Pretty Strong Blog - Jessica Gallagher and Sarah Robles' blog. Insightful and nice to hear from people who train very hard without attitude or entitlement and who also happen to be very, very strong women. In this post, Olympic Games Outfitting, Sarah talks about the difficulties of being a larger female athlete when it comes to finding the right size clothing.
NOT the most powerful supplement of all time...
adamtglass.com - The website of Adam Glass. I link to his posts often. This post, The Most Powerful Supplement OF ALL TIME!, is classic. I was writing a post on time commitment when I ran across it and then thought, "Well, I guess I can scrap it now because this says everything I wanted to say and it's a lot funner to read than anything I'd write anyway!".
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6 comments:
Hey - I'm really sorry to not find the appropriate place to put this, but you seem very knowledgeable and I need help.
I've been putting on mass the past 8 months - about 15 lbs regain in the first 2 months and a slow gain since then.
My problem is my knees. I started squatting heavy a few months ago, and when I started, I was doing really low squats below parallel. I was also able to do 10 single leg, butt to heel, bodyweight squats with each leg. No problems. And my lower quads were getting bulky above the knee
After about a month though,
1) my friend convinced me not to go down below parallel, and I started lifting heavier weight, reaching a personal best at 90 kg (I'm 70 kg). He told me I was bending my lower back when I went too low and I should stop.
2) I started doing leg extensions
Now, I can't even do 2 bodyweight single-leg, butt-to-heel squats, because my knees feel really, really weak. They also feel a little inflamed, and the muscle above the knee looks small.
I'm frustrated, and have no idea really why this is happening. I'm resting them this week and taking fish oil and hoping I don't develop bad knees.
Any help?
So, we're talking about pistols (single-leg, generally bodyweight, squats), right?
When you said you started "not going below parallel" and heavier, what does that mean? Were you going to parallel (the crease of the hip parallel w. the top of the knee) or were they quarter squats? When you say 90kg, is this w. a (regular) barbell squat?
If you are doing full range of motion pistols, you are going to have lower back flexion. I don't think you can avoid it.
Hi Boris,
Sorry, let me try to clarify.
when my legs felt good, the squats I was doing were barbell, with 60 kg. I went below parallel, and had a bit of back flexion so my friend told me to stop doing them. At that time my knees felt good and I could do 10 pistols with each leg.
Now my knees feel like crap - stiff and inflamed. I've been doing 90 kg barbell squats to parallel or a bit above. I also started doing leg extensions which I think might be the problem - maybe it is stressing my tendons out. I can't even do 2 pistols anymore.
Couple of things that may or may not be relevant to you:
1) Doing leg extensions have always been a sure-fire road to knee pain FOR ME. I think leg extensions have their uses and someday I might need to explore that but I avoid them.
2) Pistols are a movement that require consistent practice FOR ME. If I fall out of practice, I will be unable to do them at all even if my squatting strength is solid. Rebuilding them takes a lot of work.
If I were in your situation, I would:
*Do the rest and ice thing for a week or two (or longer if needed). Stretching and mobility work as tolerated.
*Rebuild my full squat, paying attention to my specific needs, and practice concentric-only pistols. Add weight and reps when and where you feel good and solid. Give yourself time to do this.
*Drop the leg extensions.
Whatever you do, don't allow your knee pain to become a chronic issue. Nip that in the bud ASAP!
Let me know how things go regardless of what you decide to do.
Thanks Boris, I'll let you know how it's going in a month. Stopping the leg extensions, and got on the bike and doing ice and stretches for the next week. Will start back up slow and see how it goes.
I'm not sure I'd be spending time on the bike (again, if it were me) when I should be resting - if I was restless, I think that that time would be better spent working on hip and hamstring strength and mobility.
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