Question On Squat Shoes?? My Pain?

[powerlifterjay]

Now i am not saying it is the cause. BUt i have un racked and reracked the same for the entire time i have squatted. I normally squat in a cross trainner. My last 3 lift i wore chucks no problem. But didnt stick with them cause i hurt my hip so bad at that meet, warmingup i didn tsquat for so long after the meet, when i sarted again i just wore cross trainners. Well everything healed i hit a 740 begining of last summer in cross traininers , no pain everything was back on track. Well didnt squat heavy again till after sept . I took time off squattin so my elbows and shoulders would be primed to bench. SO when i resuemd squttin i wore my cross trainners again. 2 workouts in to some heaveir squts and POW! Blue the air bubble out of my 125dollar shoes. So i had to squat in something cant use my Boink nikes those fuckers bounce me all over the place. So i was left with chuck taylors. Well By now i am squattin so freakin wide compared to the summer before they actually worked better. But though i was going heavy i waited till i came back to FL to go to a max in a suit. I noticed some pain in my knee the first workout back. I went 725lbs, and it felt like 225lbs. But walkin gout and reracking it felt like 725. No problem. Next week 750, next week 765lbs. The only time the straps came up was for 765. My suit ended a rise in weight for that day. Bt these attempts is when my pain came in. BUt here is my problem and question.

My knee hurts very bad under my knee cap. Not in the joint at all. Right below the joint. Now try to follow me here. I step up and take one step back to squat. I move my left foot over then right. When the squat is done, i in my wide stance step up first with my left foot. It goes up and in at the sam etime. Now at this point my right leg is tweaked a little side ways and is back , supporting most of the weight at his time. Could this be why my right knee hurts. Or could it be the shoes. Inotice a little bit of less pain when i squat with my toes pointed more forwrd then out. BUt since Jan i havent wore knee wraps one time and have handled over 660 a few times off the box below paralle. Should i wear wraps when i go heavy. Whats weird is the pain is nt here on light sets as much as heavier. But i want to build my leg stength. I do nto think it smuch worse but its not better either. I believe its the patella tendon. I could be wrong but i think thats what it is. Anyone experince this? This last fri was the first time in 3 weeks i squtted. Its still there. Today it fine itsu usaully while iam squattin and the next day. After that its ok till next time i squat.

 

[Cubanito17]

Jay honestly i don't think tha pain in the hip would be caused by the shoe. If it was the shoe that's causing pain in my view I would think it would hurt on the bottom of your foot, not the hip. About the knee wraps I feel if your gonna just wear them to go heavy then you should wear them all the time, it's like if your gonna wear a belt when you go heavy you should also train in the belt to get used to it. At least that's the way I feel about it. I havn't gotten to such heavy weight where i've had this problem so sorry I can't help much. I can just help with what I know bro.

 

[GRIMMER]

like wearing chucks. about knee wraps i wouldn't wear tham for the lightere weights but when you get heavy it can't hurt to throw them on even if they are looser than would be at a meet. It might save your knee.

 

[bigokie]

Sounds like the tendon is getting tweaked. Do you stretch your knee at all on off days? It sounds like your tendon is real tight. Is this with box squats or with normal squats? Mine kill me with normal squats but with box squats everything is okay and my knees feel better afterwards than before. I have an old knee injury from getting it hit in football and it is somewhat messed up. When I box squat I sit so far back on the box it doesn't hurt. It also sounds like when you rack the weight you might be getting it in a bad position. You might have to try to change the way you rack the weight and see if that helps. Sorry I couldn't be more help

 

[Screwball]

Similar situation...

I had the exact same knee pain as you described a few years back. I experienced the pain when I did very heavy ass-to-floor hack squats. It literally felt like my knee caps were going to fly off my knees at rock bottom. I haven't experienced the pain in many years. These are my suggestions:

- make sure your feet are aligned when setting up - many times you need a partner to make you aware of uneven foot placement

- Make sure your knees track directly over your feet - never out over the toes however

- Make sure your knees never buckle in - force those knees out hard to activate the hip & glute muscles - open the groin up

- Always squat in a solid soled shoe preferably with ankle support - "air is no damn good when lifting heavy"

- Proper warm-up & stretching - a couple of light sets to work the hams & calves may help

- Make sure when setting & re-racking the weight that your hips are up under the bar for stability - make a minimum of short, deliberate steps

- I know that many knee problems are caused by an imbalance in strength between the quads and hamstrings (sometimes even a weakness in the calves can contribute)

- If knee wraps help the pain when squatting heavy then wrap but only at the point where the pain begins

Thazzit! Hope you get it worked out.

- Screwball

 

[powerlifterjay]

Thanks guys. I am pretty convienceits the way i re rack the weight. One hitng you dont ever hear tips on is how to squat big weights very wide, without a monolift. JUst askin but can Chuck Vogelphol walk out and set up as wide as he does without a monolift? I hoep he can so i know i can keep going up in weight and do what i am doing. But even though i have side spotters its hard to get back up once i have set my feet so wide. I do have a solutin to this with new max weights, were gonna use the powerack and set the safety bars up like a rack height. Then i will set uip and i will have 2 guys pull the slides out squat and they slide back in. BUt with medium weight its gonna be a hastle. So we'll be working on it in prelude to the june meet.

 

[GR8SCOT]

not 100% sure about this but im throwing it in the ring and maybe offering another opinion/alternative.

I wonder with the switch between chucks and nike's if it has anything to do with ankle flexion and the angle of your feet to the floor. Id imagine that the nikes etc would have a more built up heal area to cushion your foot while running etc, where as the chucks are more flat and even thickness along the length of the sole.

So im wondering if that 1-4 degrees difference in the angle of your foot and toes is being magnified along the length of your legs to your hips and causing either a extra range of motion required for the same distance or perhaps a slightly different flexion (is there such a word ? heh)

as i said im not sure about this but in a sport where we talk about the groove and feel, slight changes can make a huge difference.

 

[Arioch]

The little bit of extra ankle flexion can increase the shearing force on the knee. One of the advantages of flat shoes is that in keeping the heel lower, it is easier to keep the shin vertical, or as close to it as some of us can get.

 

[Geno_O]

Powerlifterjay, I am not an expert on this topic. What I am going
to suggest is based on gut feeling.

I have been told that knee wraps are a crutch. I have also been
told that knee wraps will save the patella tendon. Two different
stories. Based on what you are saying about your patella, I am
going to go with opinion number two and say wrap your knees
and save the tendon.

I do not squat weights as heavy as you but I am in the 500s. I
wrap my knees after I pass 315 pounds. It gives me peace of
mind and keeps my knees from getting sore.

 

[powerlifterjay]

GR8scot, I was deep down thinking exactly what you said but never heard of that before , ever. But i thought maybe it could be a factor. Cause it started when i swtched shoes.

Arioch so does that make it better with a flat sole?

Geno i like wraps really i do. When i was squatting mid 600's i would wrap once i got over 315. When it got to 700ish i didnt wrap till after 405. Now last time i squatted a max i didnt wrap till i got over 585. Now i box with zero wraps and am mid 600;s i feel stronger at leqst mentally knowing i can squat alot with no wraps.

What were gonna do is make the power rack like a mono lift and see if i get better. If not the wraps will have to be used. Or hell i might use them loosely, caus ewere around 8 weeks from a full power meet so i will drop the box squats in the next week or 2 and it will be free squattin from here on out. SO we'll see what happens. I know wraps would make them feel better. BUt dam , just dont wanna use them alot.