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The five rules for knee safety

© Matt Danielson

I have received quite a lot of e-mails lately from people with knee injuries. The most common problems seems to stem from squats and leg presses, two staple exercises among serious bodybuilders. There are many things that can influence whether you get a knee injury or not, but there are steps you can take to minimize the risk. Here are my five best bets for keeping the surgeon away:

1. Make sure that your knees are aligned with your feet. By that I mean that during a squat, your knees should be traveling forward in the same direction as the toes. If your toes are pointing out to the sides, but your knees seem to be going straight forward, you know you're asking for trouble! Imagine an invisible line to which your feet are aligned. All you have to is keep your knees strictly in the same line.

2. Use good form. Don't stand on your toes during the last two sets, and whatever you do - no squirming around!

3. Don't wrap your knees all the time. By always babying your knees you will build muscular strength, but you're not preparing your knee joint and supporting muscles to handle an un-wrapped squat. Over time, your muscles will get more powerful, while your knees stays the same or may even get weaker. At some point, this will come back to haunt you in a big way, be it at the gym, a company softball game or wherever.

4. Get good shoes. Inch-thick, gel-filled or gas-pumped soles are great for basketball, as they help absorb the impact from all the jumping. You don't see much jumping in the gym, however, so what's a good shoe on the court is not necessarily a good shoe everywhere. With a couple of hundred pounds on your shoulders, you want to be sure that you're stable. Pick shoes with thin soles and very little "bounciness". Try to get a feeling of having solid contact with the floor.

5. Check the ego at the door. A muscular guy that can leg press 1,200 lbs for reps is respectable. A wannabe that barely does 3 sorry reps while cheating badly is not. Use a sensible weight that you can do at least 6-8 strict reps with, keeping the focus on safety and control at all times. That will bring you the fastest results and the least risk of injury.

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