Muscle building and PCOS- Help | Specific Routines | Forum

The best advise I can give you is to do "the big 7" as Darrin would call it.  Lift heavy, and train for strength (maybe some bodyweight stuff as well).  I know you said your knees were bad, and it doesn't seem like flexability is too bad for you (or at least I would assume, since you teach yoga) so your issues with your knees is one of two things.   It's very common for women to have tight IT bands.

First, You didn't have proper form.  i've met people who swear up and down the wall that they are doing it right and know what they are doing, then, after i watch them I see a million and one small things wrong.  Unfortunately, when you are lifting heavy it's the small things that count. 

Second, being that you have some major muscle imbalances that are effecting your knees.  This is more of a common thing than you think.  For example, if you are jogging on an incline and your feet naturally point out it tells me that you have tight calves and are putting a lot of unneccesary stress on your knee joints.  Also, it's ok for your feet to point out on a squat (I'll argue against it on a technicallity from time to time, but it's fine from a saftey standpoint) but ONLY AS LONG AS YOUR KNEES FOLLOW THE ANGLE OF YOUR TOE.  What this means is that your knees should stay behind your toe and not bow out or cave in on the lift.  This is an all too common thing that causes many knee injuries.  As a rule of thumb, if you feel pressure on your shins during a squat you aren't positioning your weight right on your feet and are more prone to injury.

I highly recommend reading this 2 part post on WFN about foam-rolling.  It should help with your posture a lot.

http://worldfitnessnetwork.com…..m-rolling/    pt. 1

http://worldfitnessnetwork.com…..foam-roll/        pt. 2

Darrin said:

I'm no expert on PCOS, but agree with Cameron's comments about knee injuries.  I don't know anyone who has injured their knees by lifting heavy with proper form.  

I do, but they were injured to begin with, and basically re-injured, or injured more…. :)

I definitely understand your blood sugar dilemma.  For a couple things on that dilemma:

1.)  Look up workout routines for athletes with diabetes.  You might be able to find something worth looking into.

2.) Warm-up WELL since you have blood sugar issues.  Same goes for your cool down. 

3.) Try not to put yourself in a position where your head is below your waist (ie. decline bench, decline push-ups,  handstands, etc.) for any prolonged period of time.  It's one thing in yoga when you are doing a down-dog or something along those lines, but it's a bit different when it's a strenuous activity.

As for the knees and joint issue, try taking glucosamine, around 2000mg per day.  Depending on where you are you can find it easily, or not so much.  I know of some places online to find some too, if you would like those options.  Some studies have show that taking 1000+mg of glucosamine repairs joint/ligament damage.  This is controvesial a bit though, because it's only been shown to work sparadically, not on everyone.  So it's worth a try.  Glucosamine also isn't very expensive at all either.

Look into Darrin's E-Book in the store as well called "Solid Preformance."  that should help supplement you in your form.  Also, I know about 6 or 7 months ago Darrin, Greg, and myself had a rather long discussion on squat form/ flexibility on the forums.  Look into that as well… http://worldfitnessnetwork.com…..r-a-while/

(related topic that might be helpful as well: http://worldfitnessnetwork.com…..-and-ufgs/)

We asl had a topic on workout nutrition, this may help with your insulin issues.  I'm not informed too much about your diet, but I feel it's worth taking a look at.  (http://worldfitnessnetwork.com…..kinny-guy/)

These are probably two of the best, most informational topics on the entire website.  Be warned, they do get a bit in depth, so comment on them if you want us to elaborate.  Other than that, hopefully it's a big help.  And good luck.