Squats bad for knees

[Uluwatu]

Happy St. Patricks Day....Why is it that every time I see a guy doing 1/2 rep leg presses with 10 plates per side, he says he doesn't squat anymore because his knee's are bad. How is squatting 3 or 4 plates with good form bad for your knees. But 1/2 rep leg presses with 900lbs not. Where did this reasoning come from?

 

[Enanthanator]

I think half of those guys are coming up with excuses not to squat. But to be honest squats are brutal on my knees and presses arent. Not that I will stop squatting anytime soon!!

 

[Putin]

Every leg machine is different in a way and will either put more or less pressure on the knees in my experience.

 

[Ashop]

I had to give up full time squats a few yrs back,,,same reason killing my knees. I still do squats just not every workout.

 

[maldorf]

For me its a matter on not going really heavy week after week. I will do higher reps one week and then the next few weeks get lower and lower, taking about 4 weeks to work down to 4-6 reps. I also preexhaust now with 3 heavy sets of leg extensions to failure before I squat. I also rotate week to week between doing front squats one week and the next regular back squats. This has taken care of my knee pain.

 

[StudHammer]

I think half of those guys are coming up with excuses not to squat. But to be honest squats are brutal on my knees and presses arent. Not that I will stop squatting anytime soon!!

Or it's an excuse not to squat all the way down. For me, squats never really bothered my knees, maybe I just got lucky.

 

[Enanthanator]

I know my knees are killing me right now...I have been hitting squats pretty heavy the last few weeks. Both low rep work and 20 reps in the same workout. Puked thursday in the gym after my 20 repper. My knees have been killing me since. As a matter of fact I feel like I broke something inside of me, it was the most brutal 20 repper ever for me. I think next week I might skip squats...but I said that last week too...

 

[StudHammer]

I know my knees are killing me right now...I have been hitting squats pretty heavy the last few weeks. Both low rep work and 20 reps in the same workout. Puked thursday in the gym after my 20 repper. My knees have been killing me since. As a matter of fact I feel like I broke something inside of me, it was the most brutal 20 repper ever for me. I think next week I might skip squats...but I said that last week too...

Have you tried front squats? I've been doing those for a while now and actually prefer them to regular squats now.

 

[M21SL]

I get the same pain in my knees from squatting and leg pressing. For me I think its just a matter of a lot of pressure on the knees. Either way, wrapping them up, just somewhat tight, makes the pain go away.

 

[km2000]

I get the same pain in my knees from squatting and leg pressing. For me I think its just a matter of a lot of pressure on the knees. Either way, wrapping them up, just somewhat tight, makes the pain go away.

I agree, wrapping the knees and adding compression to the knee joint takes a lot of the pain out of it...

bad knees are not an excuse not to squat, they are an excuse not to go heavy though. squats can be performed with light to moderate weight and make you grow more than you know. 9 out of 10 times the bad knees are from bad form, not from the squats themselves..

how many of you have bad elbows so you dont bench? probably not anyone...

imo having a bad back is a reason not to squat, not bad knees.. lightn the weight, wrap the knees correctly, and perfect the form and watch you legs grow!

 

[oldfella]

Most of you guys know this but for maybe some that don't. Full squats to at least parallel are the safest way to squat and protect your knees. Partial reps generate a lot of shear force forward through the knee. Stopping short of parallel places the knee joint in a vulnerable position. I try to go at least parallel or below all the time while squatting. Foot stance and angle also have a lot to do with pressure on the knee joint. At least shoulder width apart and toes angled outward slightly will maintian the knee and hip alignment needed to protect the joint. Also buckling your knees inward while trying to come out of the bottom position compromises your knees, it is also a sign of weak inner thighs. Wide stance leg presses will develope your inner thighs and help with your overall squats. knee wraps are probably more of a security blanket for BBers unless you are squatting mamoth poundages. It causes compression of the patella against the top of your tibia and the bottom of your femur. This will cause irritation of the smooth coating over the glide points of these two bones. you end up pushing the synovial fluid out of the gap between the patella and your knee joint. Wraps are fine for 1-3 reps very heavy but if you are consistantly doing heavy 6-10 rep work, eventually you will have trouble. Hope this is a help to all you poor kneed squatters and those that avoid squat and make excuses, well you will never develope a strong dense physique with out squats.

 

[Fa Seeshus]

"Have you tried front squats? I've been doing those for a while now and actually prefer them to regular squats now."

same here. it puts the hips in a better alignment to open up correctly over the knee. you can go rock bottom in a safe manner. oly lifters do this all the time.

