Serious knee problems

[coolface93]

Hello, im new to lifting and i have a problem, my knees are weak.

I dont know what the problem is but i just cant do squats, my knees feel like theyre on fire.

I have been a track/ cross country runner for 2 years but what is my problem.i have noticed that my knees start to hurt after a bit when im crouching, doing activities that require bending, etc.

Im 6'2, 175lb, and 17yo

am i just *****ing or is this a problem i need to consult with a doctor?

[yitmy]

Actually its quite common and its partly due to a muscle imbalance in your quadriceps. There are some exercises that can be performed if you desire. Or you could check in with a local physiotherapist and they can make certain you are exercising properly, not just from some hack 2-3 states away and no easy way of seeing what you are doing, or unable to examine your knee through testing.

[Trusylver]

I see that your only 17. Have you had any recent growth spurts ?

as a young athlete knee pain isn't uncommon, go see your doc to get it checked out, diagnosis on net is not a good idea.

[thrower1986]

I have experienced knee pain from a combination of football injuries made worse by running. Now I have to wear a knee support when doing heavy leg exercises.

Perhaps you could try some lighter variatons of the squat to get your muscles around your knee strenthened, the below links may help.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...plitSquat.html

http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/asse...6(300x300).jpg - try googling swiss ball squat for more demos

[cwc1979]

Ok, I've had knee problems most of my life. I played baseball,basketball, and football. I got the bad knees from catching(baseball) for probably 10 years. I used the excuse in the weight room in highschool to not do squats because of my weak knees. A few months ago I started forcing myself to do squats. I started off light with 135 and it was fairly painful but I pushed through. Now i'm able to do all kinds of leg exercises without hardly any pain.
As someone mentioned above, alot of it is because of weak quads. By strengthening your quads you take pressure off of your knees. I'm 30 now and have less knee pain then I can ever remember because my legs are much stronger.
If I were you I would probably do squats with just the bar for a while until you start to build up strength. Eventually your legs will get strong enough to where you can add weight and get that pressure off of your knees.

Hang in there, I know exactly what you're going through.

Also, I would like to add that I was serious into weight lifting when I was 18-20. I only weighed 188 but could bench 300, but I NEVER did legs. I was working and playing basketball at night after work. I ended up with a knee injury that required surgery, and I credit that from weak legs.

[coolface93]

thank you everyone