Interesting training fact/tidbit

[BrotherIron]

Nope. I have done ass-to-grass and parallel squats (full ROM) for 18-years and I have always used proper form, warmed up properly, and never went heavier than I could handle. My thighs are pushing 31" @ 6% BF. Full ROM puts an extreme amount of pressure, or tension, on the petallar tendon, and now I have a partial tear. It will never heal properly and I am now stuck with doing squats and extensions in the upper third of the ROM. If I go deeper, the orthopaedic surgeon says I am at a great risk of having the tendon fully tear and subsequently, surgery. Therefore, I am doing partials for the sake of being injury-free, or rather, further injury-free. If I had known this when I started lifting, I never would have gone ass-to-grass.

That's interesting b/c I have 2 cadavers knees b/c of a degenerative disease and I perform hams to calves squats and it has never bothered me. In fact going below parallel takes the pressure off the knee and places it on the glute and hamstrings. If I squat to parallel or a higher I have extreme pain in both knees. Now I can't squat nearly as much but my knees are better b/c of going hams to calves. I also perform a dynamic warm up and had been doing prehab so I don't have any issues.

 

[Dangling Unit]

That's interesting b/c I have 2 cadavers knees b/c of a degenerative disease and I perform hams to calves squats and it has never bothered me. In fact going below parallel takes the pressure off the knee and places it on the glute and hamstrings. If I squat to parallel or a higher I have extreme pain in both knees. Now I can't squat nearly as much but my knees are better b/c of going hams to calves. I also perform a dynamic warm up and had been doing prehab so I don't have any issues.

Which part of the knee, eg bones, tendons?

 

[Dangling Unit]

31"......much respect bro, that's as tall as IronCore.

MAYO

Thanks. It's genetic, fo sho. I should've stated they were the last I measured, before my knee issue flared up bad enough I had to quit full squats about 9-mos ago. It's a mofo finding pants that fit correctly. The waist is always a couple inches too big. I should see about pants with elastic wasitbands LOL. I can't grow hair between my legs.

 

[BrotherIron]

Which part of the knee, eg bones, tendons?

I'm not sure if they had to replace tendons as well. I was a teenager when it happened but basically everything there was dying and they had to completely replace the whole shebang. It was crazy, my legs would give out on me completely and as time when on the duration of when I couldn't use my legs got longer and longer. I saw a dozen docs who told me it was growing pains but it turned out to be much worse. That was some 20yrs ago.

But it's interesting to me that you say squatting to below parallel caused you to be in pain and have problems. I've been just the opposite. When I squatted to parallel I could lift a helluva lot more but I was in constant pain.

 

[MAYO]

Squatting below parallel is painful for me as well, unless I wrap pulling my patella outwards.....then I have no probs.

 

[Dangling Unit]

I'm not sure if they had to replace tendons as well. I was a teenager when it happened but basically everything there was dying and they had to completely replace the whole shebang. It was crazy, my legs would give out on me completely and as time when on the duration of when I couldn't use my legs got longer and longer. I saw a dozen docs who told me it was growing pains but it turned out to be much worse. That was some 20yrs ago.

But it's interesting to me that you say squatting to below parallel caused you to be in pain and have problems. I've been just the opposite. When I squatted to parallel I could lift a helluva lot more but I was in constant pain.

I'm ok, as far as pain is concerned, going to parallel with no or little weight. I increase the weight and it starts. I've been told by two orthpaedic surgeons and my physical therapist to just use the upper third of the lift.

Squatting below parallel is painful for me as well, unless I wrap pulling my patella outwards.....then I have no probs.

That can't be good long-term.

 

[BrotherIron]

I do use sleeves when I squat and also put red hot on my knees. The sleeves give me some additional support. I like to wear the blue rehbands. The red hot causes localized inflammation which brings more blood into the area warming it up and therefore helping prepare the area for training.

 

[TerribleTowel]

I squat below parallel (or at least to parallel) and have zero knee problems now. In the past I've had bad knees, mainly the result of years of baseball. I was a catcher for years. So after years of that, my knees were awful. They actually improved as I began bodybuilding and now as I have moved into powerlifting. So for me, full range of motion in squats and other leg movements has only helped improve my knees.

 

[Wolf]

From what I've read the two things that cause knee problems, aside from the genetic factor is letting the knees drift too far forward along with stopping just at parallel or slightly above, like Brother Iron said there is a shift of the forces when you break parralel to the hamstrings. I think we had a thread on this with some sources.

 

[PillarofBalance]

This certainly didn't hold true in my case... I use to squat like an idiot stopping short of parallel cause my form sucked. One of the powerlifters at my gym helped me out, I started breaking parallel and before I knew it I suddenly had this tear drop shaped thing above my knee and my hamstrings were killing me all the time...

 

[BrotherIron]

From what I've read the two things that cause knee problems, aside from the genetic factor is letting the knees drift too far forward along with stopping just at parallel or slightly above, like Brother Iron said there is a shift of the forces when you break parralel to the hamstrings. I think we had a thread on this with some sources.

I'll post a thread I have from a while back about this.

 

[Dangling Unit]

I'm not blaming any exercise for my tear, don't get me wrong. In fact, mine is genetic. MRIs were done of both my knees and my ACLs and patellar tendons are smaller than typical.