Stationary Bike and other gym sessions

Question
QUESTION: Hi

I currently have chondromalacia problems and I have been told from another expert in here to make my workout at the gym using a stationary bike, weight training etc.. and i need to build up from scratch..

Can you give me some exercises which i can do to strenghten my muscels and avoid injuries in the future?

In 2004 i had these personal bests:

800: 2.07
1500: 4.23
3000: 9:50
5000: 16.20


10k: 38.56 (This year), I was doing 2k's at 7min - 10 x 400's @ 1.14 - and some other speed sessions but when i increase training i always end up with knee pain. So as the other expert said, I need to start from scratch and strenghten up. and i also can do the speed sessions i used to do using thread mill or stationary bike.

I hope my explanation makes you understand what i'm asking for.

Thanks in advance

Justin

ANSWER: Shit.
I hate to tell you this, but you don't need to start from scratch at all. Whoever told you this is an idiot. Patellofemoral Syndrome is not caused by a weakness in leg muscles. Rather, it is the cause of too much running with too little rest/muscle buildup. Too much running without your connective tissues in the knee to be strengthened. This can be caused by several things: not enough recovery time, terrain too hard on the knees, need more strength training...So you don't need to stop running and only do leg weights, instead, you need to keep running, but do less of it, get more rest, and put in a little more basic exercises like jump roping, cycling, leg weights.

I know by experience (I struggled in high school with runners knee for awhile) that if you want to start from scratch with a 2 or 3 week recovery period, you need to wrap that knee up and hit that jump rope. Only way to keep in shape and recover at the same time. If you want stop completely and take a rest period, do not use a bike. Do not lift leg weights.

I couldn't tell you anyways how to train with leg weights, because I can't agree and don't see a reason for it.
Jared

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your reply.

Currently what i have been doing was:

20 mins @ 150 Heart Beat
10km Bike
and some exercises for quads.

Regarding rope, Im really good at jumps but people keep telling me to stop doing them when i have knee pain, and the thing is that i dont feel any pain when i jump.

Another thing i would like to ask is. I'm an overpronator and i've been going to physios and Podiatrists but i think they're making it worse. Do you think ortothics reduces knee pain? cause i've been changing ortothics alot but still, i dont feel comfortable running with them and i think pain increases.

Thanks for your time.

Justin  

Answer
Hi,
I don't think ortothics will do any good with knee pain. I think you need to get away from them. From what I know, they need to be used when you have foot problems, not knee problems. If you start training with them, your knees might get adjusted to them and you will teach your body how to run with them. This is not good. This will make it so you can't run right if you don't have them.

Again, these problems you are having are both caused by just plain running without technique/form training. You need some delicate, targeted running instead of just plain running 4:50 1500 workouts. Plain running is for tweaking, and you can't do that until you get these problems under control. It sounds to me like you started off training with them. Like you never taught your body how to run when you first started training. Why would all of the sudden your technique go down the drain?

Overpronating, again, you should be ashamed that you didn't teach your body how to run correctly. The only reason I say this is because by your times, you sound pretty advanced. No offense, but you need to get that under control.
Keep jump roping top train for an efficient, fast footstrike.

And overpronating, the only thing that comes to mind to fix this, is railroad running. Railroading will solve any and every problem that you are having with the inefficiency, uncoordination, or weakness in any problem of your foot and the muscles and tendons that your foot uses. When you run between railroad tracks you are training your body to run with a proper and an efficient footstrike. How? Because you are running on an uneven, rocky surface. You're teaching your body how to not roll ankles, pronate feet; you're teaching your body how to set every new footstep on the rocks with efficiency so you don't fall down and twist your feet up. You may find that you fall on your face the first time you try, and you'll realize that you don't have your footsrike under control.

You CAN fix your body, but you have to target what you're doing wrong, and figure out what kind of training you need to do to fix it. It's a learning process.

Hope this helps, tell me if I didn't touch up on anything.

Jared