Quad Size With Bad Knees????

[skippa]

Hey guys. I have pretty bad knees from years of sport activity when I was younger. It prevents me from Squatting without pain and buckling knees, which can be dangerous to say the least. I have tried to compensate by doing Leg Press, which can hurt a bit, but not near as much as squatting. Based on all this, my Quad size is SERIOUSLY lacking compared to my other muscles. I have pretty big Calves, so I have to wear longer shorts to hide my quad size. I swear, my Claves are ALMOST the same size as my Quads. I NEED HELP GUYS. Any ideas or routines I can do? Any foot postions while squatting to relieve the knee strain or something like that? Maybe do squats with less weight and higher reps? I'm willing to try ANYTHING. Any ideas? Thanks guys.

 

[Assertive Guy]

Hey guys. I have pretty bad knees from years of sport activity when I was younger. It prevents me from Squatting without pain and buckling knees, which can be dangerous to say the least. I have tried to compensate by doing Leg Press, which can hurt a bit, but not near as much as squatting. Based on all this, my Quad size is SERIOUSLY lacking compared to my other muscles. I have pretty big Calves, so I have to wear longer shorts to hide my quad size. I swear, my Claves are ALMOST the same size as my Quads. I NEED HELP GUYS. Any ideas or routines I can do? Any foot postions while squatting to relieve the knee strain or something like that? Maybe do squats with less weight and higher reps? I'm willing to try ANYTHING. Any ideas? Thanks guys.

How about sprints and stairs work? I'll have a think on this... for now, why not stick with the shorts and work the calves even bigger to compensate?

Assertive Guy

 

[eat big]

Try a wider stance on squats with your feet angled outwards. Go light and see how that feels.

 

[Extra_Strong]

1st off what is exactly wrong with your knees? do you know or they just hurt?

are you juice free?

i have had an acl surgery on my left knee that went bad.
and now my right is starting to bother me.

would help to know exactly the problem with you knees.

 

[SgtSlaughter]

I'm in the same boat now

No more ATF squats for me, it sucks

Sprint/Stair work can build some serious mass.

 

[view]

frequent sub-maximal leg bouts is something you will undoubtably need (sounds like hst lol).

i would continue to squat but start with however much weight doesn't hurt. i would do a few weeks (maybe months too) in the 15 rep range and see how that feels. its supposed to promote connective tissue growth, joint health, etc.

 

[Quadsweeps Sister]

You can always continue to work the hammy's and such to keep some mass on the 'other side' as well...

Good mornings, pull-thrus, glute/ham. Good hamstrings are always nice too.

 

[Extra_Strong]

i would really like to know the prob. but i would say running was out.

Quadsweep's Sister has a good point

 

[bignate73]

if leg presses hurt...i'd say that sprints are probably going to hurt more. depends if your meniscus is bad, ACL etc. sprints are proebably a bad idea in that they are ballistic and require way more dynamic stabilization than a leg press. impact + instability= injury. especially if your legs buckle while squatting.

 

[Assertive Guy]

You can always continue to work the hammy's and such to keep some mass on the 'other side' as well...

Good mornings, pull-thrus, glute/ham. Good hamstrings are always nice too.

Yeah, and also the inner/outter thigh can be worked with cable machines etc, which shouldn't aggrevate the knee.

 

[skippa]

Ok, I have no idea what Stair work means. You mean just go up and down stairs? Plz forgive my ignorance, but can you explain what you mean by this? Sprints? You mean running fast? That's gonna build Thigh Mass?

No, I don't know EXACTLY what is wrong with my knees. I was a catcher in baseball for years, and a Karate guy if that helps? They kinda pop if I do a squat wrong, then the real pain starts.

I do work the Hammstrings actually. My leg routine now is Leg press, 4 sets with enough weight that I can do 6-8reps. Leg press doesn't really hurt, but can if I do more then 4 sets. Sometimes hurts in the 4th set, but I just blast through it anyway. I then do Leg extensions which is pain free, I do 4 sets for 6-8 reps. I then do Leg Curls 4 sets again 6-8 reps. I then move onto Calves. What you think of that routine? Not enough?

 

[skippa]

Bump

 

[Extra_Strong]

i would suggest going having your legs scoped i bet you just need some things smoothed out and then it will be fine. you can get a scope and be back to working legs in about 3weeks.

also U should drop the leg extensions. they are just bad and they server no real purpose.

 

[Mrs.Extra_strong]

i would suggest going having your legs scoped i bet you just need some things smoothed out and then it will be fine. you can get a scope and be back to working legs in about 3weeks.

also U should drop the leg extensions. they are just bad and they server no real purpose.

u mean knees

 

[stevius]

They kinda pop if I do a squat wrong, then the real pain starts.

Duh, stop squatting 'wrong'?

Leg press doesn't really hurt, but can if I do more then 4 sets. Sometimes hurts in the 4th set, but I just blast through it anyway.

You just 'blast through it anyway'. I'll save the sarcasm and just plain tell you to STOP DOING THAT!

Also leg extensions and leg curls are shit. DL's, SLDL's, GM's, GHR's....

 

[Assertive Guy]

Duh, stop squatting 'wrong'?



You just 'blast through it anyway'. I'll save the sarcasm and just plain tell you to STOP DOING THAT!

Also leg extensions and leg curls are shit. DL's, SLDL's, GM's, GHR's....

You only get one pair of legs.

 

[overcome73]

I feel the need to make a point. It is agreed that, yes, deadlift and squats are swesome mass building exercises. No one is arguing this. But what this thread is about is someone that has knee trouble and is restricted to what he can do. He is looking for OTHER ways to accomplish this, considering his restrictions. Obviously if he planned to "just blast through it" he would not have asked for advice.

My opinion would be to see if you can pre-exhaust the legs through leg presses or extensions (extensions suck on the knees though) and then try some light high rep squats. If the muscles are already fatigued from the earlier things, you may be able to stimulate some growth with much lighter squats.

 

[skippa]

I feel the need to make a point. It is agreed that, yes, deadlift and squats are swesome mass building exercises. No one is arguing this. But what this thread is about is someone that has knee trouble and is restricted to what he can do. He is looking for OTHER ways to accomplish this, considering his restrictions. Obviously if he planned to "just blast through it" he would not have asked for advice.

My opinion would be to see if you can pre-exhaust the legs through leg presses or extensions (extensions suck on the knees though) and then try some light high rep squats. If the muscles are already fatigued from the earlier things, you may be able to stimulate some growth with much lighter squats.

Thanks bro. I appreciate the info. That's what I've been doing the past few weeks, and seems to be working well. When I said my knees pop when I do a squat wrong, I didn't mean I was squating in bad form. Just meant that every once in a while the knee pops a lil bit. Not sure why Leg extensions don't hurt my knees, but I can stop them if they are bad. Thanks for the info....

 

[gjohnson5]

Try this
One thing I found helpful was stationary bike. The ones with the pedals in front of the seat. You adjust the seat forward so your legs never fully extend and you're somewhat scrunched in the bike. Then add resistance to the pedals. I've gooten good legs workouts from doing stationary bike with resistance on the pedals for 30 minutes or so