Quad dominant exercises easy on the knees

[Missk87]

Hey everyone,

just wanted to ask the masses, what’s your favourite quad exercise, specifically ones that are low impact on the knee?

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Hey everyone,

just wanted to ask the masses, what’s your favourite quad exercise, specifically ones that are low impact on the knee?

I think there’s more value to the answer if we ask why first? What kind of knee issues are you having?

 

[Eman]

Pain above/below the kneecap?

Or pain on the outside?

There's some really great content that's become available recently for helping knee pain... The cool thing is, a lot of the movements that treat the pain will also build muscle in the leg overall.

 

[VaDImadi]

Pain above/below the kneecap?

Or pain on the outside?

There's some really great content that's become available recently for helping knee pain... The cool thing is, a lot of the movements that treat the pain will also build muscle in the leg overall.

I have knee pain every time I squat

It's not enough pain to make me stop but I imagine it isn't great for the old knees

What are these exercises

Pain is either above or below the knee, can't recall for certain right now, I think it's above though

 

[VaDImadi]

Also to add it's always on my first set where I get pain, when I do a low weight 30 rep set

Once I increase the weights to heavy and lower the reps to 10-20 I don't get the pain

 

[Sven_Northman]

I have knee pain every time I squat

It's not enough pain to make me stop but I imagine it isn't great for the old knees

What are these exercises

Pain is either above or below the knee, can't recall for certain right now, I think it's above though

Nice thread hijack there fella.

I'm sure a quick google search will help. But personally I use knee sleeves and it's helped tremendously. But like others have stated, it depends on the type of knee issues that will deem whats safe so as not to exacerbate the injury.
I do alot of leg presses and single leg work. I use a belt squat and as long as I ensure my knee tracks the angle of my toe I dont get much pain. I have crepitus in both knees so heavy squat days are a thing of the past.

Best to hit up your orthopedist and get checked out first.

 

[Eman]

I have knee pain every time I squat

It's not enough pain to make me stop but I imagine it isn't great for the old knees

What are these exercises

Pain is either above or below the knee, can't recall for certain right now, I think it's above though

Exercises depend on what kind of knee pain it is.

What you're describing is likely patella and quadricep tendinopathy... bottom and top pain, respectively.

First suggestion would be to make sure you have sufficient dorsiflexion in your ankles... Place toes about 5 inches from a wall and see if you can touch the wall with your knee. If not, work on ankle mobility.

Second suggestion is to incorporate an isometric exercise with your warmup... Just Google isometrics for knees for that, too much for me to type out.

Third, incorporate more unilateral movements like split squats or learn to do a pistol squat. If you can work your way to a pistol squat, you'll likely solve a lot of knee problems just in the pursuit of accomplishing that movement.

Also, it could be just a form issue with the squat itself but better ankle mobility or hip mobility can usually resolve it.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

^this. Get that tissue freed up with aggressive massage and work mobility and stretching daily. Fixes most issues.

 

[Eman]

^this. Get that tissue freed up with aggressive massage and work mobility and stretching daily. Fixes most issues.

Agreed... I attribute all of these practices to why I've never had a penis injury.

Never underestimate the value of an aggressive massage nor an enthusiastic masseuse.

 

[Missk87]

I think there’s more value to the answer if we ask why first? What kind of knee issues are you having?

Waiting on an appointment with a sports physio therapist, But having pain below the knee cap.
Got me thinking possibly runners knee or arthritis. I’ve totally removed leg extensions and lunges due to pain (that develops after the workout is over). Using knee sleeves helps to some degree.
Looking to make some improvements on my quads for stage in October and I am finding growing quads more difficult without extensions and lunges.

 

[Missk87]

Pain above/below the kneecap?

Or pain on the outside?

There's some really great content that's become available recently for helping knee pain... The cool thing is, a lot of the movements that treat the pain will also build muscle in the leg overall.

Pain below, waiting on appointment with sports physio. That’s very promising news to hear!

 

[Mac11wildcat]

No pain during training but pain after but only from lunges and extensions?

 

[Missk87]

No pain during training but pain after but only from lunges and extensions?

Yes.

 

[Logan44551]

Seems like a bunch of people have been struggling with knee pain lately myself included. My issue is worn down cartilage under the kneecap. I've had to cut.out split squats and heavy squats completely. I can still manage leg press, and hack squats to a certain depth. It's been frustrating, PT gave me some excersises to do, I was on it for the first couple weeks, but have been slacking as I wasn't.seeimg results. I'm going to give it another try. Hope you figure out some ways to work around it, and find some relief from the pain

 

[Missk87]

Seems like a bunch of people have been struggling with knee pain lately myself included. My issue is worn down cartilage under the kneecap. I've had to cut.out split squats and heavy squats completely. I can still manage leg press, and hack squats to a certain depth. It's been frustrating, PT gave me some excersises to do, I was on it for the first couple weeks, but have been slacking as I wasn't.seeimg results. I'm going to give it another try. Hope you figure out some ways to work around it, and find some relief from the pain

Thank you for the input! I agree, knees and shoulders seem to be the weak spots. Very frustrating because heavy lifting is my middle name , sorry for the cheddar.
I am hoping the PT will be able to help! Sending healing vibes your way!

