Hey regular lifters. After the longest time I am getting back into weights and noticed my knees are cracking and popping the whole way through my squats. There is no pain or problems moving but I don’t remember this much noise from a few years ago.
Does this happen to you? Am I just older now?
Thanks.
Ps.
I was only holding 7kg or around 15lb while doing squats.
Very interesting conversation… If I lift dual kettle bells into my chest whilst in a slightly lowered squat position (no idea what it’s called) - my shoulder blades will crack, with no pain.
How old are you? I’m 43, so no doubt it’s something cartilage/age related
I’m 37, my shoulders do the same 
I’m glad I’m at home, I’d feel like the whole gym would turn round
My right hip actually does it on its own accord when I simply change position in bed to be fair! Age sucks!
I have a very similar situation with my shoulders. Any type of over head pressing motion (some times with pushups/bench pressing). Zero pain but I can definitely hear it. I am much younger (29yo) but wore my body down pretty bad in college playing football. I was afraid that the sound was a precursor to something more serious.
This video says could be a sign of arthritis later in life?
I think that is also a sign of a leaky gut!
I have read that too, apparently it is not set in stone and the best thing you can do is lose weight and strengthen your muscles which are both things I’m trying to do 
as for leaky gut, definitely before, I used to have IBS symptoms and inflammation but now I eat a whole food keto diet those have gone away.
Had this chat with my orthopedic surgeon a few years ago- after my fifth knee surgery. Sounds like I have the little Rice Krispie dudes living in my knees. Couple of reasons he pointed out. Synovial fluid—basically the fluid that lubricates our joints… It holds gases, and when knees (or other joints) have rested and then are get used again, those gases are released and “popping” is the common noises you’d hear. (If you go to a chiropractor, that noises that your spine/neck makes when being adjusted is the release of gases too.)
Another reason is the rubbing of ligaments against bones and articular cartilage. If ligaments aren’t stretched properly or enough, that rubbing creates noises.
Wearing down of cartilage is another common reason, but you’d likely experience some pain if that were the case, so it’s probably the release of gas or the ligament rubbing.
Thanks for the info. It was certainly better today so maybe it was just protest noises I think I will look into taking better care of them though.
@Prancing_Pony Two questions, so here are two answers…
Yes, my 60+ yr old knees (and other selected joints) do often make such sounds when exercising … however, since going keto, although still present this phenomenon has been reduced to a large extent.
Yes, you are older now.
57 here and I did a squat once. I hated it and felt like my knees and back were going to fail so I was done with that. My shoulders are shot and I can’t throw a piece of gum away overhand. I do run and stop by the gym two to three times a week but only use weight machines now. To all you younger folks fight it as long as you can but you can’t stop it.
Love it.
A friend of mine said he usually lifted weights twice a week.
Then he added, that’s roughly how many times each week he put them down, too.
The lack of stretching resonates with me. I lift 3-4x a week and almost never stretch. It’s a terrible habit. I probably need to break that before I pay for it down the road.
If you feel pain after overusing your knee, then it can be related to some underlying injury which may be a ligament issue. But the pain you feel seems different because it was started as you were training after a long time. So it might be related to your wrong posture or poor stretching techniques before exercise.