Deadlifts and Squats

just make sure you're using good form. get your form down before adding weight.

look up videos by mark rippetoe on form and practice practice. also if your gym has good trainers maybe find one to each you good form.

I agree with the post about form.....I also think that the key word in the description of your grandfather should also be that he played football....and all the training that goes along with that...chances are it wasn't just the squats and dead lifts

before I started on NROLW I booked a one off session with a personal trainer and went through all the exercises in sets A & B and worked out a sensible weight - and more importantly went over correct form. I have terrible problems with my knees and so I am building the weight up slowly to make sure I am not overloading too much - I am just heading into week 3 and so far so good.

I think getting the form right and not trying to go too heavy too soon is the best approach - but I am loving the squats, deadlifts and lunges - today it was set B and I managed to do some deadlifts at 50kg and a set of 12 lunges at 55kg (121lbs) and I am loving it - so I am looking forward to improving on that

I agree with the post about form.....I also think that the key word in the description of your grandfather should also be that he played football....and all the training that goes along with that...chances are it wasn't just the squats and dead lifts

This! For sure. And/or bad form.

Deadlifts and squats, when done with proper form, are very safe exercises. Only people who do them with bad form actually get injured. Being that your grandfather was a football player, he put a LOT more stress on his joints than the average person does, not to mention that the biomechanics of weight lifting was still rather new back when your grandfather would have been lifting.

There is a video that was posted here yesterday that actually talks quite a bit about squatting and the forces involved. I recommend giving it a watch.

http://www.nsca.com/Videos/Conference_Lectures/The_Science_of_Squatting/

Hey.. So I tried searching this but couldn't find the exact issue.

So I've decided that I want to do strength training. I've been doing NROLFW for 3 weeks now and I love it.

Now... I've told my dad my plans to improve my strength and do the program and he is so dead set against me doing Deadlifts and Squats.
He seems convinced that it's going to destroy my hips and knees. He tells me that my grandfather (who was a trainer, lifter, and football player), had to get his hips and knees replaced because of years of Squats and Deadlifts and that I'm going to follow the same path if I do this.

He does approve of me weight training, he just wants me to pick different exercises....
I like that those exercises are supposed to be super effective, but I don't want to destroy my hips or knees either...


What do you guys think? Bad in the long run?

Your grandfather probably had bad knees from playing football. That sport is brutal on the body. There's a reason the average NFL athlete lasts about 5-6 years compared to over 10 for every other sport, and the equipment in your grandfather's day was probably much less protective. You have seen former NFL linebackers/lineman/running backs waddle in to speak to kids about staying in school because their knees are completely broken, right?

EIther that, or he had really poor form on his lifts, which is possible because as mentioned the mechanics and science of strength training was in its infancy back then. But it's a bit of a stretch to point at weight lifting as the sole cause of bad knees when he played football.

If you do squats and deadlifts correctly and don't over-load the bar, you have nothing to worry about wrt injury.

Squats are bad for my knees, but I have a weirdly hypermobile patella and a lot of knee stuff inflames mine. If all bad knees are anything like mine, you'll know when you can't do something because of the ongoing pain involved.

I do hate it when folks have ongoing knee pain and everyone says it can't be because of X or Y, though. My trainer insisted that it couldn't be the squats. I stopped the squats and/or leg press, and sure enough, that's what I needed to stop doing. My pain doc figured out why when he examined them. Mine are just built funny I do wish I'd laid off on certain things that caused a lot of knee pain over the years.

But if they don't hurt? I'd say it would be weird to have that screw up anything then, imho.

I can't get past the part where you dad has to approve of your exercise routines. aren't you old enough that you should be having to get your husband's approval for things that you want to do?

I don't have time to do a lit search for definitive proof, but I'd speculate that there is a much stronger causative relationship between obesity and future joint replacements than the relationship between lifting and joint replacements.

Your dad doesn't know what he is talking about.

Your grandad probably had terrible form like most people.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but its true.



Oh yeah.. Squats fixed my knees. Deadlifts fixed my back and posture.

I agree with bad form, as well as your grandfather's football injuries resulting in his physical limitations. I've been lifting about a month, and I can tell you that my hips and core feel so much better and stronger! I used to have to go to a chiropractor every few months because of hip issues resulting from my pregnancies, but I haven't felt "off" at all. My chiro used to say exercising would help, but running hurt my hips, as did abdominal exercises, which ended up hurting my hips and lower back. DL and squats have seemed to really help though.

*sigh* Dads like to approve/disapprove of their daughter's activities when they are adults BECUASE THEY HAVE NOT YET GIVEN UP CONTROL! I have one of those too, and I'm 37! it's OK, I ignore his advice because I'm well aware it is mostly rubbish.
Seek advice from people who actually know what they're talking about. No disrespect, but your dad possibly doesn't know....

I think it's funny he thinks you'll have the same results/issues. My guess is he just doesn't want you doing those exercises for whatever reasons and trying to scare you out of it. My mom doesn't get it and my dad is quietly proud of me.

And yeah, gramps was prob doing it wrong :glasses:

You kick all the *kitten* with those compounds girl!!! Do eet!

If it makes you feel better, my dad had both his knees replaced at 65 after a strenuous regime of....lawyering. There's no telling. Plus, it's safe to assume football was the likely culprit, rather than weightlifting.

The key is "ex-football player". He got knocked around.. was probably forced to lift at weights which his body simply could not stand at that point in his career.

If you have a great program like NROLFW where you ease into lifting weight regularly there should not be an issue.

In fact… I started squatting and lunging and my knees have actually strengthened. I am 22 years old so my knees were't that bad to begin with but I had an MCL tear and my knee was never really the same after that injury despite 3x week physical training.

Weight lifting has strengthened my knee and has helped me nurse it back to full capacity. I'd say I started at 50% and now my knee is at 90% if not 95% full functioning.

I am reminded of two great coaches.

Mark Rippetoe: "[If] you squat wrong it f&cks things up. If you squat correctly, those same f&cked-up things will unf&ck themselves."

and:

Inexperienced Trainee: "Squats hurt my knees"
Dan John (after being shown a demonstration of aforementioned squat): "Young man, squats don’t hurt your knees; whatever you are doing there hurts your knees"