Knee Health and Leg Training: A Comprehensive Update

Leg training: an update on knee health and building muscle.

I’ve written about the problems with my knees and what I think is the culprit in the recent past. The horribly bent leg extension machine at my gym was putting undue stress on my knees and creating a strength imbalance.

It’s been a while, and enough time has passed to revisit this issue and see how things are progressing.

(Knock on wood) I’m happy to write that things are going well. Not counting a little rust in my left knee (thanks to 21 years of climbing towers and poles in the military), things are not only on the mend, but are progressing as well.

Through some trial and error, I’ve built a solid lower-body training program that has (so far) served me very well. I’ve outlined it below. If you’re at all familiar with how I build programs, I almost always have an A and B routine for every body part.

A Routine

Standing calf raise
Seated calf raise
Leg press
Barbell squat
Barbell Romanian deadlift
Seated leg curl

B Routine

Hack squat calf raise
Standing calf raise
Single leg extension
Smith machine squat
Seated leg curl
Dumbbell Romanian deadlift

A few things to point out:

• Each area gets two exercises for three sets each.
• My reps are in the 10 to 20 range.
• Every rep is slowed down and executed deliberately (this has made the biggest difference for my knees).
• I rest for about a minute between sets of calves and hamstrings, and two minutes for quads.
• I’ll only perform the leg extension one leg at a time and with a very light to moderate weight.
• Any Romanian deadlifts are performed with moderate weight and the strictest form.

The result? I don’t crawl out of the gym feeling like I got hit by a train, but with a solid pump that I’ll feel for days after.

My knees feel good afterward without feeling wrecked or tender. I just don’t see the need anymore to haphazardly pummel my legs into submission just for bragging rights. I just do the above routines, get in a solid workout, and can walk properly the next day to tell about it.

I must mention, however, that I perform a rather comprehensive stretch and mobility session after leg training, which has always been a part of a lower-body day finisher.

I hope to keep things on the safe and effective side for a while and will be back with any updates in the near future.

Happy lifting!