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too heavy to run / knee trouble Anonymous
I just wanted to run this by /fit/, make sure I'm not too far off base.

I'm 6'5, 280-ish. I'm about nine years detached from intense, high impact physical activity (college football). I got inspired by /fit/, bought a membership to the local gym and got to work.

I walked on the treadmill for two weeks. Moved up to jogging on the treadmill a little. Then, I decided to go ahead and start running on the track. My breathing felt pretty good, and I ran okay. I was going through sprint/walk/sprint/walk cycles.

I did the cycles for three days. The third day, boom. There's something clearly wrong with my knees. Now, this really felt strange to me, since I've never had this type of problem before, but after 9 or so years of almost no working out and a sedentary job, it appears my knees have weakened.

So, here's my plan. I've laid off the working out completely for the past two days. I've spent hours icing and moving my knees (alternating every half hour). The discomfort is almost completely gone, and there's just a tightness now. So my plan is to go in and go for a low impact cardio (bike or elliptical) tomorrow, and go slow. Assuming it goes well, I work slowly back up, hopefully strengthening my leg muscles and regaining some durability in my knees.

Anyway, since my theory is that I'm too heavy for high impact (running), I'm thinking that I'm going to try to lose 20+ pounds (eventually much more), really work on my legs, and buy some better running shoes.

Does this all sound reasonable? The whole thing has freaked me out. I haven't had knee pain since I was in 7th-8th grade in a big growth spurt.

Pic related: Me at my new years party.
>> Anonymous
overweight + running = very bad idea.
You'll only ruin your knees.
Bike or swim instead.
>> Anonymous
Great plan. Follow it through, keep us posted.
>> thanks guys Anonymous
>>44991
It's more than being overweight. I was agile and had a ton of endurance at this weight in the past. I think it has more to do with becoming weak. But, since I am overweight, running on weak knees is a very dumb move, you are definitely right.

>>44993
Thanks, limping to the gym tomorrow for low-impact cardio and much more actual lifting. I'm also going to keep icing my knees after every workout for the foreseeable future.

One other thing for anybody listening. Does anybody have any specifics on lifts/exercises that specifically target knee strength? Like maybe a routine for somebody recovering from knee surgery or something (even though I'm not)?

I have heard/read that targeting the muscles surrounding the knee (thighs, calves) strengthen the knee itself. Is there any truth to this?
>> Anonymous
When my knee was injured (lateral hyperextension), I took easy for a long time. But when I started lifting with it again, leg extensions really helped build strength in the muscle and tissue around that area. Start light and slow, with about 20-30 reps. If there is clicking, don't worry too much, but if there's pain, see a doctor. If not, after a couple of weeks of that, go on and do some light deadlifts and squats. I know you're a big guy (and so am I, 5'10" 245 lbs), so don't go busting out 315 on your first set of squats. It took a while for me to fully recover (about a year), but it shouldn't take you as long.

I don't swim, but swimming might provide some good resistance for the knee as well.
>> Anonymous
Have you tried those eliptical machines? Those are low impact on your knees and good cardio, but swimming would be best.
>> Anonymous
you knees are out of shape like the rest of your body.
keep on running and they will also get better.
if you want to turn it up a notch, try jumping down the stairs while holding weights.
no pain, no gain
>> TOKKA
SWIM BITCH SWIM!!!!

swimming and pilates you will find girls if you go to pilates classes too so there also do yoga to fix your atrophying limberness
>> Anonymous
squat moar