I’ve stopped doing crossfit style squats. I went back to using the leg press machine at the gym with a moderate amount of weight. And I focus on exercises for large muscle groups. No more isolation exercises like leg curls and extensions… a few years ago, that led to a hamstring/quad strength imbalance.

Re: stretching, I’m a big fan of yoga. Been doing yoga stretches for about a year (always bending at the hips, not the back). Started with barely being able to touch my toes and progressed to (after a brief warm up) being able to place my palms on the floor.

Great article. Just wondering, what one should do re: knee pain…? A couple months ago, I was doing body weight squats (a-la-crossfit), 4 sets of 25 reps…. shortly after that I developed pain in my right knee. Occasionally, I feel it when walking. More often, I feel it after sitting still for a period of time.

Example – I did a short road trip to visit some friends yesterday. It was a 2 hour drive there. When I got out of the car, I walked around kind of “gimpy” for a few minutes (right knee and hips were stiff, but mostly the knee felt swollen inside).

Beginning in April, I’ve been t-mill walking 5 days a week (3.6 mph for 2 miles), lifting weights 2-3x/week, and IF-ing Mon – Fri (some days using a 5 hour feeding window, once in a while beginning at lunch). Did I damage something doing the squats, or do you suppose this is just… *gasp*… age related ???

sk
female, 38 years old
5’7″ – 156 lbs. (guessing 22 – 25% body fat)
** have lost 15 lbs since April 1, ’08

100 burpees today (managed to-do 50 during a little WOD i did this morning)