why are we so afraid to bend our knees?
I came out of hiding on Instagram this week and made a post about squats. The post highlighted the difference between initiating a squat from the hips (sticking your butt out and sitting back as the first movement) vs. initiating it from the knees (driving the knees forward before letting the hips move).
A few commenters said that the knee-dominant movement looked painful or dangerous.
Too much load on the knees.
Too much weight going forward. Sit back to protect the knees.
Pushing the knees forward puts too much stress on those joints.
It was a great reminder that fear is still a leading force in the movement and yoga realm.
But those of us who have left that fear behind—leaning into curiosity and exploration instead—know that one of the best things you can do for your knees is USE THEM. Bend them. Straighten them. Rotate them. Load them in different ways.
Out beyond the land of micro-bending and 90-degree flexion, there’s a place where previously weak and sore knees get stronger and more reliable. In that place, we use what’s called progressive overload—a systematic approach to introducing more load, over time, in different ranges of motion. Employing progressive overload results in the #1 goal of any movement practice: adaptation.
When the nervous system adapts, it lets us move into new positions without so much guarding.
When our joints adapt, they move more freely.
When our muscles adapt, they get stronger and more supportive under heavier loads.
When applying progressive overload to the knees, I do three things:
1. Address the structures above and below. This looks like targeted strength and mobility work for the hip, as well as for the foot and ankle.
2. Build strength in the muscles that surround the knee—aka your hamstrings and quads. Specifically, I focus on the distal hamstring fibers (which contribute to knee flexion) and the VMO (vastus medialis oblique, which for most humans is underused).
3. Use the knee through its full range of motion. This means finding (or building toward) engagement in a fully flexed knee (hamstrings and calves in contact), a terminally extended knee (even when that looks like “hyperextension”), and every point in between those two extremes. When we have strength through that entire range, our knees are ready for anything.
To show you how to bring these 3 areas of focus into your practice and classes, I’m putting together a pre-recorded workshop series called...
This 3-part series will be hosted on the Detour Virtual Studio. If you're a DVS member, you don't need to do anything extra to access this workshop—it's included in your subscription.
If you don’t have a DVS membership, you can sign up here. Your membership is free for 2 weeks, after which you can continue on either an annual or monthly subscription. If you choose not to continue, you can still take this workshop for free before your trial expires.
The three installments of Bend the Knee will be released weekly starting Monday, August 7.
While you wait for Bend the Knee to land, I suggest kick-starting your DVS membership with this class called Resilient Knees.
Here's what members have said about it:
"My knees say thank you SO much! What a class! I've had meniscus tears on my left knee a couple of times now, the last one being about a year ago and I can feel that I still have work to go on strengthening that knee. I will definitely be revisiting this."
"Cecily, you are being charged with 1st-degree HAMSLAUGHTER!!!"
"Girl!!! My patellae do not move at all! I need this class at least once a week. Thanks for helping me start to wake them up."
Let's rewrite the script and turn knee fragility and fear into strength and independence.
Glad to have you along on this journey,
Cecily
ps. We just created a new category of FREE classes in the Detour Virtual Studio. You don’t need a membership to access any of these practices. So if you’re a little hesitant about committing to the 2-week trial, take advantage of these classes to test drive the DVS with no strings attached.
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