back/knee pain unbairable

[BigRick722]

need help with leg development...

whats up guys just looking for a lil help. i am a competitive bodybuilder in the NPC. will be doing a national qualifier in May. anyway my legs are deff my weak point being 6 feet tall, no matter what i do they always seem to look narrow. Now my problem is when training them especially squats my knees hurt soooo bad i cant even concentrate on my legs because all i am doing is trying to deal with the pain. i have changed my leg routine to all 15-20 reps with moderate weight usually 315lbs-365 on squats. now is this ok or am i just being a lil girl and need to lift heavier to put on the mass . does any1 have any ideas or possible supplements to help. i do take glucosamine chondrotin . any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance...

P.S quiting is out of the question i have worked wayyy to hard and the only way i am quiting is getting taken out of my gym on a stretcher

 

[signal_24]

whats up guys just looking for a lil help. i am a competitive bodybuilder in the NPC. will be doing a national qualifier in May. anyway my legs are deff my weak point being 6 feet tall, no matter what i do they always seem to look narrow. Now my problem is when training them especially squats my knees hurt soooo bad i cant even concentrate on my legs because all i am doing is trying to deal with the pain. i have changed my leg routine to all 15-20 reps with moderate weight usually 315lbs-365 on squats. now is this ok or am i just being a lil girl and need to lift heavier to put on the mass . does any1 have any ideas or possible supplements to help. i do take glucosamine chondrotin . any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance...

P.S quiting is out of the question i have worked wayyy to hard and the only way i am quiting is getting taken out of my gym on a stretcher

You need active release techniques applied to your leg. Years of lifting will cause painful adhesions. http://www.activerelease.com/

 

[BigRick722]

thank you for the reply i am researching it currently. dont know anything about it. i actually see a chiropractor regularly and will be bringing this up to him on sat. thanks alot for the help...

 

[DOGMA]

First off good luck on your show. I dont know if this will help you but it sure fixed my problems with knee and back pain. I got some really good advise from a guy named Ken Lain a several time world record power lifter. Simply, he tought me how to squat. Now my form was not really that bad but his advise made all the difference in the world. Once I got it down my #'s climbed. Now I still got skinny leg's...LOL... I guess my point is try and get some coaching from someone who really know's thier stuff. It was easy for me as he own's the gym I train in. It still took me years to ask for his help.

 

[DOGMA]

I also think your rep's are a little on the high side for growth, but thats just me. I am sure your more accomplished as a BB than I.

 

[BigRick722]

I also think your rep's are a little on the high side for growth, but thats just me. I am sure your more accomplished as a BB than I.

yeh i know the general rule on reps is lower reps for mass although, alot of that has changed more and more pros/strength athletes are turning towards higher reps especially for legs. i feel like doing both high and low is very helpfull but unfortunately with my situation higher reps means less weight and less strain on my tendons so i am sticking with it for now.

any1 else have any suggestions(possible drugs fior site growth) as well as just leg routines that have helped with growth please let me know i am willing to do whatever it takes (if it means dealing with this pain i am certainly not gonna stop) i really need overall thickness as well as sweep. my legs are the only thing stopping me from getting on the National stage (its all about legs there any1 who has been knows) all help is appreciated thanks for the posts so far guys. i hope i could help some of you in the future...

 

[BrooklynBB]

yeh i know the general rule on reps is lower reps for mass although, alot of that has changed more and more pros/strength athletes are turning towards higher reps especially for legs. i feel like doing both high and low is very helpfull but unfortunately with my situation higher reps means less weight and less strain on my tendons so i am sticking with it for now.

any1 else have any suggestions(possible drugs fior site growth) as well as just leg routines that have helped with growth please let me know i am willing to do whatever it takes (if it means dealing with this pain i am certainly not gonna stop) i really need overall thickness as well as sweep. my legs are the only thing stopping me from getting on the National stage (its all about legs there any1 who has been knows) all help is appreciated thanks for the posts so far guys. i hope i could help some of you in the future...

I'm not a competitive lifter but have trained around those who are national level competitors in NYC. A couple of strategies that I've heard / seen myself done for legs:

1. Very high rep leg presses - in the 50 - 100 range.
2. One Legged Squats on the smith
3. Higher rep leg extensions (15 - 20 as you are doing now) but with only 20 - 30 seconds rest for 6-8 sets

As for the knee pain, have you tried DMSO?

 

[oldfella]

Try doing stiff leg deadlifts before you squat. Make them strict and work the hams hard from the stretch position. This will release some of the tension from your knees.

 

[Ashop]

whats up guys just looking for a lil help. i am a competitive bodybuilder in the NPC. will be doing a national qualifier in May. anyway my legs are deff my weak point being 6 feet tall, no matter what i do they always seem to look narrow. Now my problem is when training them especially squats my knees hurt soooo bad i cant even concentrate on my legs because all i am doing is trying to deal with the pain. i have changed my leg routine to all 15-20 reps with moderate weight usually 315lbs-365 on squats. now is this ok or am i just being a lil girl and need to lift heavier to put on the mass . does any1 have any ideas or possible supplements to help. i do take glucosamine chondrotin . any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance...

