Squats with knee problems? You bet!

First off, here is my non-professional declaration.  I am in no way, shape or form a professional of medicine, exercise, nutrition or health or anything related.  I am simply a 35-year-old woman who struggles with knee issues and has done a bit or research.  You should consult your doctor before starting any exercise program.

That being said, I wanted to take a moment to tell you why I think doing squats and lunges can be precisely the best thing for your knee pain.  When I was 14, I was running as a kid does, with a random burst of energy, when my left knee hyperextended.   Long story short, unfortunately it was diagnosed as a sprain, and for the next year, I walked around on a torn ACL, until it finally gave out on me.  I had to have an ACL replacement as well as 2 meniscus repaired.  Four years ago, I had to have cartilage repaired in the same knee, and at that time the doctor said they were able to see damage to the ACL and that probably in the next few years it would need to be replaced.  (So right about now?)

I started going to BodyPump classes at our Y in fall of 2011.  The squats were so, so hard for me, and I questioned whether I should even be doing them or not with a bad knee.  Then I read something in the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler.  There’s a really great section on how the muscles of the body are connected from head to toe and how muscles in one part of the body can affect others.  The eye-opening part for me was this:

 “At the start of an exercise program, women tend to be stronger on the front of their thighs than on the back.  Trainers use the phrase ‘quad dominant’ to describe this imbalance.  Put another way, women’s hamstrings tend to be weaker than they should be, in relation to their quadriceps. 

The problem is a big one to sports scientists.  Female athletes have several times the risk of knee injuries as men, and this strength discrepancy is thought to play a role.  Research shows that when the quadriceps are more than a third stronger than the hamstrings, a woman is at greater risk of damaging the ligaments that hold her knees together.

A remarkable study performed at Columbia University and published in 2006 discovered the source of the problem.  The researchers looked at male and female soccer players between the ages ten and eighteen.  The preteen, prepubescent girls were already at high risk of injury, due to the fact that their quadriceps were 75 percent stronger than their hamstrings.  But the teenage, post pubescent girls had an even bigger problem: their quads were 100 percent stronger than their hamstrings.  The strength imbalance actually gets worse with time.  Their mature hamstrings were stronger than before, but those gains were more than offset by even bigger gains in their quadriceps.

That’s the perfect illustration of quad dominance – because the used the muscles more, those muscles got even stronger as their bodies matured, and exacerbated what was already a problem.”

This opened my eyes to the fact that what would most help my knees was precisely the exercises I’d avoided for so long – squats and lunges.

It took me quite a while to truly get the hang of correct squat form.  What finally did it for me was the shower.  Yes you read that correctly.  I struggled to find a way to do squats that didn’t make my knees hurt.  I was in a state where I would stop in the middle of doing things around the house to try out a squat or two and see if I could get it.  One morning I decided to try one in the shower and it worked!! I did a squat and it felt right and didn’t hurt my knees.  I came to realize that the width of the shower only allowed me to put my feet so far apart, and that one of my issues must have been that my feet were not proper distance for the squat to be truly effective.  This went along with the “test” my BodyPump instructors would do in class for your set stance – in the beginning they would walk around with the 5 lb. weights and put them between students’ feet.  If your feet didn’t touch the weight, it was too far apart.

Once I got the stance right, I started oh so slowly.  In classes I would do just a few at a time.  It was a bit embarrassing to be in class and feel so weak, but I did what I needed to do.  To help myself out, I would do some every day, in the middle of my daily activities – while sweeping or doing dishes or whatever.  I also went down just a few inches at first, what I felt like I could comfortably do and as I built strength I would challenge myself to go down a little further each time.

The last thing that helped was advice from the Pump program videos.  The instructors are constantly reminding you to drive up from your heels.  Concentrating on putting your weight in your heels as you lower yourself and driving up through your heels on the way up really helps engage those muscles you need to strengthen. 

This advice is mainly for squats (to be truthful, I am STILL trying to work out my lunges properly, they are that difficult for me) but the summary should work for lunges as well:

 

1.       Proper foot spacing

2.       Go as slow as you need to in order to really feel/”get” the proper form

3.       Put your weight in and drive from your heels

I still have a long way to go with squats and especially lunges, but I've come a long way as well.  I can now squat down beside my children and use my legs to push myself up from that position as opposed to using my hands to push myself up like I used to do.  Take it slow, work on form and you can get there too.
 

A View of My Grocery Cart

I was challenged yesterday to take a picture of my grocery cart when I was finished going through the store.  Since I often hear people struggling to know how to feed a family healthy foods on a budget, I thought I would write a bit here.

