As my squat has been inching back upto a reasonable weight the one area I've been concerned about is knee strength coming out of the hole. Are there any supplementary exercises I can do which will build it up in the way I do other stuff for back, hamstrings, etc? I should add I'm trying to avoid any equipment in lifting at all, no belt, no wrist or knee wraps, no pulling straps, just a little chalk
I've had knee issues ever since I tore my MCL at 17. Some days it bothers me, some days it doesn't. I don't know anything specific for knee problems as far as exercising goes, but putting an emphasis on stretching (both dynamic and static) has always helped me. There are a few yoga poses I do too that help it out but I have no idea what they are called.
out of the hole VMO activation plays an important part dumbell split squats or poliquin step ups are your best bets.
is that with a raised back foot (a la Bulgarian split squat) or stepping lunges, and is there any particular reason for dumbbells over a short fixed barbell?
that depends on what you mean by strengthening the knee, since it's a joint, not a muscle. some people swear by partials for gradually thickening tendons and ligaments, but partial squats (ie half or quarter squats) are not the best option for the knees due to the mechanical stress they cause on it. on the other hand, you can do lockouts (unracking and reracking the bar) or anderson squats (squatting from the bottom up from the safety pins), which don't require that you hold the position at the bottom. for lockouts i'd suggest front squat lockouts over back squat lockouts, since you'll also hit the mid-back and abs pretty hard, and you can still go well over your back squat max (i can do about 30kg more), although back squat lockouts still let you go a lot heavier (i've unracked 200, but it was extremely uncomfortable). of course you always need to be careful that you don't put the knee into any precarious positions while you do them, but unless you try a super ATG anderson squat and can't set-up properly that shouldn't happen. for the VMO, you can use the leg extension machine at the end of the range of motion to work it. i think paul carter's written about it, as he's used it to rehab his knee after injuring it several times. that plus some paused squats (and/or maybe some full cleans) should see you pretty much exploding out of the hole on your regular squats. if you just mean general strength out of the hole, it's a mix of willpower, determination, stubbornness and paused squats. lots of paused squats (but andersons work too, in a pinch)
That's kinda what I thought. I'm still not getting anywhere near a comfortable rack position for Front Squat, fairly sure my arms are dropping a bit on anything 50kg + and not because that's a heavy weight. I could probably do 20+ reps with it in back squat and bearly break into a sweat. I tried these concentric squats when getting back into lifting and bombed on 70kg, the problem seemed to be firstly setup and secondly knee stability. I found I was overcompensating with my back which is an issue generally when doing the back squat. If I had a coach I know what they would be telling me on heavier reps. Isn't that TKD related though? Quite different. When I was doing TKD it seemed 1 in 2 black belts had some knee issues, not a great advert tbh
Och. A kettle of Fish knee stuff....A mate of mine swears by Box Squats for his dodgy 'stupid gym stuff' knees. With strict form. To strengthen zee knees. When he nagged me to have a go. They felt pretty good. You must keep your legs spread wide though. And keep your shins completely vertical. Push through the heels and centre foot as per normal. So there's no 'travel' of your centre of mass beyond your centre of foot. Also look into Static Contractions and Short-Range Presses. On the Leg Press (a good heavy duty 45 degree one). You'll be able to handle a lot more weight than you would if you did a Squat Rack walkout (these can be useful too). Rack walkouts are as stated good too. Particularly with a Static Hold/ Contraction - Squat 10% bend or so in the legs and hold and then rack it. Finally the Leg Extension. Usually accursed for it's knee impingement potential...As someone said...Top of the movement (strongest range of motion) may help. Also negatives on all of the stated (Squats - useful to have someone help you as it's a right pain just lowering and then re-racking), Leg Press (keep the locks on and do short-range motion) etc. Did someone say 'Anderson' Squats - By that do you mean short-range squats in the powerack? Starting at a level that's 30 to 20% percent down - to lockout. Welcome Sister to the wrapless, strapless and beltless world of real lifting. Remember to keep that intra-abdominal pressure sucked in tight! Good Luck
i found that andersons only gave me problem with knee stability on set-up if i started them too low. doing them around parallel or just a bit below that should do. for front squats, is it your arms or your mid-back that's failing?. if your arms, you can try changing your grip a bit. you can do cross-arm or loop something around the bar and pull on that (thibaudeau shows it on his t-nation video on front squats using straps). still, for lockouts it shouldn't be a problem since the bar will fall right back onto the rack if you fail them (as it's just unracking and reracking the bar with a crapton of weight on it, no walkout or anything)
warm up a lot, dynamic stretches followed by static 10 sec holds for quads, hamstrings, glutes etc, use band resisted TKEs for set of 20 before you even squat to finish the warm up wear knee sleeves whilst squatting to keep the knees warm they dont assist the lift as such they heklp keep the joint warm and stable After squatting do lunges or split squats (ie do a single leg dominant exercise) for sets of 10, 2 or 3 sets Oh and someone mentioned box squats, they help the knee because they are a posterior chain movement which unloads the knees and quads, unless you are lifting geared they wont really help your squat and should not replace them in your programme the only thing which will build strength and confidence coming out of the hole is actually squatting, nothing else really helps. What will help is a few sets pause squats after your main squat session, reduced the load to about 65% of your max and do sets of 5 pausing for a few seconds in the hole. add weight each week
split squats help build stability around the knee as well as being a pretty decent accessory movement. I’d do them with a barbell rather than DBs as it forces you to stay more upright, thus less risk on the hip flexor etc. for coming out the whole and stability out the hole paused squats are fantastic. on top of that remember not to neglect the calves, they help stabilise the knee, calf raises may not be cool or sexy but big calves and healthy knees are.
Agreed with the split squats with BB instead of DB. I find the BB helps you stay back on the movement to avoid your knee going too far ahead of your toes.
haha i'm pretty bad for it, i just throw it in my warm up on upperbody days, they recover super quick and i'm usually pretty drained on squat/dead days too machines that are mocked are the donkey calf raise and 'bad girl' both are pretty useful tools IMO.
I couldn't help noticing this post (even though I'm a bit wrecked from this evenings activities). This guy is stacked! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjI0lnYhewo"]knee rehabilitation exercises with Thad - YouTube[/ame]
whilst not as stacked buddy morris has been suggesting doing this stuff for years, here is part 1 of a 7 part interview he did showing progressions for tke, when to do them, how many reps and sets, why they are useful for female and older athletes etc [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkxt6r1Q8ls"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkxt6r1Q8ls[/ame]