P.S quiting is out of the question i have worked wayyy to hard and the only way i am quiting is getting taken out of my gym on a stretcher

have you tried changing your feet position on the squats? or do leg press, hack sled, other leg training that causes no pain.

 

[BigRick722]

I'm not a competitive lifter but have trained around those who are national level competitors in NYC. A couple of strategies that I've heard / seen myself done for legs:

1. Very high rep leg presses - in the 50 - 100 range.
2. One Legged Squats on the smith
3. Higher rep leg extensions (15 - 20 as you are doing now) but with only 20 - 30 seconds rest for 6-8 sets

As for the knee pain, have you tried DMSO?

Not familier with DMSO what is it???

 

[BigRick722]

Try doing stiff leg deadlifts before you squat. Make them strict and work the hams hard from the stretch position. This will release some of the tension from your knees.

yes i see a chiropractor/physical therapist and he mentioned i need to work my hams better that could be some of my issue with my knees. so deff sounds like a good start thank you...

 

[BigRick722]

have you tried changing your feet position on the squats? or do leg press, hack sled, other leg training that causes no pain.

on my squat i still keep a pretty wide footing because any more narrow would be very difficult to balance. although, on both hacks and presses i am doing a very close footing for outer quad sweep. I wish i could just concentrate on hacks/ presses although, not sure that thoughs alone will give me the overal size i am looking for squats have always been the meat and the potatoes if u know what i mean. thank you for the suggestions...

 

[oldfella]

on my squat i still keep a pretty wide footing because any more narrow would be very difficult to balance. although, on both hacks and presses i am doing a very close footing for outer quad sweep. I wish i could just concentrate on hacks/ presses although, not sure that thoughs alone will give me the overal size i am looking for squats have always been the meat and the potatoes if u know what i mean. thank you for the suggestions...

Try this...........After reading this post do the stiff leg d/l's first then go to medium stance squats. Ditch the hacks for now and then do some leg curls before leg presses. See if after a couple of weeks this improves your knees. Hacks can be notriously hard on the knees. You can build all the leg you want with good solid squats and presses.

 

[DOGMA]

Oldfella is right on as usual, but I think a wide stance is not the position your feet should be in. Thats a PL stance and wont build alot of sweep. I would try shoulder width and also some front squats less weight but alot more quad stimulation, which should help our knee's. ????

 

[maldorf]

Yeah, those hack squats are really rough on the knees. What part of your knee hurts? Is it the petallar tendon or ligament? Either connective tissue on the top and bottom of the petella get sore on me if I do hacks for too long and too heavy. I would try what old fella suggested and stop those and see if things get better.

 

[BigRick722]

Try this...........After reading this post do the stiff leg d/l's first then go to medium stance squats. Ditch the hacks for now and then do some leg curls before leg presses. See if after a couple of weeks this improves your knees. Hacks can be notriously hard on the knees. You can build all the leg you want with good solid squats and presses.

sounds like a solid plan. i have actually been trying to find a way to get hams in on the same day as quads so that i am not in the gym six days a week. so getting rid of hacks for a while and adding in the stiff legs and leg curls would solve that as well. the prob has always been that i need to improove my legs sooo much in order to go any further in competition. so i realy try to hammer quads on there own day doing extension,squats, hacks superset with presses then extensions again and hit hams and calves on a different day. this may be just too much for my knees i am just really trying to grow u guys know what i am talkin about its this damn sport that we have become addicted to. its very helpfulll to have a bunch of guys with some of the same views/hobbies i always say the only people who actually understand a bodybuilder are other bodybuilders. thanks again every1 for your time u have been alot of help i am hitting legs again on wed. or possibly sunday when i usually do hams so i will let you know how it goes. cant wait...

 

[oldfella]

sounds like a solid plan. i have actually been trying to find a way to get hams in on the same day as quads so that i am not in the gym six days a week. so getting rid of hacks for a while and adding in the stiff legs and leg curls would solve that as well. the prob has always been that i need to improove my legs sooo much in order to go any further in competition. so i realy try to hammer quads on there own day doing extension,squats, hacks superset with presses then extensions again and hit hams and calves on a different day. this may be just too much for my knees i am just really trying to grow u guys know what i am talkin about its this damn sport that we have become addicted to. its very helpfulll to have a bunch of guys with some of the same views/hobbies i always say the only people who actually understand a bodybuilder are other bodybuilders. thanks again every1 for your time u have been alot of help i am hitting legs again on wed. or possibly sunday when i usually do hams so i will let you know how it goes. cant wait...

I have been only doing squats, stiff leg d/l's, curls and calves lately. That's it. my legs are getting bigger. Sometimes in this game less is better!!! My leg day takes me dead on one hour!