Hi all,
I’ve been working out for about 4 years now. I’ve never had an injury. About a year ago I bought a weights rack for home use to save money spent at the gym. This was all going well and I was making gains, until recently.
Recently, I started an 8 week bulking phase. Basically, this meant eating 5 meals a day (as much as I could eat) and the following weekly program.
Monday: Bench press, chins, shoulder press, rows
Wednesday: Squats, deadlifts, calve raises, crunches
Friday: Close grip bench press, arm curls, wrist curls
I’ve been doing a variation of this program for the last year without problems. I’m not new to squats and deadlifts and I do try to keep good technique. I’ve worked my way with the weight to set of 10x100kg squats and 10x120kg deadlifts. Over the last 8 weeks, I probably gained 7 kilos (some of it’s fat but I am in a bulking phase). This took me to my heaviest weight ever of around 87 kg.
I should also mention I’ve been skimping on my warm up lately, which I know is not good.
Recently I noticed that my knees were getting sore. My knees do not hurt during or after my workouts. I first noticed it when sitting down. I work a desk job and after sitting in my chair for a while, I noticed my knees seemed to ache slightly. It’s not a sharp or severe pain. It’s more like a general, light ache that I can’t quite seem to pinpoint. Sometimes it’s in the tops off my knees, other times the sides. The pain seems to be getting progressively worse.
So now I’ve stopped all lower body workouts for the last 3 weeks to see if there’s been any change. I’ve noticed a slight, but not significant improvement. My knees still hurt when sitting for long periods. I’m pretty sure it’s squats that are causing the trouble from what I’ve read. I’m always worried that this program is
So now my questions are:
- Has anyone else had similar a expereience and what did you do about it?
- Could the rapid weight gain be causing the pain?
- What was the likely cause of this injury?
- Is their something in my technique I should be looking at?
- What can I do to recover as quick as possible, exercizes, stretches, vitamins etc?
- How can I prevent it returning when I get back into training legs?
I’ve made no other changes in my life that would account for the pain.
Thanks for any advice you guys can offer,
Paul