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Leg day with Knee Osteoarthritis

Recently started with leg workout but experiencing problems to knee injury

sven_nys
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7 Post(s)
7 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2015
Posted

21 years old
194cm
83kg
Goal: Strength gain
Restrictions: Knee osteoarthritis and on one hand missing the top half of my fingers.
sidenote: first language is not english :)

Been exercising for 5.5 years now but just recently started doing leg training because previously i did roughly 150km (95ish miles) every week by bike.
The problem i have is my knee osteoarthritis which is caused by this constant biking(only in one knee to be clear) which now caused me to have discomfort when trying to do exercises such as leg press or deadlifts, as these put a lot of stress on the joint. I have a knee band to take some of this pressure of my knee but this will in time cause one leg to become stronger than the other which i don't want to have happen. 
I was hoping some of you could help with exercises/warm ups which you know would relieve some of the stress on the knee joint.
Currently i have no proper warm up as my gym is severly lacking in space and is overpopulated.

Current leg workout is:
leg press x 15 with light weight as warm up
leg press 4x12
calve raise on same machine to make sure i go past flat with my ankles 3x15 with the last being a dropset of 2 drops
traditional deadlift 3x8
recently able to go upto 4x8 but with the last set being 60-75% of set 3 as my knee fatigues by then
barbell glute bridge 4x10

(any comments on my workout in general are also welcome)

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: sven_nys

21 years old
194cm
83kg
Goal: Strength gain
Restrictions: Knee osteoarthritis and on one hand missing the top half of my fingers.
sidenote: first language is not english :)

Been exercising for 5.5 years now but just recently started doing leg training because previously i did roughly 150km (95ish miles) every week by bike.
The problem i have is my knee osteoarthritis which is caused by this constant biking(only in one knee to be clear) which now caused me to have discomfort when trying to do exercises such as leg press or deadlifts, as these put a lot of stress on the joint. I have a knee band to take some of this pressure of my knee but this will in time cause one leg to become stronger than the other which i don't want to have happen. 
I was hoping some of you could help with exercises/warm ups which you know would relieve some of the stress on the knee joint.
Currently i have no proper warm up as my gym is severly lacking in space and is overpopulated.

Current leg workout is:
leg press x 15 with light weight as warm up
leg press 4x12
calve raise on same machine to make sure i go past flat with my ankles 3x15 with the last being a dropset of 2 drops
traditional deadlift 3x8
recently able to go upto 4x8 but with the last set being 60-75% of set 3 as my knee fatigues by then
barbell glute bridge 4x10

(any comments on my workout in general are also welcome)

@sven_nys your English is pretty good!

 

First thing I notice is you're not doing any squats for your leg workout.. is this because it puts too much strain on your knee? What warm-ups are you doing for it at the moment? I'd suggest some small step ups and bodyweight squats if you can.

 

For example, take the leg that has the knee issue and place it on a small step-up box. From there, push through that leg and bring the other leg up into the air, then back down to the ground. That's one rep. Try doing maybe 2-3 sets of 12 reps on this if you can. Just a small box, no added weight.

 

You can also try some resistance band work - wrap the band around a sturdy post of some kind, hook it around your ankle, and do some very light knee extensions to get the area nice and warm.

 

Hope this helps, and as for your overall leg routine, I would suggest maybe a little more volume if you are only doing leg workouts once per week, and of course adding some kind of squat in there if you can. Also, if your goal is strength gain, your rep range should be lower - more like 4-6 reps. You can still have maybe one exercise with higher reps, but your deadlift and glute bridge (and squats if you add them) should be lower reps for strength work.

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sven_nys
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7 Post(s)
7 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2015
Posted

I am indeed passing on squats as i can't realistically go beyond a 100° bend (90 being horizontal) without feeling it crack. I'll definitly include the step-ups and bodyweights squats to my routine as warm-up and try the squats to see how it goes after this warm-up. Didn't think of reducing rep range yet, will definitly do that.
When you say include volume do you mean adding another exercise but with higher rep range?

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: sven_nys

I am indeed passing on squats as i can't realistically go beyond a 100° bend (90 being horizontal) without feeling it crack. I'll definitly include the step-ups and bodyweights squats to my routine as warm-up and try the squats to see how it goes after this warm-up. Didn't think of reducing rep range yet, will definitly do that.
When you say include volume do you mean adding another exercise but with higher rep range?

You don't necessarilly have to add more exercises, just do more sets of the exercises you're doing already. For example you only do 3 sets of deadlifts.. maybe do 5 or 6? Things like that - I'd esepcially suggest this if you're only doing this routine once a week.

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sven_nys
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7 Post(s)
7 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2015
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

You don't necessarilly have to add more exercises, just do more sets of the exercises you're doing already. For example you only do 3 sets of deadlifts.. maybe do 5 or 6? Things like that - I'd esepcially suggest this if you're only doing this routine once a week.

Alright, will try this all out this friday and i'll post the results here afterwards

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: sven_nys

Alright, will try this all out this friday and i'll post the results here afterwards

We will be waiting!

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sven_nys
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7 Post(s)
7 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2015
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

We will be waiting!

