Hey guys, I come to you in my hour of kneed() .
I currently have no cartilage in my right knee and I’m awaiting surgery in Sept. However zwift is my only real love at the moment as its fairly pain free.
So… I want to build some sprint strength up but can’t squat or lunge.
This sounds dismissive–but talk to your PT/physio. Don’t mess with your knees using advice from internet strangers (Plus, a good sports-PT lives for this sort of question. Hit them up, they’ll have a lot to say.)
what you can do is work on your upper body, a strong back (core in general, but if we are excluding legs then there are limited exercises you can do), arm supinators and pronators are all useful for sprinting
I have issues in my knee as well, and my dr tells me it’s fine if I keep working it out. But my knees sound like gravel grinding together in a slow mixer if I do any deep squats (even when I walk up stairs they grind), which sounds pretty bad, so I mentally have a hard time doing any weight exercises even though they say it’s ok.
You might be able to do a trap bar deadlift,.which gives a decent amount of work to your quads.
But GO EASY. I’d be tempted to work on my aerobic fitness btwn now and your op, and then worry about rehabbing your knee and then building strength.
Broader question: why sprint strength in particular? How does your sprint currently compare with the people you’re racing against? Is it even a limiter? Can you find another way to be competitive in races?
Instead work on gradually bringing up your FTP higher. I know that also needs muscular strength too, but you can do it gradually with longer intervals at steady state.
This would be safer IMO. Be cautious and if it doesn’t feel right, stop immediately.