reason #45621a why i am an idiot

[Phreak]

about three weeks ago i suffered a minor tear in my left knee (patellar tendon) while squatting. not a severe injury, but pretty painful and limiting. so, i went to the doc, got some anti inflammatories, xray, blah blah blah, and he told me what i already knew- torn/strained patellar tendon...

so i skipped quads for one week, and did just light leg press last week. my knee was feeling pretty good actually...

so i go to train legs last night, and decide LIKE AN IDIOT to squat. i talked myself into it by doing smith squats. i plate felt fine, good actually. two plates i did 20 reps, felt fine as well. now all along i'm telling myself not ot overdo it, just to get a pump or whatever... so i go up to three plates figuring a set of 10 would be easy to bang out.

cue ultra dumbass music NOW

actually did the set with minor pain, thought i was ok.

went over to the leg press, tried to do one rep and couldn't get the sled moving... my knee was screaming.

now it's all swollen, hurts like hell, and stiff, just like it was when i first hurt it. if i had just done light leg press...

anyways i guess the only answers are to:

1) quit being such a moron

2) not train quads for a month or so

don't have much choice with the first one, i think it's my destiny... but i think i'll have to go with 2 now.

[O2BESOHUGE]

Re: reason #45621a why i am an idiot

TAKE IT EASY AND HEAL UP BEFORE ACTING LIKE AN $%^%^@ AGAIN!!

[T-Man007]

Re: reason #45621a why i am an idiot

There are two solutions to minor knee injuries. 1 is rest. The knee is too damn important to be phukin around with. 2 is knee wraps and avoiding things like smith squats. Because your body isn't permitted to move freely you actually put more stress on the knee than traditional squats. I strained my patella bad about a 1 1/2 ago and it killed. This was the result of hack squats, which by the way I will never do again. So I went back to traditional back squats with knee wraps. Because there is an external support on the knee, the knee is NOT getting stronger. What is happening is you are allowing the knee to heal but yet still train quads. Anytime you support a joint externally you actually weaken that joint. So, this is a temporary thing. I think I went for about 6 weeks. After that I dropped my weight back down and went with no wraps. It was about 4 weeks more and I was using the same weight as with wrpas but absolutely no pain. Leg press usually puts very little stress on the knee joint when your feet are higher up on the platform. Finally, when you get back to normal you need to start doing 1-leg step ups as part of your regular leg day program. This is the single best exercise for knee strength. It will also call on the vastus medialis (inner quad muscle, the tear drop) and the adductors. The adductors are a big muscle group and when trained properly will give you great leg girth, great balance and greater squat strength. I have yet to find an exercise the hits the inner quad better than 1-leg step up without compromising the integirty of the knee joint. Most exercises you have to hyperextend the knee, this is not a good idea IMO. I do mine on a bench. I alternate legs and do anywhere from 8 to 12 per leg. I do them at the end of my leg workout by personal preferance.

[candyman]

Re: reason #45621a why i am an idiot

That sounds good, T-Man. The only thing I'd like to add is that this is a tendonitis injury just like any other, including the common extensor tendon of the elbow (tricep attachment), except a lot more painful (it sounds like) because of the increased innervation in that area. But I wouldn't *****foot around it. I don't pretend to know how old you are, Nish, but if you've been lifting 8-10 years or more, this is wear and tear. I'd definitely ice it, and definitely take a week off, but I'd abstain from the knee wraps. Like T said, it's not going to strengthen it. Not that that joint was ever weak in the first place, it really just seems like an overuse injury. Probably the best thing to do is ice it on your own, and go in and have ultrasound done. Your local chiropractor/s should have ultrasound and other rehab equipment like muscle stim. in their office (if they're worth a damn), plus they'll check to see if your tibia has subluxated posteriorly, which would add to the knee pain you're currently experiencing.

[candyman]

Re: reason #45621a why i am an idiot

P.S. - It's been my experience wearing knee wraps that all they do is shift some of the brunt of the work to your glutes and hamstrings, which are actually the most powerful extensors of your legs anyways. You can achieve a similar result by keeping your feet wide on your squats/leg press/hack squats, whatever. This will also bring into play those powerful adductors that T was talking about. Oh, and of course...always warm up the knee joint BEFORE squatting. Squats are a great way to get blood flowing in the quads, glutes, hams, and erector spinae, but not so much the knee. I always warm up with 3-4 sets of 20 reps on leg extension with no more than 45 seconds rest in between...

[Phreak]

Re: reason #45621a why i am an idiot

thanks a lot for the advice guys; i appreciate it.

this is definitely an overuse injury... i have been squatting twice a week for almost 6 moths now and my knees have progressively gotten worse. my legs grew like hell, but my knees suffered... this is totally my fault, and as i have been training for 10 years i knew what i was doing to myself, i just wasn't listening to my body... to consumed with putting some size back on.

i'm actually thinking of taking a month off my quads (no presses, squats) to see what happens, then i will take your advice for getting back into the squat game.

it's going to suck but i have nochoice at this point... ugh

[candyman]

Re: reason #45621a why i am an idiot

it's alright...i knew what i was doing to myself with my deadlifts and squats, and I ended up having low-back surgery this summer. luckily for me, advances in science have enabled me to recover fully and i was lifting six days after the surgery, though I doubt I'll ever squat over 3 plates again.