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LBSS, what is VAT?

Also, Raptor, where exactly is you knee pain? What movements cause it?

I've pretty much eliminated all of my knee pain so maybe I can help.

1/8 to 1/4 squat range. First 20% of knee flexion, starting from an extended leg. The pain is on the lateral side of the knee, in the "knee hole" on the lateral side (basically to the right of the patella, in that "hole" in the knee). Some thing in there "snaps" when I get past a point of flexion.

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Don't bother with any other US sites or whatever.

what's wrong with your knee that it hurts even on HBBS? try leg curls, maybe? BSS with front foot close to the bench, so knee flexion emphasis?

I have no idea what's up with my right knee. There's "something" moving in it and it hurts there. It happens after the first 20 degrees of flexion or so (basically 1/4 to 1/8 squat). If you push your finger in that area and keep... whatever it is out there from moving it's OK. But if you take the pressure off it moves and it hurts. Maybe it's a piece of meniscus that's loose? The doc didn't know what to make of it. He said I need an MRI but it's about 200$ or so. And I'm afraid of going into a weird, claustrophobic tube.

But that right knee is a HUGE factor in my sucky two leg jumps... I put a ton of force into the ground but before the take-off I decelerate to take pressure of it... it's pretty much automatic, like the body is trying to protect it. So I guess there's no hope in me jumping well off two feet considering all this.

Yeah, the narrow stance BSS is one of my ideas as well. I really like the slow tempo leg press though - I can put my feet in a series of ways on the platform.

So I went to the gym to do my "volume day" of squats and thought "OK, let me try some ATG, heel elevated narrow stance squats to hit the quads more" - also with a more upright torso.

Well guess what? 85 kg x 8 reps was HARD... this coming from a guy with a wide stance, heels not elevated, low bar squat 1RM of 160 kg. I'm also at 87.5 kg so I'm struggling to do 8 reps with a weight LOWER than 1x.

If anybody was wondering why the hell I suck at jumping off two feet and why my half squat is so bad well - there you go.

I think in the half squat I'm lifting as much as my quads allow - the same happens with the full low bar squat - I'm limited in both of these exercises by the quads, so there's no difference in between them (not such a big difference, that is).

I will continue to use narrow stance, ATG squats and 20 rep slow tempo leg presses to build my quads (as long as my right knee will allow it).

If anybody has any other ideas it'll be appreciated.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ySblouCKs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ySblouCKs</a>

I always use dumbbells... even used a 30 kg dumbbell. I put it between my legs, right under my sack. The dumbbell bar might smell afterwards if you're into that, but otherwise it's all good.

I am personally locking my knees and even trying to actively hyperextending them (I know, sounds terrible) and also am doing the same thing with the hips (going for a posteriorly rotate pelvis at the top) - these two things help me really squeeze the VMOs and glutes, a thing that normally doesn't happen if I don't actively think about it. If I'm just doing "normal" reps these things don't occur. It's a pretty big difference for me (I can feel the VMOs and glutes do work doing this).

Obviously I'm not overdoing it or really exaggerating it to the point of injury, and I'm usually doing it with lower weights. You won't see me think about this doing 1RM stuff.

I don't get the forefoot thing. I've been forefoot dominant my whole life and it seems to be a terrible idea for two foot jumping - I always end up overloading the quad to the point of complete failure or I end up going forward.

I've found out that if I try to stay more on the heels when I plant I can maintain a more vertical torso and go up instead of forward so... it's pretty much the reverse true for me.