Squat horrors

zanyzana

I'm a bit bamboozled! Before I went on holidays, my trainer and I thought that my squats were coming along famously. I had good technique, well, for someone with crappy knees, and I was increasing my weights pretty much consistently, 2.5kg a session. When I got back, I kept my weight up where it had been and it seemed ok. I upped it again, maybe twice, then I filmed myself as I felt my form was a bit off, and since then, my squats have gone to pot!

I had my PT session today, told my trainer about my abysmal effort yesterday and she made me squat for her. It was sh1t! I've lost my squat! My knees really hurt, she made me do bodyweight squats and go sloooowwwwwwww. Ow! Anyway, I think I will just do bodyweight squats for a while, until my squat mojo returns, or builds back up. It's really frustrating and I can't work out what the heck has happened!

Meanwhile, I spotted guns when I had my shower, so obviously something is working. And it was good timing to find a positive! I'm just a bit frustrated with my loss of form. It's most peculiar!

lwoodroff

here to empathise not with useful advice.
before my first deload my squats got up to 57.5kg.
since then anything over 40-50kg is SO.HARD. and just generally grrr.
so my only advice is listen to your trainer, focus on form, and build them back up - but they will improve faster than originally, hopefully!

bumblebums

Does PT in your post refer to "personal trainer" or "physiotherapist"?

Can you post a few videos of your squats, preferably one that shows them from the back (camera no lower than about hip level) and from the side with your feet and head in frame? There are a couple of things that could be going wrong here.

There are two aspects to knee health. The first is to eliminate lateral movement completely. That is not negotiable--your knee is designed to move as a hinge, so if your leg needs to rotate externally or internally, your hips should be rotating, never your knees. Lateral movement is how ACLs and menisci get torn. The second is to keep the knee over the ankle, or at least over the foot, to the extent possible. This one is negotiable, and I could go on for another 20 paragraphs writing about this but I'll not say much more than this: my knees are happiest in slight not-quite-locked position when my legs are straight, or at about 90 degrees, or fully bent with heels at butt. It is impossible to do a parallel or below-parallel squat with your knees bent to only 90 degrees. You will not necessarily get hurt at a bigger angle, but your knees will be aggravated if you allow them to slide forward in the bottom position of the squat.

Your PT (either kind) will probably have opinions on the second part of what I said, and there will be people who will disagree, some very knowledgeable about squats.

lwoodroff

BB as she then references 'trainer' I think it's Personal Trainer who I'm sure could wield a camera, eh Zana, eh, eh?

bumblebums

Haha--ok, I just re-read what I wrote and almost fried my brain trying to understand how "you will not necessarily get hurt at a bigger ankle." (Since fixed).

zanyzana

Thanks for your replies and thoughts. I'll try to set up my camera on Tuesday when I squat again. And PT = personal trainer - she's a Crossfit trainer, so is used to squats and lifts etc, however not long trained but keen and really focuses on form.

One thing I want to add, now that I've just woken up, is that my hips really hurt every morning. My lower back also has a dull ache. But each hip hurts like buggery! Dunno if that's a term used in other countries, but it's how I would describe it! I'm pretty sure it's where the ITB band joins the hip (although anatomy isn't my thing, so not 100% sure I have it right!). I will try foam rolling over the weekend. The chiro suggested I had bursitis. I didn't have the hip issues before I started all the lifting, so it's definitely related. And it left when I was on holidays. Ie no squatting.

I kinda feel like dumping and running! Or quitting the squats entirely and just focusing on the upper body strength things. Would there be substitutes for squats in developing full body strength? I'm not even sure what muscles they use, other than all of them! Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm sick of hurting before, during and after squatting!

bumblebums

Thanks for your replies and thoughts. I'll try to set up my camera on Tuesday when I squat again. And PT = personal trainer - she's a Crossfit trainer, so is used to squats and lifts etc, however not long trained but keen and really focuses on form.

One thing I want to add, now that I've just woken up, is that my hips really hurt every morning. My lower back also has a dull ache. But each hip hurts like buggery! Dunno if that's a term used in other countries, but it's how I would describe it! I'm pretty sure it's where the ITB band joins the hip (although anatomy isn't my thing, so not 100% sure I have it right!). I will try foam rolling over the weekend. The chiro suggested I had bursitis. I didn't have the hip issues before I started all the lifting, so it's definitely related. And it left when I was on holidays. Ie no squatting.

I kinda feel like dumping and running! Or quitting the squats entirely and just focusing on the upper body strength things. Would there be substitutes for squats in developing full body strength? I'm not even sure what muscles they use, other than all of them! Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm sick of hurting before, during and after squatting!

A video of your squat, preferably several (one from the side, one from the back, one from 45 degrees) would tell me more than your description, but if you are having both knee and hip pain, I am willing to bet that you are suffering from the squat problem that is fixed with the Terribly Useful Block of Wood. This is described and illustrated in the Starting Strength chapter on squats. Basically, you put a block of wood that's a bit taller than your knee in front of your foot. As you squat, aim to touch the block with your knee in the first 1/3 of the descent, and then the goal is to not knock it over. This fixes your knees in 3D space and prevents them from sliding forward. When your knees slide forward, the hamstrings relax, and the quads contract as a result, yanking on the attachment sites, i.e., the hip and knee tendons. Those tendons develop pain overtime. To avoid this, you practice with the TUBOW and make sure you are tight in the glutes and hamstrings at the bottom of the movement.

As for whether there is a substitute for squats--I do not believe so, no. There isn't anything that's this comprehensive in involving pretty much all of your muscles from the armpits down.