Re: Knees are going!

Give up on high impact exercise (walking/running/sport activities) and use bikes for exercise instead.

When sitting, raise legs on a stool (or something similar)

Re: Knees are going!

I've cycled all my life Joe and still use one at the gym after exercise as a 'cool down' exercise, which eases any leg training exercise I've been doing, as do stretching exercises.

Sitting with the legs raised on a stool, or in a recliner sofa only puts pressure on the lower back, Joe. Not really a good sitting position.

Thanks for your advice though buddy

Re: Knees are going!

That depends on the angle of the back support, if its adjustable tilt it back further to reduce the pressure on your back.

Re: Knees are going!

Floyd, sorry to hear this. You must be gutted after all your hard work staying fit and healthy only for it to go belly up

Bear with me here, I'm a bit muddled and not very good at explaining things

If your knees weren't a problem, but your muscle weight caused the scales to show you were overweight, (although you weren't fat wise), would you be in the 'danger zone' on those recommended 'ideal weight' charts?

I struggle understanding the logic of those charts. Bit of the old 'one size fits all' scenario.

From being a teenager I wore size 14. Weight 10st. Height 5ft 5inch. And, I was thinner and leaner then than I am now.

When I was pregnant at, at 9mths the hospital card I have says I was a tad over 65kg - that's about 10st 4lbs.

After my daughter was born, I shrank back almost instantly, no dieting or exercising... to a size 12.... Weight 9st 8lbs.

Now I'm a size 10-12. Height about 5ft 4inch. Bigger round the waist. Weight fluctuates between 8st 7lbs and 8st 10lbs. I've more inches round the middle, but weigh considerably less than I used to.

When I get weighed at hospital appts, the weight is low and on the charts it shows I'm fine. So on paper it all looks acceptable. In reality, I'm carrying more flab and have a bigger waist, which they say isn't good.

I assume my low weight is because I have osteoporosis ie bones are light. (At least I shouldn't have bad knees )

I mention all that cos my logic says surely inches should be more important, rather than the weight on the scales regarding pointers towards someone's health.

What say you?

PS I'm not worried about this, just confused they're measuring the wrong thing

Re: Knees are going!

You're spot on, Pesta. It's the MHS and their outdated system of thinking everything is height vs. weight related.

I'm similar to yourself in that my weight has varied over the years. When I was a teenager I was at best around 10 stone 6lbs, which is very skinny for a chap of 6'4", but I wasn't undernourished or anything, I exercised in those days by running and cycling a lot, so my weight was very thin and lean.

I began the weight training in my early twenties in preparation to join the RAF and never really stopped. Today I'm almost 17 stone, but as has been said, I carry very little fat - although I'm 'compact' with the muscle, not bulky or overly large to one's eye. I.e. I've trained in such a way to define my body shape with harder, more taught muscle definition rather than bulk out with overlarge, ugly shapeless bulk for the sake of it.

But weight is weight all the same, and I am now looking at some kind of conditioning training - lighter weights, higher repetitions which will still keep me lean but will keep any excess weight to a minimum. A revised diet plan is being thought out as well, so hopefully the knees will begin to ease soon.

After talking to the physio over the phone this afternoon, and looking it up on the net, we seem to think I have "Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome" (Wiki this), which seems to be the problem.

Good post, Pesta. Thank you

Re: Knees are going!

Weight is by no means the whole story Pesta.....
There is also a thing called 'Body Mass Index' it measures the amount of fat deposited around the body. So you might not be overweight, but have too much fat. Alternatively, you might be overweight but have very little fat, as in Floydy's case. Tis fat that is the difference between been fit or not. But contrary to what most people believe - Eating Fat makes you fat, hence the rise in low fat products - Tis the simple carbohydrates that really do the damage.....

Re: Knees are going!

Thanks Floyd and OGF.

OGF...Oh yes, the Body Mass Index. The one I'm 'normal' in, which is only about weight/height not bodily measurements?

For myself, no-one assesses my body fat, just my weight and height relating the the BMI. I assumed that's what they did to everyone, unless of course it was blatantly obvious that someone was carrying too much fat?

They don't actually measure people with a tape measure do they?

Re: Knees are going!

They use an instrument that resembles a caliper Pesta.
They clamp the places where fat accumulates and take the measurements. This, taken into account with your height and weight can offer a more accurate way of determining fitness. However, there are now more sophisticated ways of determining how much fat is present, and especially visceral fat. This is the fat that accumulates inside the body around important organs such as the Liver, Kidney's and Heart and can be a major cause of Heart Attacks and general ill health....

Re: Knees are going!

Hi OGF, yes I knew fat clings to our organs (gross), not heard of visceral fat before, so Googled it. Some gross stuff to look at. Wibble Wobble.

Actually now you've mentioned about an instrument to measure fat, I'd forgotten I was aware of that. It was in my memory and you nudged it forwards.
I Googled that too.... wasn't the same as my memory bank one. In my mind I saw something like a large pair of tongues with round shapes on the end. Perhaps they were the first ones I remember.
The ones on Google remind me of things one uses in maths or something

Re: Knees are going!

Just an update on this then.
Yesterday I went to the NHS physio, and against my guarded expectations I was very impressed as she was very thorough (apparently she does a lot of work for Hull City's ladies team as their sports physio).

It appears that I do have some mild Osteoarthritis, which is age-related coupled with perhaps a little too much "overdoing it" in the past as well. But apart from monitoring it with stretched and other various exercises, I'm fine to continue with most gym work, avoiding any 'hard surface' running i.e. jogging on concrete (i.e. outside) or treadmill work. In fact she encouraged me to get back into heavier weights, though she nearly fainted when I suggested returning to 400kg leg presses! Finishing off with a few minutes on the static bike would help a great deal after each session too.

So that gives me a huge incentive to recommence my training later on today (Wednesday). What I do from now on will be a mixture of moderate to heavy weights but with additional leg work such as high reps just to keep the mobilisation going (similar to those in my last training post on here).

So it's nothing out of the ordinary as long as I'm more careful. Time to crack on again!