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Dodgy knee. want to tone up my tummy and lower body


brit
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I am 5ft 10 and weigh 135lbs, 41 years of age. I am what you might call "skinny fat" its not that I am fat but I have very soft muscles!.

I have always been active but have never been able to build up bulk.

I have just started doing weights, no cardio, is this good for me?

I have a very dodgy knee and squats are hard for me to do but I realise that I need to do them if I am going to get a nice round bum and good muscles on the back of my legs. I have a nice chest and I don't want to lose it. Also I could do with losing a bit of my tummy.

Can you help me please?

Thanks.

Karen

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I am 5ft 10 and weigh 135lbs, 41 years of age. I am what you might call "skinny fat" its not that I am fat but I have very soft muscles!.

I have always been active but have never been able to build up bulk.

I have just started doing weights, no cardio, is this good for me?

I have a very dodgy knee and squats are hard for me to do but I realise that I need to do them if I am going to get a nice round bum and good muscles on the back of my legs. I have a nice chest and I don't want to lose it. Also I could do with losing a bit of my tummy.

Can you help me please?

Thanks.

Karen

 

Hello Karen. I have a few questions:

 

1. What do you mean by dodgy knees

2. Do you want to bulk (increase your body mass) or just increase lean muscle (tone)?

3. What exactly is hard for you in regards to squats?

 

In terms of cardio, I will answer that when you respond to the questions I asked, since I would need to know them before answering.

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Hi, thanks for your reply.

Dodgy knees, sometimes they feel asthough they are going to give way, they make crackling noises when I walk upstairs. I get pain in them, sometimes a burning feeling behind the kneecap.

I want to add some bulk to my legs(I have skinny calves and flabby thighs) and shoulders( bit of a prob there I got burned as a child and some muscle in the right shoulder was burned off) I would like a tight waist ( i would love a six pack!) and a nice round bum.

The prob with the squats is that my knees kill me when I am doing them and afterwards.

I am a vegan and have just started drinking the vega milkshake, I don't take any suplements, eat tons of veg and I loooooove bread (but I only eat whole wheat or brown).

I am so glad that you are able to give me some advice.

Thanks a million.

Karen

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Hi, thanks for your reply.

Dodgy knees, sometimes they feel asthough they are going to give way, they make crackling noises when I walk upstairs. I get pain in them, sometimes a burning feeling behind the kneecap.

I want to add some bulk to my legs(I have skinny calves and flabby thighs) and shoulders( bit of a prob there I got burned as a child and some muscle in the right shoulder was burned off) I would like a tight waist ( i would love a six pack!) and a nice round bum.

The prob with the squats is that my knees kill me when I am doing them and afterwards.

I am a vegan and have just started drinking the vega milkshake, I don't take any suplements, eat tons of veg and I loooooove bread (but I only eat whole wheat or brown).

I am so glad that you are able to give me some advice.

Thanks a million.

Karen

 

Ah I know what you are talking about. The advice I am going to give you should not supercede those of a physician, it's only a possibility. Make sure you get this checked out by your doctor.

 

The noise that you speak of is called crepitus. If the sound were alone, there would be no reason for concern, unless it was accompanied by pain and/or swelling.

 

The pain, are you sure it is behind the knee cap or is it in front of the knee? Does it get worse with activity? Do ou have pain when you are sitting for a long period of time?

 

If so, you may have Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS). It is caused by an imbalance between the lateral (side) and medial quadriceps. Like I said, this is just speculation so do not think that this is what you have. Get this checked out by a doctor and perhaps ask him what activities you can participate in in regards to working out.

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Thanks, I have seen a Doctor and she advised me to go to my acupuncturist. I have been doing this and have just started taking MSM.

I can go on a treadmill but cannot run, only jog. I don't have pain when sitting for long periods of time. it seems to bother me when I climb stairs though.

Do you have a workout that you can advise for the weights?

Thanks

Karen

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Hi, I spoke to my Doctor and she said that I should not do any squats as she thinks they are bothering my knee, other than that and running on hard surfaces, she said that I should just make sure that I have no pain whilst doing an excersize. if I do, I should stop it.

I went up the Y today and did some abs and upper body stuff but I would really like a whole plan that I can use.

Please help me.

karen

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Hi, I spoke to my Doctor and she said that I should not do any squats as she thinks they are bothering my knee, other than that and running on hard surfaces, she said that I should just make sure that I have no pain whilst doing an excersize. if I do, I should stop it.

I went up the Y today and did some abs and upper body stuff but I would really like a whole plan that I can use.