 

[Eman]

Pain below, waiting on appointment with sports physio. That’s very promising news to hear!

Patella tendinopathy, most likely. There are a lot of different potential causes for this but same things I mentioned above should help.

Doing movements that enable you to flex your quad without hinging the joint will help lessen or eliminate the pain... Something as simple as a wall sit prior to doing squats or whatever you were planning to do.

Again, try the ankle mobility test because that seems to be a very common problem - often it's not really the knee that's the problem, it's poor mobility or a weak stabilizer muscle somewhere else that causes stress on the knee.

Knees over toes guy has gained a real solid following on IG recently, content is pretty good too. Lots of people swear by him, he has knee recovery programming on his website that gets great reviews.

Additionally, squat university has excellent and free content that I've followed for a long time - Dr Aaron Horshig will be much more long winded than I am about the what, why, where. He's got 90 year old women doing full barbell squats... Swears that he can get anyone able to squat.

 

[Missk87]

Knees

Patella tendinopathy, most likely. There are a lot of different potential causes for this but same things I mentioned above should help.

Doing movements that enable you to flex your quad without hinging the joint will help lessen or eliminate the pain... Something as simple as a wall sit prior to doing squats or whatever you were planning to do.

Again, try the ankle mobility test because that seems to be a very common problem - often it's not really the knee that's the problem, it's poor mobility or a weak stabilizer muscle somewhere else that causes stress on the knee.

Knees over toes guy has gained a real solid following on IG recently, content is pretty good too. Lots of people swear by him, he has knee recovery programming on his website that gets great reviews.

Additionally, squat university has excellent and free content that I've followed for a long time - Dr Aaron Horshig will be much more long winded than I am about the what, why, where. He's got 90 year old women doing full barbell squats... Swears that he can get anyone able to squa

Patella tendinopathy, most likely. There are a lot of different potential causes for this but same things I mentioned above should help.

Doing movements that enable you to flex your quad without hinging the joint will help lessen or eliminate the pain... Something as simple as a wall sit prior to doing squats or whatever you were planning to do.

Again, try the ankle mobility test because that seems to be a very common problem - often it's not really the knee that's the problem, it's poor mobility or a weak stabilizer muscle somewhere else that causes stress on the knee.

Knees over toes guy has gained a real solid following on IG recently, content is pretty good too. Lots of people swear by him, he has knee recovery programming on his website that gets great reviews.

Additionally, squat university has excellent and free content that I've followed for a long time - Dr Aaron Horshig will be much more long winded than I am about the what, why, where. He's got 90 year old women doing full barbell squats... Swears that he can get anyone able to squat.

Patella tendinopathy, most likely. There are a lot of different potential causes for this but same things I mentioned above should help.

Doing movements that enable you to flex your quad without hinging the joint will help lessen or eliminate the pain... Something as simple as a wall sit prior to doing squats or whatever you were planning to do.

Again, try the ankle mobility test because that seems to be a very common problem - often it's not really the knee that's the problem, it's poor mobility or a weak stabilizer muscle somewhere else that causes stress on the knee.

Knees over toes guy has gained a real solid following on IG recently, content is pretty good too. Lots of people swear by him, he has knee recovery programming on his website that gets great reviews.

Additionally, squat university has excellent and free content that I've followed for a long time - Dr Aaron Horshig will be much more long winded than I am about the what, why, where. He's got 90 year old women doing full barbell squats... Swears that he can get anyone able to squat.

Thank you for the info! Much appreciated

 

[jJjburton]

I was able to stop my patella tendinitis from all the basketball I was playing. Thus made me very interested in physical therapy, pursuing a carreer. But that stopped. Lol.

i had to stop jumping,

stop doing lunges, stop squats.

Take a break for a couple days, then once pain subsides start from square one.

first exercises
Abductor
Adductor

then do one legged push backs and hammy curls, or hip thrusts.

then hit deadlifts.

after 6-10 weeks of doing that with zero pain, you can start squats light.

never do lunges again.

it took me 8 months to completely get rid of the issue. Now i can fully dead and squat. 5 years later. I still do this set up. But now i can dead and squat first.

also ORTHODICS!!! Do you have flat feet?

Edit- O yea, to answer your question. Close feet low leg press is amazing for your issue, if you dont have the time to try and heal it completely. Hit high reps and slow movements, your quads will be growing vastly.

 

[Ridethelightningbarefoot]

Electric shock therapy! Tense you up real good, strong contraction, no gym needed

 

[Canknucklehead]

Sumo press, hack squat, leg press