MSs/SE1-SE3: Unpleasant sensations in the knee

I worked through the middle split workout today and I love it! I did have some trouble with a couple of exercises about which I would like some advice.

In the MSs/SE1 through SE3 exercises I felt a very unpleasant strain, pretty distinct from a 'normal' stretch, at the medial and posterior side of both of my knees when trying to extend the knee fully. Is this to be expected when starting out with these exercises? What struck me as very odd, was that I did not feel this strain at all (or at the very least at a very reduced intensity) with other exercises, not even with MSs/SE24 (isometric holds).

I have similar problem. Funnily it happens mostly when I try to straighten the leg under tension.

I.e. I can do sls-pe2 from foundation 1 easily but sls-pe3 results in the pain at the back of the knee. It feels like the tendon/ligament/muscle at the back of the knee gets caught on something.

My current plan is to scale the MSs/SE1 and MSs/SE3 back to sls-pe2 and be careful with making progress in all straddle positions. I hope the pain at the back of the knee will go away with time so I can scale the exercises up.

At least I know from experience what happens when I rush it (hint: pain becomes worse).

mehowte said:

I have similar problem. Funnily it happens mostly when I try to straighten the leg under tension.

 

I.e. I can do sls-pe2 from foundation 1 easily but sls-pe3 results in the pain at the back of the knee. It feels like the tendon/ligament/muscle at the back of the knee gets caught on something.

I think it is pretty safe to say that we have exactly the same problem! I am a very curious about is the reason for this problem and, more importantly, how to fix it

Reduce range of motion as necessary until you are pain free and use that as your starting point in your training.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

That sounds logical. Thanks for the advice!

Last training I noticed that the sensation was a lot less than the first training, and today's training I only felt this unpleasantness in the left knee. I then tried digging in between and pulling some of the muscles apart in the left leg while going from left to right as in this video and it seemed to resolve the tension around the knee. I hope the new sensationfree ROM sticks around

Geoff said:

[...] I then tried digging in between and pulling some of the muscles apart  [...]

hmm, that sounds like something I might have to try during MSS/SE22.  Everything else on me was full of adhesions severely restricting my range of motion so it makes sense that this needs worked on too.

Geoff said:

I then tried digging in between and pulling some of the muscles apart in the left leg while going from left to right as in this video and it seemed to resolve the tension around the knee.

 

 

I used to do exactly the same thing. It worked for me quite well. Just be careful not to increase range of motion too much after the release. I hurt myself a bit like that some time ago.