Please help me.

karen

 

Well what about leg curls, leg press and leg extensions? I need to know if you can do those because those exercises, especially the leg extensions, for the fact that you might be placing a lot of pressure on your knees which will in turn make things worse.

 

As far as running, I personally would not do that because it causes orthopedic stress on the bones. I would go with independant stair climbers or bicycle as they have little stress on the bones.

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Oh right!, sorry I forgot about them. No. I cannot do them,

I can do hamstring curls, but the others, no. I can do the calf raise.

I can do a part squat, so maybe that will help with my bum? I just cannot go down as far as the squat should go.

Sorry for being such a nuisance.

Karen

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power cleans are great for lower body. plus when you get the bar to your upper chest level, its a powerful position for shoulder pressing.

 

basically, you stand over the bar as you would for a deadlift you then pull the bar up as quickly as you can. as the bar reaches the top of the deadlift movement, start to bring your shoulders back (shrugging movement) and bend your arms. the idea is that you want the bar to travel in a straight line vertically. at this point the movement is kind of like an upright row, and once you get the bar to mid chest level, drop into a quarter squat and dip under it, so that the bar is now on your hands (which are facing the ceiling, with your fingers touching your shoulders) and upper chest. its hard to imagine, but the whole movement detailed here happens in less than two seconds. but once you get the hang of the technique, you will love it, and its a brilliant functional strength builder. start with only 10-20lb (or even a broom handle) and work from there. from my experience, most women have the strength already to clean 60-70lb once the basic technique is learnt.

 

jonathan

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just a quick note, if you can do squats to half depth, doing them would still be great. try to aviod all isolation exercises with your legs as it will honestly only make things worse.

straight leg deadlifts might also be good for leg, glute and core strengthening.

 

so basically, half squats, straight leg deads and power cleans if you can do them. you'll have a toned and strong lower body within a few months. i imagine that it will help your knees too. my girlfriend had painful knees (though no where near as bad as yours) before powerlifting, now they are considerably better.

 

jonathan

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No, I am good with everything else.

I am so sorry, as you can tell I am a complete novice.

Thanks so much for sticking with me.

Karen

 

The thing is Karen, seeing that you have a condition with your knees I am pretty apprehensive in helping you constuct a plan which could be detrimental to what is there already. In the Personal Training field, you would have to sign a release form, and in this case it's not possible to do on here. I hope you can understand my predicament. Jonathan already listed some things you could do, I didn't read them though but ya, other people might be willing to help. Good luck.

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yes, kollision needs to protect himself legally. This is of course perfectly understandable. It is wise that you are reluctant kollision, in the absence of the necessary release forms. NOt only can you get in trouble legally, but so can veganbodybuilding.com.

 

That reminds me -- Rob, do you have any disclaimer clauses on your website -- something to the effect of "the views expressed on the message boards are not those of veganbodybuilding.com and veganbodybuilding.con will not be responsible for any bla bla bla"??? It may be wise to post this type of disclaimer clearly somewhere. I didnt notice any -- then again, I did not search thoroughly.

 

peace

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yes, kollision needs to protect himself legally. This is of course perfectly understandable. It is wise that you are reluctant kollision, in the absence of the necessary release forms. NOt only can you get in trouble legally, but so can veganbodybuilding.com.

 

That reminds me -- Rob, do you have any disclaimer clauses on your website -- something to the effect of "the views expressed on the message boards are not those of veganbodybuilding.com and veganbodybuilding.con will not be responsible for any bla bla bla"??? It may be wise to post this type of disclaimer clearly somewhere. I didnt notice any -- then again, I did not search thoroughly.

 

peace

 

Nat...you are too smart. Seriously, you should start personal training! You got so much knowledge, more than the typical trainers. All these trainers people do is follow their handout....Youd be great!

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Thanks for the tips Jonathon.

Kollision I would never dream of holding you personally responsible for anything that might happen. I would not ever in a million years think of suing anyone for advice that I have asked for.

I can understand your concern but I promise you that I would never do that.

Take care.

Karen

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Thanks for the tips Jonathon.

Kollision I would never dream of holding you personally responsible for anything that might happen. I would not ever in a million years think of suing anyone for advice that I have asked for.

I can understand your concern but I promise you that I would never do that.

Take care.

Karen

 

Karen, I know you would, but this is just how things are done. I personally do not take chances even if I know it to be true, that's just me. Sorry I can't be of any help here, but like I said there are others like Jonathan that are helping, so it's all good Good luck.

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