The hamstring/quad imbalance.

[Black Knight]

Something that was brought to my attention upon reading Never Gymless by Ross Enamait was the imbalance in most peoples training of there leg muscles.Think about it alot of people are always bragging or simply stating how many Hindu Squats or BW Squat they can do but how many do the same proportion or even close to it of hamstring work.

Somehting he doesnt mention in his book (but i was inspired by his thinking )that came to mind was not only the strength imbalance of the training but the stretch imbalance as well.Time after time i see people stretch the crap out of there dear old hammies while giving maybe just a few tugs at there incredibly powerful quads.

The imbalance stops here.Train those hammies and stretch those quads.

Peace

[Greg Newton]

Good points Dark Knight. What exercises do you do for the hamstrings? The main exercise I do is the Leiderman leg pressout. Indirectly I hit them with 90 degree stepups and Isometric deadlifts.

[gruntbrain]

Help the economy & but a glute/ham device; use it face up & it even works the quads. Such a gizmo allows you to perform a variety of isotonics & max contraction isometric stretches

[gruntbrain]

Backwards running is a real quad killer; exercise caution. Sissy Squats are another. Regular squats hit both the quads & hammies with more emphasis on the quads

[Viking Dan]

Speaking of hamstrings, this is one of the few things I find an exercise ball useful for:

http://www.myfit.ca/exercisedatabase/images/exercise_ball_hamstring_curl.gif

There's also this monster of an exercise: http://www.gymmonsters.com/pages/reversehamcurl.html

[Black Knight]

I have to wonder how someone can have stronger hams then quads.It would seem that one would have to work hard to gain such an imbalance since the quads are naturally more involved directly in most major movements-running,jumping etc.

Somebody please explain to me how this imbalance can accure naturally.

[Jon88keys]

The only thing I can think of from my experience are folks that don't like big quads...ballet dancers in particular. They use turnout to work the inner leg muscles, although they do lots of jumping exercises and I suppose that would have to do something for the quads.

What's interesting to me about this stuff is for years I heard the correction "don't work with excessive tension; it will build your quads" While in my own life and exercises I am doing exactly that on purpose: I'm using tension to build muscles though things like the M7 and such. I suppose that just speaks to the different training goals we possess and the tools we use to get there.

Changing the subject: how is your rehab going? Are you headed back for the ring soon?

Best Wishes,

Jon

[gruntbrain]

I have no clue about the ham/quad balance. Hence I work both & hope for the best. Full ROM moves for both may be good preventative Rx

[Black Knight]

John im hoping you could step in here and solve this mystery.How can this imbalance occure.99.9% of people are going to have stronger quads unless some sort of genetic defect comes into play.Are bodys were designed to work that way.

[Jon88keys]

Honestly Black Knight I really don't know, and anything I would say on the subject would just be ill-informed musing.

So here goes! :)

I think muscle strength and functionality is not always a function of muscle "size" per se. The practice of isometrics and also witnessing ballet style strength exercises (which are designed to foster strength and flexibiltiy, not through 'pump" but through more of what I'd call "aerobic isometrics" or "slow aerobic isotonics") have proved this to my satisfaction.

Anyway more to your point...

I would think that a Herschel Walker style pulling of heavy objects would do wonders for the hamstrings unless my understanding of the muscle is faulty. I would think a sprinter would have glorious hamstrings also. Also if I spent most of my day trying to push a boulder I suspect that my hamstrings would be stronger than my quads...not that I'm interested in trying that!


But I'm not a doctor or a sports medicine specialist so I think I'll hush up now and let the experts weigh in.

Take Care

Jon

[foxdevel]

Hi all, new here. I found this thread while googling for some good exercises for my quads because I have recently had some painful first hand encounters with hamstring/quad imbalance.

I had been playing paintball and went from a kneeling into a spring and my quads (both of them) basically shut down and put me on my face. After discussing the issue with my brother who is a sports injury therapist he said well its no surprise as you spent your entire youth skating backwards when we played hockey and you wake up every single morning and touch your toes for a few minutes.

Looking at my leg and then at his I could see the difference in the profile. It almost looked like my human kit did not come with quads. I am working on doing some lunges and other quad strength/flexibility exercises now and have noticed (after healing up) a big difference after my first week back on the field. I can still feel a serious load when executing any sprint or rapid transition from kneeling to walking/running but its coming along.

I am wondering if anyone thinks that a thigh wrap may help during activity. Any thoughts?

[Alan_OldStudent]

Hi FoxDev,

Welcome to the forum.

