Knee pains

[GSDog]

I'm getting some bad knee pains when I fully extend my knees when standing up. I've been doing SL 5X5 for about 3 weeks now and I made sure my squat form was OK before adding weight. The pain started roughly a week ago and It's got worse since my workout yesterday.
I think I was having programs with my knees before I even started SL 5X5 so it might not be caused by squats. Sometimes when I cycled up a steep hill or tried running up stairs I would get a sharp pain in my knees.
Does anyone know what it could be? The pain is in both knees and is especially painful when I fully extend them.

I'm also getting pains in my hips. I think I'll have to stop squatting for a while until I find out what's causing this. Even doing bodyweight squats hurt today.

[nomercy89]

Knee injuries are unpleasant and risky. You can take a look at bulletproof knees. Mehdi recommends it. Also for mobility, see if you can get a copy of M2 Magnificent Mobility, it's got some good routines there. If the knee pain is that bad, your best bet is a professional just to avoid any further complications if there are any in the first place. Also, check your squat form again and make sure knees outwards and not in front of the toes.

Did you have any previous knee injuries from sports or from any past accidents?

[GSDog]

Knee injuries are unpleasant and risky. You can take a look at bulletproof knees. Mehdi recommends it. Also for mobility, see if you can get a copy of M2 Magnificent Mobility, it's got some good routines there. If the knee pain is that bad, your best bet is a professional just to avoid any further complications if there are any in the first place. Also, check your squat form again and make sure knees outwards and not in front of the toes.

Did you have any previous knee injuries from sports or from any past accidents?

Thanks for the reply.

I think I'm going to avoid squatting for a week and see if it's any better. In the mean time I'll keep on doing mobility exercises and practice doing bodyweight squats. My knees do go outwards but they also go infront of my toes, I think it's to do with my build as I have quite long legs at 6'1 and find it impossible to keep my knees behind my toes.

I don't have any previous knee injuries or past accidents. It's strange that it's effected both knees. I'm guessing it's either poor squat form or the fact that both of my knees are weak because I am recovering from an illness that I had for 6 years which made me really weak.

[saukkis]

How deep do you go? I too get knee-pain when I don't go beyond parallel.

[eLvarouza]

If you worry about keeping your knees behind your toes your form will probably be fucked up. Your knees need to be shoved outward as much as possible and you need to drop your hips down below parallel while keeping your knees out. If you do this and drive your hips up out of the bottom it's pretty hard to have poor form on the squat.

[l1n3n01z]

I have problematic knees and get pain from time to time. I've stopped doing all the sideways squats which are part of Mehdi's hip mobility program, as they were really exacerbating the problem. So watch out with that. If your knees feel looser after hip mobility, make sure to get rid of those exercises that cause that!

Also, I thought I was doing squats with good form as I was pushing my knees out to the sides. However, I discovered today, that my hams were not doing much of anything at all. The hams have to be working so that your knees stay in balance! To make sure that you're using your hams, curl your toes up a bit. When I was lifting, most of the weight was on my toes, though I didn't realize that. It makes the squat more quad dominant and worse for your knees.

Best of luck!

[tenkev]

Make sure you do foam rolling.

I had some knee problems and what I found the problem was was that I had too strong quads compared to my hamstrings. Do some stiff-legged deadlifts and leg curls and gluteham raises and see if that helps. It did for me.

[GSDog]

Thanks for the help everyone. My knees feel better now so I'm going to start squatting again on Wednesday.

How deep do you go? I too get knee-pain when I don't go beyond parallel.

I always make sure I do go below parallel so I don't think that's the problem. Thanks anyway!

If you worry about keeping your knees behind your toes your form will probably be fucked up. Your knees need to be shoved outward as much as possible and you need to drop your hips down below parallel while keeping your knees out. If you do this and drive your hips up out of the bottom it's pretty hard to have poor form on the squat.

That's what I thought but I often get people telling me the oposite to that. I know that my knees don't go forward when they are infront of my toes so I don't see it as a problem.
The problem I have with the squat now is that my groin area is painful when I try to shove my knees out, it feels really tight.

I have problematic knees and get pain from time to time. I've stopped doing all the sideways squats which are part of Mehdi's hip mobility program, as they were really exacerbating the problem. So watch out with that. If your knees feel looser after hip mobility, make sure to get rid of those exercises that cause that!

Also, I thought I was doing squats with good form as I was pushing my knees out to the sides. However, I discovered today, that my hams were not doing much of anything at all. The hams have to be working so that your knees stay in balance! To make sure that you're using your hams, curl your toes up a bit. When I was lifting, most of the weight was on my toes, though I didn't realize that. It makes the squat more quad dominant and worse for your knees.

Best of luck!

Yeah I haven't been doing those sideways squats because I thought they might cause my knee pains. I will definitely curl my toes next time, thanks for the tip.

Make sure you do foam rolling.

I had some knee problems and what I found the problem was was that I had too strong quads compared to my hamstrings. Do some stiff-legged deadlifts and leg curls and gluteham raises and see if that helps. It did for me.

Thanks for that, I'll give them a try.