# Quad Muscle Imbalance



## JCEMTB (Mar 3, 2010)

Hello all!
I have a little bit of problem; back when I played soccer in high school and my first year in college, I injured my left knee, spraining my ACL and MCL on 3 different occasions. I let it heal up yadda yadda and didn't really notice any difference until this past year:

My left quad muscle atrophied...a lot and is a lot smaller than my right quad. I now realise I also really favor putting all my weight on my right knee and tend to shy away from putting much weight on the left knee subconciously. 

Anyone have any tips on how to correct this imbalance? I've been doing leg presses and some exersizes my athletic trainer used to show me when I was rehabbing it. Anyone have any other ideas??

Thanks!


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## Dreadnought (Mar 3, 2010)

Just exercises in general that target the quad muscles...

You could start developing the pistol (one-legged squat), one leg step ups (stepping up to a higher platform with weights), lunges/weighted lunges.  I wouldn't totally neglect training your other leg too though


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## 46Young (Mar 3, 2010)

In addition to that, you can do the bulgarian split squat, cossack squats, suitcase deadlifts, and one KB/DB front squat.

The cossack squat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmOJsJBdFOA

Start with the weak side, obviously. Maybe do 2 reps on the weak side for every one on the strong  side.

Oh, you'll find that pistols actually get easier with a 10-25lb weight. any higher and they become more difficult than BW.


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## JCEMTB (Mar 4, 2010)

thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I'll start incorporating a few of those things into my leg workouts. ^_^


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## Akulahawk (Mar 5, 2010)

In addition to the above, you should do some knee flexion and extension exercises on a machine. While closed chain exercises are very useful, open chain exercises can also be quite useful, as they can target specific muscle groups. Don't focus on doing one type or the other, as both are useful in their own ways. Another way to work on your strength is to do some work on an isokinetic machine, if your gym has one. Most don't. They're pretty specialized and expensive equipment...


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## Dreadnought (Mar 5, 2010)

Machines are for girls


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## Akulahawk (Mar 5, 2010)

Machines have their place... but I find that after a certain point, closed chain exercise becomes much more useful as they get your body's muscle groups working together to achieve a specific result. Open chain resistive exercise can be quite useful in developing strength in specific muscle groups... and therefore, helping increase mass. 

Machines aren't for girls... It's just that most guys don't know how to use them correctly...or when!


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## fit4duty (Mar 5, 2010)

JCEMTB said:


> Hello all!
> I have a little bit of problem; back when I played soccer in high school and my first year in college, I injured my left knee, spraining my ACL and MCL on 3 different occasions. I let it heal up yadda yadda and didn't really notice any difference until this past year:
> 
> My left quad muscle atrophied...a lot and is a lot smaller than my right quad. I now realise I also really favor putting all my weight on my right knee and tend to shy away from putting much weight on the left knee subconciously.
> ...



First question: what was the root cause of the initial injury -- and has it been addressed medically or through therapy or both.

Next question is what are your currently mobility and strength parameters, what can it tolerate.

As for effective exercise I am of the opinion that, that is determined by the answers of the two questions above.

Think balance -- is whatever exercise you are choosing provide activation of both the agonist AND antagonist muscle groups to the proportionally same degree

Think position -- are you able to put yourself in the proper position AND maintain that position for the duration on the exercise to allow for the right muscles to turn on or the right length of time with antagonists turning off

Think execution -- are you able to perform in a bio-mechanically correct fashion that will allow for maximum benefit and minimal risk of injury. 

Apply those 3 thought processes to your training and the rest becomes relatively simple.


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## Dreadnought (Mar 6, 2010)

Akulahawk said:


> Machines have their place... but I find that after a certain point, closed chain exercise becomes much more useful as they get your body's muscle groups working together to achieve a specific result. Open chain resistive exercise can be quite useful in developing strength in specific muscle groups... and therefore, helping increase mass.
> 
> Machines aren't for girls... It's just that most guys don't know how to use them correctly...or when!



I see what you're saying -- machines are for girls, and... girly men?


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## JCEMTB (Mar 6, 2010)

To fit4duty,

the initial injury occured senior year of highschool at soccer practice.I was a goalkeeper, stopped a shot with a weird kind of kick save, force of it twisted my knee pretty bad as it caught the tip of my toe. I saw my physician, given anti-inflammatories and told to rest, was sprained MCL and ACL.. Healed up okay. 

Reinjured it a second time running, did not work up to the mileage I was doing, doctor said it was caused by overuse "runners knee". Any soreness or pain I have is more my MCL than anything, that is what I hurt the worst, my ACL no pain, that side of my knee is fine. 

My current mobility and strength, I move pretty much fine with it. I can run/jog/sprint without it acting up too much. But it is noticable that that side is weaker and that I favor my right leg. I can lift a cot into the ambo fine, but again, I noticed I subconsciously favor putting most the weight onto my right leg. As for pain, it just gets achy here and there, it isn't anything terrible.


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## rescue99 (Mar 6, 2010)

JCEMTB said:


> Hello all!
> I have a little bit of problem; back when I played soccer in high school and my first year in college, I injured my left knee, spraining my ACL and MCL on 3 different occasions. I let it heal up yadda yadda and didn't really notice any difference until this past year:
> 
> My left quad muscle atrophied...a lot and is a lot smaller than my right quad. I now realise I also really favor putting all my weight on my right knee and tend to shy away from putting much weight on the left knee subconciously.
> ...



Hopefully you have insurance to help cover the cost of seeing a sports therapist. Our's cover some therapy and we kicked in for the rest. It was absolutely the best money we ever spent on our son's recovery. From time to time he still goes back for a couple of rehab visits so he keeps doing his workouts right. The cause his is different and his knees are affected but, the muscle wasting is the same.


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