Topic: Knee Pain

[Andy Dick]

Thanks Matt.  I will look these over.  I will see what I can do to modify my squatting.  I was always under the impression that my squat was so much higher because my technique was not perfect so it was holding my lifts back.  I believed this to be a mechanism of having no coach so I always assumed my numbers could be higher if I perfected my technique.

My next plan on programming is I have 1 more week on the program I have been doing.  Once this week is complete I will take another week completely off.  Then I plan on starting 3 days a week again but begin experimenting with full versions of the oly lift to see if there is much change.

[Andy Dick]

Matt I have a question for you.  Earlier you said to only go 10% over my clean and snatch on squats.  Would you say not to go 10% over on projected weight for reps on C&J (projected 75% for sets of 3 for this first cycle) or on max C&J.  I am going to go to sets of 10 squats again when I start my next cycle for 3-4 weeks.  If I went off of my projected load for C&J which is about 75% that means my squat would be about 185 lbs.  If I went off of max C&J it would be 210.  Both would be very hard for me to keep the weight low as 225 is a normal warm-up set for me.  What are your thoughts.  If I went 75% on my max squat it would be about 280 which was my original plan.

Now on week 2 this will chance since I will not start pushing my weights on the olympic lifts again so I may not stay at 75%.

[Andy Dick]

Well I have resolved after much thought and looking at Matt's articles to get the MRI done.  I want to see whats going on with my knee then decide where to go from there.

I have not decided on surgery yet I will wait until I see what it says.  But it seems like I don't have much of an option. 

It seems like my options are 1. quit lifting 2. I keep pushing through this (have had pain for well over a year I have lost track of the time) that I may encounter arthritis in the knee in a few years depending if it is indeed bad or 3. I get it cleaned out if its needed and encounter arthritis in 10-20 years.

I would say there has be definitely be something wrong with my knee to still be suffering from it.

[Arturo Gómez]

No. You have a third option: rest for a month, and so begin with only deep squat, with very light weight.
Adding 5 kgs per training.
When you are making deep squat with your real kilos (or more) you may begin with weightlifting. Free of pain.
You may not like of this. But the option exists.

[Matt Rupiper]

Andy,

I would echo what arturo said regarding a rest period.  That will never hurt anything. 

As far as the squat percentage goes, your choice.  If your warm-up is 100kg, then a 95kg max squat or less for a period of time won't hurt.  It may allow you to work on depth and bouncing out of the hole.  Another option is to throw out the back squat.  Use overhead and frong squats.  That also forces your weight to drop.  Your comp lifts can also get more focus.  Your leg strength is not holding you back based on your squat numbers.  Your comp lift numbers are far from your squats. 

In the end, if squats are painful, cut them down or out. 

And what arturo said....

[Andy Dick]

I am giving it a month.  I am going to train slowly increasing oly lifts and light squats and see how it feels.  If I am still having problems I am going to take a month off and see what happens before getting the MRI.  At least then I can say I exhausted all options.  Also knowing the ortho I would go to he would eliminate all options before resorting to surgery so we would probably suggest the same thing.  He is not a surgery happy guy unless he thinks it will make a difference, is needed or would help.

[Arturo Gómez]

Humanity have great paradoxes: you see as posible no more olimpic lifts in the life. But you can not pass only a month without them.

[Austin]

I believe I have the exact same problem. I would post a video if i could.
Would love to hear some advice.     

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