Question about deadlifts

Hey all! I'm new to the BB world and despite looking at stickies and trying the search option, I haven't found an answer to a question that I have.

Before I begin, I suppose I should say a little about myself and my current routine. So I'm female, 5'4" and under 40 (that's as much as you're getting age wise LOL). I currently weigh 186#; back in the day (we all have one of those right? :P), my fighting weight (yes literally) was 145 lbs. So essentially, I have in the area of 40-50 lbs to lose... I think. Hard to say, I know that as I build muscle, my body weight may not decrease a lot but ideally my mass will because I'm replacing fat with lean mass.

Anyhow, my trainer has me doing a resistance circuit to lose fat. So I'm doing a variety of low weight high rep (20 reps x3 sets) exercises combined with flat cardio (210 mins per week minimum) to lose fat. I train 5 days a week doing that circuit and I throw in a full 1 hour cardio day on Saturday whenever I can.

One of the exercises he has me doing, is the deadlift. I like the deadlift, but I'm having trouble with my knees. I keep getting pain right behind both patellas and then hours later if I squat down at all, my knees ache going down and coming up. At first I thought it was because of poor form so I went to youtube and watched/learned what proper form was like... spine neutrality, knees should not track forward but stay basically neutral and the pressure is all the hams, core, etc. So using a mirror and just 40 lbs, I paid very close attention and tried that. I even broke it down into separate movements so I could make really certain that I wasn't doing it wrong. Also asked my trainer who said I was doing the deadlift correctly. Pain is still there and on my left leg, if I don't stop, I get this shooting pain up into what would seem to be the base of the front quad muscle. It's a sharp, shooting pain. I went to the doctor too and she says nothing is wrong with either knee.

So I'm stumped. Do any of you have any suggestions as to what might be causing this weird pain? Has anyone experienced this? Is this somewhat normal until my body adjusts to doing deadlifts?

Thanks in advance for the help! :)

Briggzy

A few things you should know,

1.Circuit training using high reps and low weight will not build an ounce of muscle period! You need to do the proper type of training in order to build and maintain muscle mass.
2. While dieting to lose fat your weight will go down, if it does not you are NOT losing fat and need to make a change in a variable..ie cardio, diet etc
3. Building muscle requires a calorie surplus and losing fat require a calorie deficit which means you can do one or the other efficiently NOT both.
4. For best results in body composition cardio should be low intensity such as brisk walking and needs to start with a minimum amount and be gradually increased over time ie each week or two otherwise you will adapt and weight loss will stagnate.
5. The dead lift is a great exercise but you need some better instruction...just the part where you say the knee should not track forward well that is not entirely true.

Some good videos to watch to learn proper technique...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AObAU-EcYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3iz...tVPSJO&index=2


Now as for the pain...what exercises are you doing for legs? Are you squatting? It does sound patellar tendinitis...is the pain near the top of the knee cap or near the bottom? The top of the knee is the quadriceps tendon and the bottom is the pattelar tendon..two different scenarios. I highly doubt the dead lift is causing your knee issue it would make more sense that it is coming from some type of leg exercise.

P

If your form is good like you say, then maybe it's just normal wear and tear. You can try taking some fishoil and glucosamine to help with joint lubrication.