br_e_co's Journal, 21 October 2014

Hope the doc visit is helpful and nothing serious. I think being a kid today is tougher than when I grew up, same with being a parent raising a kid, just lots more stuff to deal with at an earlier age.  

Thank you. And I agree Jim it does seem more difficult and you have daughters - so you can understand the pressure on the girls.  

Great news on your knee doing ok ok the run. I hope the doc has the news you want to hear. Dealing with cronic injury is tough and makes it hard to stay motivated. Keep at it. "Do the best ya can, with what ya got", is my new motto.  

Yeah Brent - can't swap out all the parts so push yourself within yourself. I'm with you. Thx. Br in br_e_co is brant - with an A. But I get called brEnt all the time. :) 

Oh yeah - sorry bout texans loss. They did put up a fight though.  

Haha, thanks Brant. I get called "Brett" all the time. LOL At the beginning of the game I thougth we were gonna kill them. Then the 20 something points in less than 3 minutes and the end of the second really took the wind out of their sails. Oh well, I'm still a fan! 

Doc was great. My problems are normal arthritic/degenerative type stuff with nothing to worry about. Though the knee bears watching. Brent, this doc did not feel that squats strengthened the knee at all. I am rethinking my leg movements. I hope your knees are better.  

Good news from the doc! 

That’s good news Brant, I guess, if getting old can be good news! I'm right there with ya. LOL My doc told me not to squat all the way down, just squat to parallel. He also told me not to run at all. I actually haven't had any knee pain in a while, since I started the super cissus supplement. (my elbows are a different story) I have a mental problem with my right knee though. It makes terrible grinding and popping noises when I move it, under load or not. That’s the part I have a hard time with. I am still a big beliver in the squat and deadlift. Those two exercises, if performed properly, do a ton of good for your body. I will continue to do both for as long as I am able to. I actually set a new PR on deadlift last night. I pulled 250 lbs for 10 reps without stopping. I am sore today!  

As far as squats for strengthing your knees they wont but they will stregthen your thighs or quads and calfs which will greatly help with the knee pain key thing when doing stuff like that thighen your quads on the way down so you can feel it right above the knee same thing going up and down stairs, trust me on this I have had 6 knee surgeries on my left knee went through two partial replacements and two total knees and one of removing the knee cap after that knee cap was taken it took almost a year before I could go up and down stairs normally 

Thanks Rockiesfan. I'll give it a shot. I do stairs at work all the time.  

yeah, jim, good news! you know, on the knee ... mine pop and grind all the time ... he told me something interesting - he said running helps the external muscles of the legs (thigh,etc) while biking helps the medial (interior) ... and that i am unbalanced in this area. makes sense, since i don't bike. i agree with both you and Rockies, the muscles support the joints ... he also suggested if i were to continue to perform squats to go no more than parallel as well. he didn't say stop. i also agree, big movements, deadlift, clean and press, squats, clean/jerk, olympic moves, done correctly, are fantastic. i am not stopping squatting, in a variety of forms, just going to consider my form. and man, 6 knee surgeries, rockies? insane. my mom just had a knee replacement ... and my father and brother had shoulder issues ... genetics. all my joints, etc. pop and grind. i am more thinking about addressing interior/exterior, along with considering left side/right side, when i work out. he said limit my running to a couple times a week, and he was a marathoner. as far as supplements, he said the glucosamine proved effective in some studies, but the MSM/chondrotin did not - i use movefree ultra and it is pricey. i also used supercissus, and it was pricey. i am going to finish out my current bottle of movefree ultra and see if there is a difference. i gave up on the gluco/chond etc. but if you subscribe to it, he suggests just buying glucosimine --- most places hide it in the back of the shelves, since it is really cheap and they wanted to sell the triple flex stuff.