot more than you think. Also if you don’t train calves for God’s sake please train them. Doesn’t have to be painful volume or anything but a little each day would help a lot.

Oh and stretch all day whenever you can when you’re not working out. You might look funny to people but it’s worth it.

Also maybe check out kneesovertoesguy on YouTube. Everyone seems to love him for this issue.

 

[rockaloo]

In the past, I had dealt with knee pain but have slowly progressed to now be totally pain-free (in the knees at least). I've found doing some mobility work (ankles, knees, and hips) has really helped me to get rid of some of the issues I was having. There's plenty of people on YouTube who go through some of the exercises that can help you out!

I agree with @zonebreaker in that full range of motion when doing squats and exercises like them, really helps with keeping the knees healthy. Though I advise the mobility exercises as well, especially if you can't achieve full range of motion currently! Only takes around 10-20 minutes most of the time to complete.

 

[koolio]

Have you tried a prescription anti inflammatory like Meloxicam?