Author: F Dog

One of the main requirements for being a big dog is knowing how to address pain. The chronic nagging type, not the acute sort that you ignore as a byproduct of masculinity. For me, specifically, I have had pain in my knees (mostly left) that flares up every once in a while, but especially my knees hurt when squatting. Which I am currently doing four times a week.

That knees over toes guy that everyone loved a few years ago talks about how you need to walk backwards and drag a sled around. It's currently summer in Minnesota. Constantly in the high 80s with either no cloud coverage or heavy rain. I'm a pale ghoul that generates a lot of body heat. I'm supposed to be in some cold, snow-covered cave. I do not want to be outside in the sun and the heat walking around, especially backwards. So what are my options?

In the past I managed my knee pain fairly well by doing seated leg curls in a ratio of 2:3 sets of leg curls to squats. I made steady progress with both leg curls and squats during this time, but the pain started to creep back up once I started getting above 140 (kg) atg front squats. 

As of today, I'm up to 103 kg for doubles and adding one or two kg a week. The knee pain has flared up once or twice since I've been back at the gym, but I have been almost completely neglecting my knee flexion exercises. My plan going forward is to reinstate my flexion vs extension ratio (2:3), but this time double it for the knee flexion (4:3) while reducing the intensity.

I'm currently doing 18 sets of squats per week. This will bring my knee flexion requirement up to 24 sets a week. Which I will break down into 18 sets for hamstring muscles and 6 sets for gastrocnemius (calves). The hamstring sets will then be broken down into 12 sets of nordic curls, 4 sets of cable leg curls, and 2 sets of jefferson curls. For gastrocnemius I will do 6 sets of standing calf raises with a SSB. Will update in the future with my results.