Yes, this is my cart for a week's worth of groceries for my family of four.  The total was $120.  It was a bit over our budget because we were low on meat.  I aim for $100 a week.  See all the pretty produce? I like it when the cart looks like that.  And it has been more and more lately, as we work hard to get away from so many processed, pre-packaged foods.  I won't lie - there are some boxes and cans under there.  But not many.  And that's intentional.  The blue bag?  It holds the cold stuff.  The worst offender in there is probably the Danimal yogurt drinks, but the ingredient list on those things isn't as bad as most.

I am trying hard with my girls to get them away from the standard American carb-addicted diet.  Don't get me wrong.  I am not anti-carb.  I am anti-wrong carbs, and much of the typical American diet is made up of wrong carbs.  What are wrong carbs?  Processed-to-death grain products that have been injected with a cocktail of vitamins to make up for what it is lacking.  I know all too well how addicting they can be and the health problems they can cause. 

So my philosophy is,  "If you don't buy it you can't eat it." 

Some of the things I didn't buy: Goldfish crackers, granola bars, cold cereals, cheese/peanut butter cracker sandwiches.

I know it would make some parents' heads spin to think of not buying these items to have on hand to take as easy portable snacks for their kids, quick breakfasts.  It certainly did for me at first.  I truly felt almost panicked at not having these things tucked away for those whiney, "I'm hungry" moments.  So how did I do it?

I did it slowly and that's what I recommend for you too.  In my opinion, the easiest way to start revamping what you and your family eats is one meal at a time.  Start with breakfast.  Do your kids eat cold cereal or Poptarts for breakfast every morning?  I wouldn't rock their world completely, but I would start off with a goal of 2-3 mornings a week of having something healthier.  Eggs or whole-grain oatmeal, either the prepackaged low sugar kind (watch out for artificial sweeteners - that's a whole other blog post) or cooked on the stove top where you can control the amount of sugar added (just be mindful of exactly how much you are putting in).  Don't be fooled into thinking buying whole grain versions of your favorite standbys is better.  There are few truly healthy cold cereals out there.  And a Poptart's a Poptart, no matter how much whole grain you throw in. 

Snacks can definitely be one of the most difficult times.  We have had to work hard to revamp our snack expectations.  It did not happen overnight and I was not "lucky" enough to have birthed children who came out of the womb clamoring for vegetables.  If they had their way, especially my eldest, they would have crackers and cookies for every meal.  Maybe a cheese stick thrown in occasionally.  But over the years, we have insisted they try veggies and other new foods and slowly we've gotten to a point where yes, my children beg me for brussels sprouts in the store and on her Mother's Day questionnaire, my oldest said the thing I did best was make fish.  Yep fish. 

One thing I've done to help out snack time is to have a veggie tray policy.  I bought one of those $5 trays from Wal-Mart that you use to take veggies and dip to parties.  I try my best to keep it stocked with veggies they like and I put a small, dip-size plastic container of ranch dressing in it for them to share.  In the afternoon, they are allowed to eat as much as they want out of it.  Often I will let them have one cheesestick as well. 

Other snacks that work well for us are nuts, seeds and dried fruits.  Dried fruits we eat sparingly as most have added sugar (I realize that there are probably non-sugar versions available out there, but also that they are likely much more expensive).  And I do buy honey roasted peanuts for my oldest as she doesn't care so much for other nuts.  My little one will go crazy with them though - almonds, cashews (cash nuts she calls them), raw pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  Or even a spoonful of peanut butter can be a great snack.  We buy the JIF natural brand.  It costs a bit more than regular peanut butter, but has less sugar and salt and is less expensive than the fresh ground, peanut only kind.  I get the seeds and nuts from a store that sells them in bulk (for us, it's our local HEB).  They have those bins where you can scoop them yourself.  It really is a cost saver and kids don't need a huge serving, so they last a while. 

I also from time to time make homemade granola bars.  While they are still fairly heavy in carbs, they at least are void of the preservatives.  And it is cheaper to make them.  I have a great recipe for knock-off Nature Valley bars I will share another time. 

I know some of you are probably doubtful of what's under all that produce.  There are some cans of beans, a box of Cheeze-Its for my hubby, a jar of peanut butter, a whole chicken to roast this week, and some ground turkey.  Probably one of the truly worst things in there is the frozen popcorn chicken.  Like I said, we are working on things a bit at a time, including my cooking habits.

I will say, that I honestly believe that most families could at least make small improvements without breaking the bank.  I know there are some out there that are doing all they can on a very limited budget.  I'm thinking more about the families I know that feel the need to spend $10 on Poptarts because they are on sale and they can get a whole bunch, rather than spending $2 on a container of quick-cook whole oats that will last a long time. 

It's the little changes from boxes and packages to real food that will make the biggest differences in the long run.