Try this:e
Stand with feet around shoulder width apart or maybe a bit closer.
Take a deep breath.
Tense up your abdomen by trying to touch your spine with your belly button.
Tense up your hamstrings, buttocks, quadriceps, and calves.
Keeping this tension, keeping your legs and knees straight, but not locking the knees, bend down at the waist, letting your arms dangle. Slowly exhale while doing this.
Feel the tense hamstrings stretching and keep your belly button massaging your spine. Feel the tense quads and calves.
When you have gone as far as you can comfortably go without pulling something, s-l-o-w-l-y come back to the starting position while inhaling and maintaining tension.
At the top of the movement, relax for several seconds and visualize blood and energy flowing into your legs, lower back, and abdomen.

Don't do these rapidly. They require great mental focus.
Pay attention to:
The inhalation going up and exhilation going down
Relaxing between repetitions, while visualizing energy and blood flowing through the muscles.
Taking an extra deep breath between repetitions.
Try to develop a slow coordinated graceful rhythm.
These hit the lower back, abdomen (core), and the hamstrings while giving you a nice stretch. But they depend on focusing on the muscle tension and breathing for their effectiveness.


Regards,

Alan OldStudent

[tom]

Like Black, I'm surprised that a person's hamstring strength exceeds their quad strength. Never heard of it happening without intent.

I learn something new everyday.

Guess now I can go back to bed.

Tom

[mike]

I have to wonder how someone can have stronger hams then quads.It would seem that one would have to work hard to gain such an imbalance since the quads are naturally more involved directly in most major movements-running,jumping etc.

Somebody please explain to me how this imbalance can accure naturally.

It takes a little more nuanced view of anatomy then usual but the hamstrings are not as useless as one might imagine. Because people are chronically sitting around these days the glutes and hamstrings tend to be turned off and almost never utilized but were they to be functioning normally they are equally important to most major activities. The quads extend the knee but the hamstrings are what pull the leg back, making them perhaps even more important in running, especially sprinting. So as far as running, if you are doing sprint work, or running hills or basically anything besides walking on a treadmill (which basically does the hamstring work for you) the hamstrings are also prime movers in a sense.

Additionally the glute/hamstring group is what extends the hips. If you used only the quads in a squat movement you would find yourself bent over at the waist with your legs straight. It is the the muscles of the behind that really pull the hips forward and up in leg work. This is why the straighter you stand up (the more you force yourself to keep your hips extended) the more you feel your glutes/hamstrings in step ups.

So to Finally answer your question, someone who does a lot of stepping up, sprints, runs hills and doesn't spend all day behind a desk could very easily build their hamstrings up more then their quads, especially if they have strong hip flexors that do more work when running


edit- I just thought of a pretty good analogy. So most people consider the hamstring to be the relatively weak bicep to the quads powerful tricep. But! compare sprinting to rock climbing. While it might seem like the quad extending the knee is what propels you forward this would only be true if you ran very straight up and down or backwards such that the extension of the knee could actually create movement. So, just like the triceps have to push your hands forward to grab onto a rock but it is really the pulling (bicep) action that moves you forward, in the same way the quads extend the foot but the hamstrings pull the back and extend the hips.

[Scott Silva]

Something that was brought to my attention upon reading Never Gymless by Ross Enamait was the imbalance in most peoples training of there leg muscles. Think about it a lot of people are always bragging or simply stating how many Hindu Squats or BW Squat they can do but how many do the same proportion or even close to it of hamstring work.

Yeah, Ross likes the Glute Ham Raise
http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=783

This was actually a problem I was having when I was doing 100’s of reps in Hindi squats all the time. I began to notice my hamstring & lower-back size/strength had depleted a bit whereas my quad size/strength had seemingly remained the same. At the time I didn’t know about the glute-ham raise & I wasn’t doing sprint work, or running hills really much at all, or enough that would work my hamstrings thoroughly.

In weightlifting I had always trained my hamstring & lower back strength with straight-leg deadlifts, balancing out with also doing back squats working my quads, glutes & other areas & never had an imbalance problem, but with the bodyweight work I DID begin to get different problems.

This IS a fixable problem though I believe, in working up to performing the above exercise for the hamstrings & putting out on exercises like below that touch on hitting the lower back….

Body Levers
http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=509

Also, the standing ab wheel roll out (Superman Rollout) is also an outstanding lower back (& core of course) movement.

I believe this is John's thought as well...

WB

[douglis]

Someone has the ideal ratio when hamstrings are 80% as strong as the quads.But at 9 out of 10 people their hamstrings have hardly the 50% of their quads strength.Sprinters are an exception.This is a very common reason of injury especialy for the cruciate ligaments.This is also why most people find it hard to "feel" the VRT leg exercises where you oppose quads to hamstrings.