No More Squats, etc., for Me

[Vintage VFer]

Originally Posted by Joni O

"After 1.5 years of steady Firming, along with an occasional Cathe and Jessica Smith, I'm giving up lower body work that I know is irritating my knees. I know it, I admit it, I have to stop. I've been exercising for years and years, and have really been hitting it hard and consistently for the last 1.5 years. I first aggravated my knees many years ago when The Step came on the scene..."

Joni, I'm sorry you are hurting!

I may have missed it, but have you been to a physician or had X-rays/MRI and gotten a diagnosis of your knee issues? I only ask because I have had knee issues and had to stop squats for a while and then got back to them later on. I have a torn meniscus and some arthritis. I ice my knees for ten minutes after almost every workout. Whether they bother me or not.

I highly recommend Margaret Richard's Getting Better. Her exercises are some of the ones recommended by physical therapists. I've worked up to doing the quad and outer thigh work with 5lb leg weights (placed above the knee). She has kneeling hamstring exercises, but I do them standing up.

I like this website, too:

https://thecorematrix.wordpress.com/...bout-the-knee/

[monterey vidiot]

Strong Knees DVD!

I recently had 6 weeks of physical therapy for advanced knee arthritis w/ torn meniscus. I was very surprised that it included squats on the Bosu and Bulgarian split squats. Also lots of resistance loop work.

[little bird]

Sounds like you aggravated joints by overuse. Probably can scale back and do rehab exercises and will be okay.

[Ricka]

I am sorry to hear about your pain.

I do not even own this video, nor have tried this yet, but I'd love to get this one. I am wondering if this option will be helpful for you. FitPrime Floor Burn.

[donnamp]

Joni -

This is very timely! I am seriously considering giving up squats and deadlifts forever. Both of those moves seem to irritate/aggravate my lower back and hip. I was hesitant to give them up b/c they are "functional" (sitting down, standing up, picking something up off the floor, etc.) but then I thought about it and realized I don't stand up and sit down 20 times in succession...so maybe I don't really need to do those moves if they aggravate me and can just build strength other ways.

I second everyone's recommendations for Pilates, Margaret Richard, etc. I don't know if anyone has mentioned Classical Stretch/Essentrics but that would be another good choice - assuming plies don't both you. I may also play around a bit w/ some yoga.

I hope you feel better soon - maybe it is a matter of cutting back? Maybe every other day or every 3rd day for those moves?

Cheri - indoor walking workouts are so different from outdoor "real life" walking. I have found I am able to handle them b/c I don't walk in place any more - I move around while they walk in place. It has made a big difference and is good b/c I can't always get outside to walk and the treadmill has a whole other set of issues for me. (b/c that isn't a natural movement either it tends to bother my back and hips)

Donna

[cherimac]

Thanks for the tip, Donna!

[Aunt Famous]

My own personal pain pinball bounces off the bumpers of degenerative spinal issues, wonky knees, and a creaky left foot (started by a stress fracture 15 years ago from my own high impact activities).

Since the foot has been flaring up, I decided to do something entirely different this week: boxing and Pilates. Yes, yes I know it's only Wednesday, but almost nothing hurts. (What? WHAT?)

For lower body exercises, I like Winsor Buns & Thighs, the floor work in Supermodel Butt & Thighs and Buns of Steel, the band work in Jessica Smith's 10MS Belly Butt & Thigh Blasters, and the band work in BBL.

I have recently acquired a Pilates magic circle, and I have enjoyed using it for lower body exercises. Pilates Fix's You Tube channel has a number of short, free magic circle workouts.

While barre seems great in theory to me, it hurts my knees.

And I find that if I don't change my shoes frequently (at least every 6 months), pain ensues.

Good luck!

AF

Check out my blog at www.typeALC.com

[Sissy B]

Aunt Famous - What boxing workouts are you doing?

[Joni O]

Again - thanks so much for the suggestions. I have a monthly massage, and my therapist has told me for the past 5 months that my outer quad is extremely tight on the leg with the sore knee. She suggested stretching, foam rolling, changing walking shoes and building up my inner thighs. None of that has really helped and an X-Ray showed no arthritis. It stiffens up at night and is painful to straighten in the morning. Odd. It's usually not bad the rest of the time unless I really aggravate it.

Miranda said in a CS that it's not necessarily the knee that's a problem, but that the muscles connected to the knee are out of whack. Makes sense. Have I done that or any CS since? Of course not - I can't give up a Firm day. That needs to change.

Turns out I have Winsor Buns and Thighs and also had good results with bands years ago, so I'll try those again. I also have several Essentrics and CS seasons (buried on the shelf). I have tried cutting back on squats, etc., and it has helped, but then I do something to irritate it again.

But enough about me. Thanks again for all your concerns and suggestions.

[Mopsy]

I was going to ask about physical therapy, too. I remember a therapist saying that a lot of joint pain (if not most) can be due to muscle imbalance. The PT can do simple tests to find out if that's the case, and then give you some really basic exercises. The PT would probably love to work with you since you actually want to exercise My PT was great to work with because he helped me develop a strength training program using both the PT exercises for rehab, and "regular" exercises for overall training.