Workout now was as follows:

 

2x15 box step up

box was a bit to low to be a propper warm up but now i know what height it should be)

12 squats empty bar to see until where i could go (turns out the 100° estimate was spot on)

5x6 squat

these turned out better than expected, after the step ups and the empty bar squat my knee was nice and loose

3x15 calve raise with last one being dropset of 2 drops

5x6 deadlift

smaller rep range really helped with the knee fatigueing (not sure if that's a word) and was able to maintain the weight throughout the sets

5x6 glute bridge

 

I must say it turned out better than expected, was worried the most about the squats but as said they went fine. No major issued with my knee came up after i did the warmup + squat test. I do however notice that i have trained my legs as my knee feels somewhat tensed up, if this is the only issue that emerges from this workout i am more than pleased with the result. If any other issues come forth i'll post them here, otherwise thank you very much for the help.

 

edit: Didn't use my knee band during the training but did put it on after training to make sure the joint can really relax and recover.

 

Ps. i get the jokes about leg day now, can't walk up a stair without having to pause in the middle. Damn volume training :)

sven_nys
sven_nys g sven nys
7 Post(s)
7 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2015
Posted
Posted By: sven_nys

Workout now was as follows:

 

2x15 box step up

box was a bit to low to be a propper warm up but now i know what height it should be)

12 squats empty bar to see until where i could go (turns out the 100° estimate was spot on)

5x6 squat

these turned out better than expected, after the step ups and the empty bar squat my knee was nice and loose

3x15 calve raise with last one being dropset of 2 drops

5x6 deadlift

smaller rep range really helped with the knee fatigueing (not sure if that's a word) and was able to maintain the weight throughout the sets

5x6 glute bridge

 

I must say it turned out better than expected, was worried the most about the squats but as said they went fine. No major issued with my knee came up after i did the warmup + squat test. I do however notice that i have trained my legs as my knee feels somewhat tensed up, if this is the only issue that emerges from this workout i am more than pleased with the result. If any other issues come forth i'll post them here, otherwise thank you very much for the help.

 

edit: Didn't use my knee band during the training but did put it on after training to make sure the joint can really relax and recover.

 

Ps. i get the jokes about leg day now, can't walk up a stair without having to pause in the middle. Damn volume training :)

Now roughly 10 hours after the new workout: Pain in the knee has increased, i assume this come from the squats and will do these with less weight for the next week. Seems i have to build this specific exercise up very slowly compared to deadlift to make sure i don't have knee pain.

 

I'll keep updating this post as time goes by so that anyone who has the same issues can use the information i gathered.

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: sven_nys

Workout now was as follows:

 

2x15 box step up

box was a bit to low to be a propper warm up but now i know what height it should be)

12 squats empty bar to see until where i could go (turns out the 100° estimate was spot on)

5x6 squat

these turned out better than expected, after the step ups and the empty bar squat my knee was nice and loose

3x15 calve raise with last one being dropset of 2 drops

5x6 deadlift

smaller rep range really helped with the knee fatigueing (not sure if that's a word) and was able to maintain the weight throughout the sets

5x6 glute bridge

 

I must say it turned out better than expected, was worried the most about the squats but as said they went fine. No major issued with my knee came up after i did the warmup + squat test. I do however notice that i have trained my legs as my knee feels somewhat tensed up, if this is the only issue that emerges from this workout i am more than pleased with the result. If any other issues come forth i'll post them here, otherwise thank you very much for the help.

 

edit: Didn't use my knee band during the training but did put it on after training to make sure the joint can really relax and recover.

 

Ps. i get the jokes about leg day now, can't walk up a stair without having to pause in the middle. Damn volume training :)

Well given your knee issues, I wouldn't jump straight into heavy sets of 6 reps. You can work with 6 reps, but don't go very heavy yet at all. I'm guessing squats have become a bit foreign to you, so you need to make sure you get the form dialled in first to avoid any unnessecary pain on the knees.

 

But from what you said, it sounds like it went OK! Those warm-ups helped, yeah? Make sure you do them every day before training legs. Maybe you can slowly add some of the resistance band work in as well. You're better off spending a bit of extra time warming up to avoid problems down the line.

 

Enjoy crawling for the next few days 😁 lol.

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sven_nys
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7 Post(s)
7 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2015
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

Well given your knee issues, I wouldn't jump straight into heavy sets of 6 reps. You can work with 6 reps, but don't go very heavy yet at all. I'm guessing squats have become a bit foreign to you, so you need to make sure you get the form dialled in first to avoid any unnessecary pain on the knees.

 

But from what you said, it sounds like it went OK! Those warm-ups helped, yeah? Make sure you do them every day before training legs. Maybe you can slowly add some of the resistance band work in as well. You're better off spending a bit of extra time warming up to avoid problems down the line.

 

Enjoy crawling for the next few days 😁 lol.

Quick final update

 

Did the stepups with a bigger box, roughly height of my shin and this worked A LOT better as warmup.
Did the same exercises but now did squats as first and deadlifts as my very last exercise to get some extra rest for the quads/knee.

 

Both of these changes with the previous ones did the job because i got no discomfort in my knee the after the workout whatsoever. So big thank you to you Scott, now i can start pumping up the weight😃 

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: sven_nys

Quick final update

 

Did the stepups with a bigger box, roughly height of my shin and this worked A LOT better as warmup.
Did the same exercises but now did squats as first and deadlifts as my very last exercise to get some extra rest for the quads/knee.

 

Both of these changes with the previous ones did the job because i got no discomfort in my knee the after the workout whatsoever. So big thank you to you Scott, now i can start pumping up the weight😃 

Nice man, the higher box would be a bit better range of motion, so thats great. I just wasn’t sure how the knee would hold up but it sounds like it went well!

 

So glad to hear it has helped with the knee pain! Onwards and upwards from here @sven_nys 😁 ðŸ‹ 

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