I try to squat to parallel however my knees are too weak. If I lighten the weight, there isn't enought stress on my hams, quads, and glutes. I've tried the smith machine however it just makes my knees worse because I'm not strengthening them. What can i do to strength the ligaments around the knees? How can I build muscle around the knees? I have such a good upper leg however my knees suck! HELP!
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Knee pain and weak knees What can I do?
- Thread starter feather319
- Start date
You might want to look into static exercises. Something that might benifit you is a lot of stetching as well.
Here are some examples:
Sit on your knees with a little gap in between your legs and try to have your butt touch the floor. Try to get a good stretch in there and remember to come out of it nice and easy. As you progress you could space the gap farther apart and lay on your back.
If you're familiar with martial arts, try to hold a fairly high horse stance for atleast 10-15 min or more. A way to measure the distance between your feet is to stand with your feet together and walk out two of your feet sizes. Squat down to a big angle, say 100 degrees or more and hold it. This benifits your tendons in a way that reduces the grinding movement of just going up and down, if I'm not mistaken. Good luck and take it easy.
Here are some examples:
Sit on your knees with a little gap in between your legs and try to have your butt touch the floor. Try to get a good stretch in there and remember to come out of it nice and easy. As you progress you could space the gap farther apart and lay on your back.
If you're familiar with martial arts, try to hold a fairly high horse stance for atleast 10-15 min or more. A way to measure the distance between your feet is to stand with your feet together and walk out two of your feet sizes. Squat down to a big angle, say 100 degrees or more and hold it. This benifits your tendons in a way that reduces the grinding movement of just going up and down, if I'm not mistaken. Good luck and take it easy.
actually that sitting on your knee stretch stretches the ligaments, when a ligament is stretched beyond .5% of its length it begins to tear.
its funny you ask this because I have the same problem, 50% of my workout drive is to strengthen my knees, this is what i've learned so far...
never do anything but barbell style squats... to hell with the smith machine and leg press, quad extension machines can hurt weak knees as well. only do barbell squats but be sure to have someone show you. squats can make or break your knees, doing them wrong will destroy an already weakend knee, but doing them right will make your knees strong.
in repsonce to this i do kettlebell front squats. here is how you learn to squat the right way. walk up to a wall, touch your toes to it. now try to squat all the way down to the ground without falling backwards. you'll have to try to "sit back" as opposed to down and your knees cant go anywhere.
the second favorite is dumbell lunges. do a set of 5 reps for each leg. strengthening the quad muscle will help hold the knees in place better.
third, hold ur balance against a wall, lift one leg up and on the other leg slowly lower yourself down. try to find the spot where your knee feels weak, now hold that position and tighten your entire body. feel all the tension you have created in your body and try to send it to that weak spot in the knee. feel your knee because more tense and "plug up" that weak link in the knee. do this 3 times a day thruought the day with both legs.
its funny you ask this because I have the same problem, 50% of my workout drive is to strengthen my knees, this is what i've learned so far...
never do anything but barbell style squats... to hell with the smith machine and leg press, quad extension machines can hurt weak knees as well. only do barbell squats but be sure to have someone show you. squats can make or break your knees, doing them wrong will destroy an already weakend knee, but doing them right will make your knees strong.
in repsonce to this i do kettlebell front squats. here is how you learn to squat the right way. walk up to a wall, touch your toes to it. now try to squat all the way down to the ground without falling backwards. you'll have to try to "sit back" as opposed to down and your knees cant go anywhere.
the second favorite is dumbell lunges. do a set of 5 reps for each leg. strengthening the quad muscle will help hold the knees in place better.
third, hold ur balance against a wall, lift one leg up and on the other leg slowly lower yourself down. try to find the spot where your knee feels weak, now hold that position and tighten your entire body. feel all the tension you have created in your body and try to send it to that weak spot in the knee. feel your knee because more tense and "plug up" that weak link in the knee. do this 3 times a day thruought the day with both legs.
See I have bad knees to but I need help in the gym jes showing me the way and the proper way of doing it Cuz I know if I try it myself I think i'll screw up my knees even more. The thing with asking people in the gym they'll either get mad cuz yr interupting there workout or they don't know the proper way and a trainer I don't need 5 lessons or anything and now and day trainers are horrible I saw this add that said get your personal trainers license in 2 weeks fr get that I don't want that person teach n me I'm srewed on get n my thighs toned n nice
yea, i'll probably get bitched at for saying this but very few personal trainers know anything.
try plugging up the tension, that works for me. i have weak knees as well and know your worries. I actually had a knee dislocate on me and my leg bent the wrong way, so I know what I'm up against. plugging up the tension works. From what I read the lockouts work as well.
Old school lifters understood that strengthening the connective tissues allowed them to lift heavier. They would perform "lockouts" with very heavy weights to toughen the tissues. Go up to a weight rack and load up a weight you can't squat. Grab the barbell with your hands (have the weight loaded just a little below your hands grip when your hands are at your side) and hold the weight. Tighten your butt muscles (ideally you want to tighten your hold body, but the butt muscles is a start). Hold the weight with your legs locked and tight for 5 seconds. Do this twice a day 5 days a week. Try to visualize the tension building up in the knee.
try plugging up the tension, that works for me. i have weak knees as well and know your worries. I actually had a knee dislocate on me and my leg bent the wrong way, so I know what I'm up against. plugging up the tension works. From what I read the lockouts work as well.
Old school lifters understood that strengthening the connective tissues allowed them to lift heavier. They would perform "lockouts" with very heavy weights to toughen the tissues. Go up to a weight rack and load up a weight you can't squat. Grab the barbell with your hands (have the weight loaded just a little below your hands grip when your hands are at your side) and hold the weight. Tighten your butt muscles (ideally you want to tighten your hold body, but the butt muscles is a start). Hold the weight with your legs locked and tight for 5 seconds. Do this twice a day 5 days a week. Try to visualize the tension building up in the knee.
Ya I'm Srewed my knee gave out on me when I was On the stairmaster and I fell This jes sucks I'm only 20 I've been taking glucosamine and so far I don't notice a difference I think I'm jes gonna go to and Orthapedic doctor the regular doctors didn't help for nothing. I have a question though should I still go work out today, today is the day to work out my legs too. I'm so confused yesterday I tried jes to suck it up and that didn't work Should I jes continue to suck it up I don't want my knees to get even worse.