 

[Uluwatu]

Most of you guys know this but for maybe some that don't. Full squats to at least parallel are the safest way to squat and protect your knees. Partial reps generate a lot of shear force forward through the knee. Stopping short of parallel places the knee joint in a vulnerable position. I try to go at least parallel or below all the time while squatting. Foot stance and angle also have a lot to do with pressure on the knee joint. At least shoulder width apart and toes angled outward slightly will maintian the knee and hip alignment needed to protect the joint. Also buckling your knees inward while trying to come out of the bottom position compromises your knees, it is also a sign of weak inner thighs. Wide stance leg presses will develope your inner thighs and help with your overall squats. knee wraps are probably more of a security blanket for BBers unless you are squatting mamoth poundages. It causes compression of the patella against the top of your tibia and the bottom of your femur. This will cause irritation of the smooth coating over the glide points of these two bones. you end up pushing the synovial fluid out of the gap between the patella and your knee joint. Wraps are fine for 1-3 reps very heavy but if you are consistantly doing heavy 6-10 rep work, eventually you will have trouble. Hope this is a help to all you poor kneed squatters and those that avoid squat and make excuses, well you will never develope a strong dense physique with out squats.

Good post Oldfella...true and to the point.

 

[dragonfire101]

Well after 2 knee surgeries my orthopeidc doctor told me not to do squats its the worse for the knees. He told me this after the first surgery. I still did them they did not bother me to much, but I could not use mor than 500 pnds.

After my second I cant do squats almost at all.

I do leg presses and they dont really bother my kness at all accept once I start getting over 800 pnds. So I try to stay with higher reps instead and do prexhaust sets with leg extensions. I usually do a couple sets of squats after them with only 225 for 20 reps becuase any heavier and it will kill my knees. I cant get down to parallel though. Almost.

I have added trap bar deadlifts instead of heavy squats, which really don't bother my knees. So my workout look like this.

Legs Curls 3 x 8-10
Leg Ext. 3 x 8-10
Leg Press 3 x 10,8,6 with couple of rest pause on last set
Trap Deads 4 x 10,8,6,4 with couple rset pause on last set
Light Squats 2 x 20
Calfs 3 x 15 sets of seated and 3 x 15 of seated raises

 

[bigoso]

some good info on this thread...i too am having trouble with my knees and it comes at a time when i am stronger on squats than ever....went to an ortho and he basically told me to stop training legs....not gonna happen....i have however had to put quads on hold for at least 6 weeks, they are just killing me even when at work, just simply bending down feels like death....question for you old fella, what would be the correct way to wrap the knees so as not to cause pressure on the patella.....just leave a little space unwrapped where the patella is?

 

[ironfreak83]

from a powerlifting standpoint, everything oldfella stated was right on the money. also i used to have terrible knee pain from sitting straight down while squatting, instead of bending a little at the waist and sitting back as opposed to down. like you're trying to sit back into a chair. now i have no knee pain whatsoever and am squatting almost 300 pounds more than what i was. my legs, even quads, are wayyy bigger now even though by sitting back you utilize more hips and ass. if you guys have trouble doing this, you can get a box thats right at parallel, and sit back on that box to get your form down. also wearing knee wraps makes my knees worse even when doing sets of 1-3 reps. it's too much pressure on your patella. hope this helps some people.

 

[ironfreak83]

some good info on this thread...i too am having trouble with my knees and it comes at a time when i am stronger on squats than ever....went to an ortho and he basically told me to stop training legs....not gonna happen....i have however had to put quads on hold for at least 6 weeks, they are just killing me even when at work, just simply bending down feels like death....question for you old fella, what would be the correct way to wrap the knees so as not to cause pressure on the patella.....just leave a little space unwrapped where the patella is?

personally, i would stop wearing the knee wraps, and maybe look into those strongman knee sleeves from Inzer. just enough for support but it shouldn't hurt your knees any. there is no correct way to wrap your knees effectively without pressure on them. deca has helped my knees in the past if thats an option.

 

[G.E.R.M]

.

personally i prefer using the safe-t-squat setup as it allows me to sit into the squat better and deeper..

also with the recently limited ROM in my right ankle, i cant free squat anyhow..

 

[worldspan]

Had ortheoscopic surgery on both of my knees last fall. While I was back squatting 6 weeks later, now only do to parallel rather than butt to the floor
as I did for so many years in the past based on the doctor's advice.

Worldspan

 

[bigoso]

i only go to parellel on any squat movement.....back, front, hack