Both knees have the issue, and not simultaneously. One week I'll be able to do semi-heavy squats (not even my bodyweight) with no problems and then the next two weeks I can't even add much more than the bar before the knife-in-the-knee. I've worked up in weight (though not quite from empty). I can do body squats fine (lots of popping, though). Stopping the squat at any point that is less than parallel is stressing the knees, rather than the much stronger hip flexors, which bear load in a deep squat. Believe it or not, if you only go to "shallow" depths in your squats, you put more stress on your knees than going "deep"(to a point where you're femur is slightly below parallel with the ground). The reduced strength at the expense of increased endurance made me more susceptible to knee injuries)Įdit: In response to those who claim squats are bad on the knees, let me clarify what a proper squat is: Depth. (I'm a big distance runner, and I think too much distance running over time atrophied all of my muscles, including my lower body muscles. Squats and deadlifts are awesome, and the overhead press is a highly underrated exercise. I feel much healthier, and like you my knee pain has dissappeared. I've been on Starting Strength for 3 months, and although I initially gained some fat (due to not getting a lean enough source of protein) I've gained a lot of muscle. In fitness, consistency creates more progress than efficiency, and premature optimization is still the root of all evils. Most are greatly oversold, and in the long run you'll find out what works best for you and ignore the cookbook-style exercise plans, but anything that motivates you to create a fitness plan and stick to it in a disciplined fashion is a good place to start. Part of the reason you hear about so many methods is that so many of them work. If you have weak joints or other physical constraints, machines can be a good place to start, as they will provide you some degree of support and help with your form. All things being equal, exercises that involve more muscle groups and larger ranges of motion will burn more calories than isolation lifting (which is what most machines are set up to do). The ratio will depend on your goals, as will the kinds of lifting you do. In general, you should mix cardio work with lifting heavy things. Unlike software, however, human physiology doesn't change very quickly.
#Stronglifts 5x5 routine software
Like software development, fitness has many methods and plenty of adherents that will swear by each one. The numbers aren't super impressive by themselves, but for only three months from having starting at the weight of the empty bar (45lb), I'm seriously thrilled.
![stronglifts 5x5 routine stronglifts 5x5 routine](http://khkonsulting.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2014-08-11_17-09-27.png)
And I continue to add weight almost every single time I go out. In three months, my squat is now 195lb, deadlifts are 235lb, overhead press at 90lb, bench at 125lb, and barbell rows (which I'm phasing out in favor of power cleans) at 125lb. I've been doing the Stronglifts routine for three months, and am transitioning into Starting Strength as I make my way through the extremely thorough book (which goes into extremely helpful detail about performing the lifts with correct technique). Starting Strength and Stronglifts are two extremely similar barbell training programs with a very large number of success stories. Proper barbell training with compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, overhead press) trains whole groups of muscles at once, including the crucially-important stabilizers which are often neglected in machine-based training. Machines are suboptimal in that they stress muscles in isolation from one-another, and remove the need for compound, coordinated muscle contractions that occur in literally every situation where you would want actual strength. To this end, barbell training is pretty much the gold standard in gaining strength. The basic approach to getting strong hasn't changed over the past several hundred years, despite Nautilus' and personal trainers' best attempts.