As some of you fellow Hermanites whom i have spoke with along with Scott, know of my knee injury, well i would call it more of a knee destruction than an injury lol if you do not know and would like to check out my bio, other forums, or simply ask i dont mind. The injury happened 4 months ago, i was on crutches for the first 12 weeks, i lifted here and there but mainly just went through the motions for something to do, and so my muscles didn't get too far gone. These last 6 weeks since ive been off crutches ive been going pretty hard. My goal was to get as close perforance wise as i could(which isnt a whole lot) to what i was pre-injury. This week i succeeded in my two performance goals, bench and pull-up. 135x5 bench and 21 reps pull-ups.

I have another surgery coming up in a few months, i will know when march sixth, but after i will be on crutches another 6-8 weeks. I am pretty small for my age 5'6.5'' 125lbs, so i was thinking of trying a powerlifting style program, with the thinking that only so much muscle will more so much weight so it may help muscle gain in a non-traditional approach, i have never tried one before and would like, to and if i get a better strenght base getting back at it after the next surgery will be easier.

I do not know where to start with the plan however because i am unable to do alot of traditonal powerlifting moves, if i could get help from Scott and the comunity on making on that is fit for me and my condition it would be much appreciated.

Feel free to ask any questions about any info anyone willing to help needs!

Sorry to hear about your injury man! Just today I was going to set a deadlift PR but couldn't cause my back somehow got tweaked :( (probably messed up my form on a lift). Anyways, I've been training my ex girlfriend who has a lifelong knee injury. What i've been doing with her is getting her doing squats, deadlifts, lunges etc to help strengthen her knee. HOWEVER I started her out with super super low weight, made sure she was doing full range of motion, and told her to increase her protein intake. As you know protein is used to help heal and repair the body. So protein will take a huge part in getting you back to 100%. I would start with deadlifting, squatting, even doing olympic lifts such as clean and jerks and snatches 2-3 times a week in addition to your other muscle group workouts. Just PLEASE make sure you start with super low weight and increase it very gradually, make sure you have full range of motion on the lifts, and take in a lot of protein. Doing all that has helped my ex a lot and her knee (which has been injured since she was a child) is doing a lot better! Obviously you might have to tweak a few things to specify it for you, but I think doing a lot of compound leg exercises will help strengthen your knee enough to get you back into a lifting state:)

hope that helps you!

-Jordan

From past knee injury expiriance the best thing to do even though you may want to lift in the worst way is dont... Let your knee heal man. I completely tore my ACL and suffered three tears to my meniscus. I unfortunetly had to wait over a year to have any corrections done. During that span I still played sports and did a lot of extremly painful lifting. After surgery I had 35% of my meniscus removed and I still have a tear in my meniscus. Still train your upper body but give your knee the time to heal. Youll thank me in the long run.

If you have any questions feel free to add and message me!

Well i was not planing on lifting legs any, i already get pretty good leg workouts at physical therapy three times per week. I want to start gaining more strenght, and was just wonder if anyone had any ideas for a more strenght oriented program that would be easy on my knee. I just went to my Doctor last thurday and he gave me clearance to do any closed-chain exercises, to my tolerance of coarse. I wont be getting my acl/pcl and possibly mcl reconstuction for another 2-3 months. I would like to build a good strenght base before then.

What about incorporating RACK PULLS into your routine? I mean, anything that onvolves bending the knee with a lo of weight is going to put stress on it... but maybe with rack pulls you can focus on hip strength without hurting your knees? Thoughts?

Yes i was actually planning on implementing rack pulls into my program this week, i think im at a good point now where i can comfortably handle it. I was also just curious as to what my parameters should be since i would not be getting the full benefits from heavy squats and deadlifts (i do leg press squats and variations of the two three times per week in therapy, but are not heavy, of course)

yeah, I mean it is tuff to say over the internet you know? But listen to your body.

Alright Thanks Scott i'll write something up and post it to get your opinion. Safe trip to New York tomorrow! HTH!!

Thanks man!!