squating hurts my knees

[lilj888]

does this happen to anyone else? just squating my own body weight hurts. My father has bad knees which he had surgery on, and so does his mother my grandma she has bad knees and every time i squat my knees crack, like when u crack your fingers, i do squat when i work out legs but i dont go to heavy

 

[*The_West*]

yeah my knees crack when i even squat my own bodyweight, it doesnt hurt though. although i dont squat super heavy, never go for one rep maxes or anything.
especially seeing as bad knees run in your family, it would be worth going to the doctors to rule out conditions such as osteo arthritis (thinning of the cartilidge in the joint)

 

[stosstruppe]

I have Osgood Schlatter's Disease (fancy name for tendonitis) in my left knee after years of rugby, not letting my body recover sufficiently in between sessions etc so generally only stick to doing bodyweight squats now. Better seeing a doctor or physio and telling them exactly what the problem is as "bad knees" & "cracking sounds" aren't much to go on. Perhaps it's something that can be rehabilitated.

 

[Bridger]

I have patellar tendonitis in my left knee, and both knees crack when i squat. I only do higher rep squats, 10-20 reps. When i do 8 or less it causes pain.

 

[OneBreath]

Make sure you are using proper form. My knees used to hurt until i worked on my form. Keep these elements in mind.

1. Weight should be on your heels, never on the balls of your feet, if your rock forward that puts strain on your knees. For this reason either squat barefoot, in socks, or in flat soled shoes like chuck taylors. Normal training shoes will encourage the rocking forward.

2. Start the movement by pushing your hips back. This reinforces #1. You should squat like you are sitting back in a chair. This puts the strain on glutes, hams, and then quads, not knees.

If this is hard to pick up start doing boxsquats. Take a regular bench and move it into the squatrack. When you squat, sit down on the bench like you normally would, pause for a breath, then look up, flex your glutes, hams, then quads and move your hips forward to come up.

Practice this with lightweight first. You should feel less and less pressure on your knees as you get better at it.

Good luck.

 

[the_alcatraz]

All the time bro. Try to use some straps on your knees and a belt for heavy squatting.

 

[princesa]

Make sure you are using proper form. My knees used to hurt until i worked on my form. Keep these elements in mind.

1. Weight should be on your heels, never on the balls of your feet, if your rock forward that puts strain on your knees. For this reason either squat barefoot, in socks, or in flat soled shoes like chuck taylors. Normal training shoes will encourage the rocking forward.

2. Start the movement by pushing your hips back. This reinforces #1. You should squat like you are sitting back in a chair. This puts the strain on glutes, hams, and then quads, not knees.

If this is hard to pick up start doing boxsquats. Take a regular bench and move it into the squatrack. When you squat, sit down on the bench like you normally would, pause for a breath, then look up, flex your glutes, hams, then quads and move your hips forward to come up.

Practice this with lightweight first. You should feel less and less pressure on your knees as you get better at it.

Good luck.

+1 Good post

also you should stretch, 10-15min prior

 

[the_alcatraz]

+1 Good post

also you should stretch, 10-15min prior

very good advice IMO

I stretch before and after workouts

 

[enigma4dub]

Make sure you are using proper form. My knees used to hurt until i worked on my form. Keep these elements in mind.

1. Weight should be on your heels, never on the balls of your feet, if your rock forward that puts strain on your knees. For this reason either squat barefoot, in socks, or in flat soled shoes like chuck taylors. Normal training shoes will encourage the rocking forward.

2. Start the movement by pushing your hips back. This reinforces #1. You should squat like you are sitting back in a chair. This puts the strain on glutes, hams, and then quads, not knees.

If this is hard to pick up start doing boxsquats. Take a regular bench and move it into the squatrack. When you squat, sit down on the bench like you normally would, pause for a breath, then look up, flex your glutes, hams, then quads and move your hips forward to come up.

Practice this with lightweight first. You should feel less and less pressure on your knees as you get better at it.

Good luck.

agreed. need more info though. are you oly or pl squatting. are you maintaining proper depth? can you take a vid of your form? your glutes could be inactive...

 

[OneBreath]

agreed. need more info though. are you oly or pl squatting. are you maintaining proper depth? can you take a vid of your form? your glutes could be inactive...

Good point. Even though i'm not nor intend to be a pl i have most of my squatting knowledge from reading stuff put out by Westside Barbell. Its helped me tremendously but is probably not a universal solution.

A vid of the squat would clear things up in no time.

 

[enigma4dub]

Good point. Even though i'm not nor intend to be a pl i have most of my squatting knowledge from reading stuff put out by Westside Barbell. Its helped me tremendously but is probably not a universal solution.

A vid of the squat would clear things up in no time.

i just meant that if he has oly squatting he would need different advice than a pl squat.

 

[enigma4dub]

this was a great discussion on the two types of squats we had a couple years back.

edit oops heres the link: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/w...-lifting/please-critique-my-squat-449633.html

the vid link in the first post no longer works

 

[lilj888]

i squat powerlift style