Lower body strength training exercises with knee pain

shaverssusan

Hi strength training friends! I’m a 45yo 165 lb female (overweight by about 30 pounds) who has been strength training for a little less than a year. I love it so far but I’m running into issues with knee pain when I do heavy (for me) squats or lunges. I’ve tried lowering both weight and reps, but the only thing that helped was stopping those exercises completely. Currently, I’m still able to do deadlifts, hip thrusters, kettlebell swings and power cleans as lower body strength exercises that don’t cause knee pain. I was not able to do step ups, weighted or not.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a more effective knee friendly lower body workout? I should mention I have a pretty well equipped home gym with a power rack, free weights, a couple of kettlebells, a few resistance bands, a Peloton bike and treadmill. I’m currently using the Caliber app and I have just customized a non-painful leg day, but I am not an expert!

claireychn074

The first thing to figure out is what is actually causing the knee pain. I’m hypermobile and have had knee pain on and off for years - I’ve finally sorted it - but I was surprised to find the pain wasn’t coming from my knees (it was my quads). So it would be worth a physio or S&C coach assessment to see if any remedial exercises could solve the pain.

If it is your knees, then again depending on what is causing the pain and where on the knee it is, you might be able to adjust your squats. Try a wider stance (powerlifting style), you could partial squat to just about parallel, wide box squat (all versions which helped me during a flare up). Can you do heels up cyclist squats? They’re a good indicator for quad dominance and potential remedial action.

Power cleans are still awesome leg workouts, and can you do partial front squats with the same weight? Those will still be great leg exercises. I had to move from split jerk to power jerk because of my knees, and the power jerk is soooo much gentler on my joints.

You might also find that weighted calf raises help to alleviate knee pain - definitely worth exploring with a S&C coach if you can.

AnnPT77

Get a diagnosis: That's the most important.

With some conditions, persisting though pain is buying worse future problems. With other conditions, it isn't making things worse more quickly, it simply hurts.

And yes, make sure your form when lifting is correct for anything it's safe for you to do, regardless of diagnosis.

I disagree with the advice that pain always means "stop". I'm saying that based on my own knee pain and what my own orthopedist told me. (Plus that other friends with some other types of knee pain - but not all types - have gotten similar orthopedist/physical therapist advice.) With certain conditions - pain is just a fact of life, unless/until pain becomes intolerable. Some of those conditions will even gradually improve with interventions like the proper sort of strengthening, stretching, weight loss. Physical therapists can be really great at how to make those improvements.

If it hurts, I agree that it would be good plan to stop doing it until a doctor or physical therapist have told you whether you should or shouldn't be doing it.

After that, let the expert medical advice and your own judgement guide what you do.

In my personal experience, I feel that the more I use my body, the more I'm able to understand which types of pain signal new injury, which types suggest I'm making an existing bad condition worse, and which are just going to hurt while I do certain movements/exercises but not make things worse overall. That's useful knowledge. Until it develops, yes, be cautious, and for sure follow medical guidance suitable to your specific diagnosis.

What you can do without pain depends on exactly what's wrong with your knees, plus on using good form and making the right exercise choices.

yirara

And in addition: how good is your form? An incorrect form can cause pain.

tomcustombuilder

You need to go to an orthopedic doctor and figure out what's wrong with your
knees hurting. There's definitely some underlying issue and that dictate which exercises you should and should not be doing. He may also suggest some type of physical therapy. Bottom line if any exercise causes discomfort you need to not be doing it. Your body is telling you it doesn't like it so you shouldn't be doing it

ninerbuff

Any way you can post a video of you doing a squat?

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