Any pointers for helping strengthen my wife's knee before we start her lifting heavy?

[BodyByFinaplix]

My wife, like I, has gotten out of shape over the last two years, but we have decided as a couple to start busting our butts 5 days a week again. I started a month sooner than her, so for now we are just working on strengthing connective tissue and for for her.

She has some issues with the cartlidge in her knee from a track injury in highscool (she was a sprinter and ran hurdles). So we are completely avoiding some movements for her lower body. She wears a knee brace, and for now for lower body all she is doing are squats with the bar, very light leg presses (with her footing high on the plate) and does not quite break 90 degress to limit shearing stress on her knee, and stiff-legged deads but never quite locking out the knees (which I believe is the only right way to do these).

Do any of you ladies have any pointers for our training and her knee issue? For now I really just want to strengthen connective tissue and support muscle so that eventually she can do heavier weights, but for the first month I am only letting her squat with the bar.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

I have had knee issue which are pretty much none issues as long as I squat below parallel with a wide stance and do leg press with a very wide stance. I rarelly go heavier then 185 on squats and leg press might do 270 max but my legs don't need to grow.

 

[jenscats5]

Morning BBF! I have a torn ACL which was repaired via an allograft 8 months ago......

I've completely stopped doing leg extensions due to all the info I've found about shearing forces & how they negatively afftect the knee......

Otherwise my PT people have had me doing TKE's using the cable rack: Attach the leg cuff to the cable ring and set it somewhere in the middle so you can put the cuff around your knee....set the weight at one that feels comfortable (light to start), then start with a bent knee & then straighten the knee......they had me doing these to work on strengthening my knee after surgery.....

 

[BodyByFinaplix]

Her knee is not that bad Jens. She had the injury years ago, and is on her feet a lot at work, since she is a nurse. However it does bother her sometimes when she gets in from work, or if she twists her leg a little sometimes. I'd like to see her build up the surrounding connective tissues around it, in the hopes that it will reduce the stress she puts directly on the cartiledge during her day to day activity.

I agree on the leg extentions. They put additional sheering stress on the knee. Actually we are avoiding all fluff movements alltogether, since we are training at a pretty high frequency (upper body 3 times a week lower 2) and do not wish to overtrain on movements that are less effective for increasing strength or hypertrophy. The only isolotation work being done are skullcrushers, dumbbell curls and shrugs.

I see no reason why a woman wishing to get in better shape and lean out needs to do anything different than a man routinewise, and should do a heavy free-weight routine to maxiumize strength and hypertrophy.

 

[BodyByFinaplix]

I have had knee issue which are pretty much none issues as long as I squat below parallel with a wide stance and do leg press with a very wide stance. I rarelly go heavier then 185 on squats and leg press might do 270 max but my legs don't need to grow.

QT, do you feel that a wider stance reduces stress on your knee? We are doing shoulderwidth for her on squats and leg presses for now, but are not going below parallel. That might be something to consider if we start increasing the range of motion.

 

[jenscats5]

Her knee is not that bad Jens. She had the injury years ago, and is on her feet a lot at work, since she is a nurse. However it does bother her sometimes when she gets in from work, or if she twists her leg a little sometimes. I'd like to see her build up the surrounding connective tissues around it, in the hopes that it will reduce the stress she puts directly on the cartiledge during her day to day activity.

I agree on the leg extentions. They put additional sheering stress on the knee. Actually we are avoiding all fluff movements alltogether, since we are training at a pretty high frequency (upper body 3 times a week lower 2) and do not wish to overtrain on movements that are less effective for increasing strength or hypertrophy. The only isolotation work being done are skullcrushers, dumbbell curls and shrugs.

I see no reason why a woman wishing to get in better shape and lean out needs to do anything different than a man routinewise, and should do a heavy free-weight routine to maxiumize strength and hypertrophy.

I agree.....but was thinking the TKE's may help with what you're trying to accomplish.....

 

[BodyByFinaplix]

Hmmm... I wonder if we can find a cuff like that. I would not say her knee is overly weak right now though. She seems to be able to squat with the bar without pain, she just gets fatigued pretty fast. Her quads are very sore after every lower body workout, even with the light weights. However, her quads are very under-developed compaired to her hamstrings and glutes. Somewhat surprising since she was working out some when we first met and used to be a track athelete. She was doing leg presses with 8 plates at the time (her only compound movement for lower body), but stopped training when her knee started bothering her again. I suspect it was her daily jogging on concrete that was causing this rather than leg presses.

 

[T-Cake]

I like that you asked this question because it's something I personally experienced myself, so I'm learning along with you somewhat.

I have bad knees due to the fact that I was 260# at 5'6" until I was 19... I'm now 27y/o and down to 155, 160 after years of hard work, but STILL I have pains which drive me crazy.

I got into lifting this year in Feb. with the help of Ulter, my boyfriend, and my knees gave me trouble for awhile. Here are things that really helped me to come around and things I've thought of while reading what they others are adding:

1. First off, I think the point you make about women lifting heavy is a good one, but I want to point out as well that it's not a BAD thing for her to lift what she can NOW and simply do more reps.

2. Sadly enough, TIME will be the #1 thing she'll need in order to get her connective tissue up to par with her muscle mass that she is acquiring. I started in Feb, like I said, doing 60 minutes a day on the elliptical for cardio (in addition to training)... and by April, my quads were so strong, I cranked up the resistance to make my w/o harder... and hurt my knees... so it was back to WALKING. I was really upset and I'd hate to see your wife push too hard, so I think the fact that you're giving her knees at least a month to ease in to it is smart.

3. RUNNING is rough... I am now a runner, thank goodness, but my knees did not heal from April's mishap... until JULY. It was a LONG stretch of time but now my knees are in awesome shape, I feel. Other cardio I found that was great for me was a rowing machine and walking -- you know, if you're looking for alternatives to cardio.

4. LIFTING -- I knew from the get go that I had weak knees due to my old weight and the damage I did on them growing up, so curgeo, another friend of ours from the board, was GREAT helping me at the gym to give me pointers. Things I learned from him was to change my angle with my feet to turn my knees different ways when doing squats. For example, the 1st and 3rd set I would face my feet forward... then I'd turn them out for set 2. It just worked a different part of the knee and I found that one way was more comfortable on my knees than the other.

He started me off with doing squats on the wall using an exercise ball. If your wife finds that even using the bar for squats some days is too much, this may be an easier alternative so at least she's not "sedentary" in terms of quad work.

I found that leg CURLS hurt my knees more than extensions... but either way, I was advised to go lighter weights, more reps. She WILL gain mass with this... and of course, maybe lifting lower only ONCE a week for the first month for her might not be a bad idea for now... just to be sure her knees are ready to push more weight.

In addition to SLDLs, I love Good Mornings at that squat rack to work my hams too because it was less stress on my knees because it was harder to LOCK them than it was when I was doing SLDLs. I think I was so worried I'd lock up, that I wasn't getting the most out of that move. Good Mornings are great for core, glutes, hams... so if she can't curl or extend -- that did wonders for me!

Lastly, I have to say that I discovered that using Yohimburn ES on my knees (AF store) before my workouts REALLY makes a huge difference. The blood flow is increased and I'm more limber and less prone to injury.

I hope some of this helps! Sorry it was so long, but it's SO FRUSTRATING to add injury to injury! I'm a teacher so I know what it's like to be on my feet all day too, so I really hope your wife and you come up with a great game plan! Kudos to you two for working together and being smart about it all!