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Doing squats with patellar tendonitis can be downright brutal. In this video, I show you how to squat with a chronic or acute case of patellar tendonitis that is giving you stabbing, sharp pain in your knees every time you bend them to perform another rep.
The issue that is going on here is that your tendons in your knees are reluctant to allow the muscles in the legs (mostly the glutes, hamstrings and then the quads) from handling the load of the squat. Most often this is due to a lack of confidence in the strength of these muscles to handle the load that you have on the bar (particularly in the bottom half of the squat).
This can also be aggravated even more by a chronic reliance on the tendons to support the weight rather than letting the muscles lift the weight. This is particularly true when you tend to squat by bending the knees first rather than hinging at the hips. You teach your body faulty biomechanics that cause the knees to become too reliant on their tendons to handle the weights.
The first step in breaking this cycle is to relearn the squat from the ground up, and as seen here, perform a variation of the squat that allows you to achieve better form with minimal effort. Enter the box squat. The key difference between the box squat and the regular squat (regardless of whether it is a high bar or low bar squat we are talking about) is that the box provides a safety net for your legs which allows you to delegate the load from the tendons to the muscles that should be handling this in the first place.
The other benefit of the box is that it provides you with a bottom point for determining parallel without having to guess on each and every rep. Most of the time, those that squat without a box or bench are going to cut short the depth with each subsequent rep (especially as fatigue sets in). Not on the box squat. Here you have the tactile cue of the bench to ensure that you are getting low enough to establish a brief contact of your butt to the bench.
The depth you are looking for is one that allows your butt to reach fully parallel. While there is some disagreement as to where this position is. The easiest way to think about it is when the crease in your upper thigh and hip is on the same level as your kneecap. When this happens, you have squatted to parallel and do not need to go any further to see gains.
Training hard is required if you want to see muscle gains in your legs or anywhere else for that matter. That said, if you are trying to do this while combatting the pain that is present in your knees, hips, and other joints it is going to be that much more difficult to load up the bar. If you are looking for a program that puts the science back in strength and helps you to build muscle without compromising the joints in your body and your overall joint health, then head to https//athleanx.com and get your ATHLEAN-X Training System.
For more videos on how to squat as well as how deep to squat, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at
34 comments
I use to squat all the time but after the birth of my 7th child I tried squatting it was so painful I had to stop the front of my knees can't rest on any hard surface I can hardly kneel I don't know what to do.
This man could literally tell me that walking in front of a bus would make me stronger and I would believe him.
I always thought high bar squat uses knee break first?
Thank you jeff.
Excellent video 👌
Hi Jeff I swear god I love. U in Allah
Inshalla Allah reward you for your help to us
Hope I can add a little to this conversation! As a Physio, I'm finding that patella tendonitis has a really strong link to low back dysfunction which might explain both its onset and persistence for a lot of people. I've put together a simple video for my patients that explains what I'm finding and how to resolve it! Genuinely hope it helps! https://youtu.be/NkaEQ8GlLEY
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Good one Jeff. Great channel. I’m learning so much.
This video literally changed my life. I've been squatting for 1 year with pain in my knees, I've had to stop squatting due to tendonitis twice. Everyone on the internet just kept talking about going parallel but no one talked about the beginning part of the movement so I just went straight down by bending my knees.
I tell ya I cant do bodyweight squats and you said I should do weighted squats
#1 yup for anyone is use the 3 second ecentric rule (negative ). This will put more load on ur muscles than ur tendons and save them and grow !! 15 years of traning started doing slow negatives on every workout no joint or tendons pain and only muscle burn and growth
I feel like I should give this guy money
LIKED
For anyone who has a go at not squating properly, Compared to doing it safe either doesn’t have a real life job or is competing.
You’d think the competer’s would understand, But ego takes over I guess.
My knees are actually F$&ked from working a manual labour job for 15years. If anyone wants to try my life style and continue muscle building, I’d say try it.
Easy to laugh until you actually experience the pain and not be able to do what you love doing.
Just understand you are not going to last when you get older and realise.
Awesome video I believe this does help. I use this technique and my leg press Machine. I’m trying hack squat but need to work out the pain side.
Superb channel! 💪
Thank you for this vid…every one you do on knees is helpful!
Start delegating..!
Love this dude
This video has helped me soo much, as always had issues being able to do squats cause of knees n hamstrings. And honesty confidence. But knowing I need to put squats n deadlifts into my work outs.
One month into lifting and my knees are killing me
Can I use heavy 5×5 with this method or is it just for light weight high reps?
Thank you
This is exactly how we ruin young & old EVEN MORE! Just carefulyl read the title… What if it said: "How to run with a broken leg", wouldn't your first thought be "You shouldn't even run with a broken leg, you should first fix it!".
Playing & lifting through the pain of my jumper's knee, with minimum and hurried efforts at rehabilitation, At 26 years old, I have now had it for 10 freaking years! Only now I've got the knowledge and patience to fix it. I wish someone had guided me and helped me overcome injury and return stronger, faster, HEALTHIER before even reaching adulthood.
This video demonstrates ALL the mistakes I've made: continuing to lift and adjusting technique to try and take load of the tendons… The key to rehabilitation of this (and any other injury), and returning stronger:
1. Taking 1, 2, 5 or 10 steps back – whatever is necessary. It will take months – accept it;
2. Studying WHY you are injured: your body (tendons) is TOO WEAK;
3. Studying HOW to rehabilitate: VERY gradual increase of tension on the patellar tendons (by increasing range, load and speed);
4. Studying how to RESTRUCTURE your body to avoid re-injury.
Jumper's knee is associated with weak VMO muscles (which keep our tendons safely aligned with our legs) which are trained MOST in the bottom and top 15% of a FULL squat. Therefore BY DEFINITION training the KNEES OVER THE TOES decreases likelihood of ever getting jumper's knees. Training the bottom of the squat (full knee flexion) also STRENGTHENS the patellar tendons meaning AGAIN decreased likelihood of getting jumper's knees. We people like to label movements as "bad for us" while in reality "we are just too bad for that movement".
One day I will teach young athletes and non-athletes that PAIN CAN BE FIXED. Remind me to return to these comments once I have fixed my jumper's knee. I am 100% determined.
Can I perform this variation with the one mentioned at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKJWKJQXTuY ?
I mean reduce stance to avoid knee cave in while doing Box Squat?
Very well explained my friend, very good!!!
Really needed to see this right now. Thanks!
Bro you are just amazing 🙌💯
I've had patella tendonitis or something close to it for a year now and I'm 14 how can I make it go away? I've tried pt
Thank you 🙏 I am walking around like I am 80 with My knees
Would you advise this workout for someone with calf pain/strain?
This was super helpful and insightful! Thank you!
I need some kind of exercise to replace the standard squat, I have 3 herniations at L5 and S1 area. Is there a resistance band exercise that won’t put so much compression on my lower back. Lunges are out too, my right knee is shot, football.
I've been looking for ways to train my legs cos my patellar tendonitis has been preventing me from doing any squat or lower body exercises. I'm gonna give this a try to see if it hurts! Excellent suggestion nonetheless!