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hams/quad strength

jzpowahz

jzpowahz

Well-known member
So I hear a lot about ham/quad balanced strength and generally that that quads overpower the hammies. I have had a knee issue for about 3 months now and haven't been able to squat (or do anything really quad related like lunges). I was able to deadlift (until I got a groin injury) but now can still do SLDL's no problem.

So question is, is there an issue with having hammies that are stronger than quads (as opposed to the other way around).

Or is there any other free weights exercise that you would recommend for some quad work that won't be too bad on the knee?

Thanks
Chris
 
I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as overly strong hammies in powerlifting! The stronger the hammies the better.

Hamstring dominance is a different thing however. If you're hamstrings activate before your glutes do, then this a motor pattern that can lead to weak glutes and other problems with your hips and low back.

If you've had quad related knee problems, this is in fact more likely to be a sign of weak or dormant/inactive glute & hammies, rather than strong hammies/weak quads.
 
He could also be very tight through the quads
I've noticed since I started squatting my knees would be sore for a couple of days after - and my quads were REALLY tight (tighter than normal anyway)
 
It's very difficult to give you an answer and with the information or lack of and at best all recommendations are speculative

I will say that the knee is a tricky area, a very complex joint.

An injury requires complete rest, once healed a list of exercises should be implemented as a means of building strength back into the muscles involved in moving the joint.
The weight should be light enough to perform a set amount of reps in good form full range of movement slow and controlled, three sets, slowly increasing weight over a period of time.
 
The knee injury is not lifting related. Got it from jui-jitsu through a twist with pressure and the pain is on the outside. I am booked in for MRI so will know more soon.

I can do body weight squats no problem and light front squats last week were no issue.

I do a lot of stretching for mma training and use foam roller pretty much everyday so I don't think there's much more I can do for flexibility/tightness of muscles.

Might try these hack squats and see how it feels.

strong enough?: so how can you test for the motor pattern being correct? I do a fair bit of glute activation work before squatting and deadlifting (when I could do them). The doctor said that the strength in quads could actually be helping mask a bit of the knee injury if that helps at all.
 
There is are a couple of tests used to determine hamstring dominance but you can't self perform them - someone places one hand on the glute and one of the hamstring and gets you to do a few drills and feels for the motor activation pattern.

But if you are hamstring dominant what you'll find is that on say a glute bridge - if you rep out 20-30 reps, if your hamstrings tire or cramp up before your glutes do, fair to say you are hamstring dominant.

If you are hamstring dominant its possible to do glute activation work without necessarily correcting an incorrect motor pattern - to get the benefit out of it, you have to consciously activate glute while inhibiting hamstring. One way to do this is to force your quads to contract while activating glute by flexing your knee - this will switch off your hammies.

I think it's probably smart to wait for your MRI before forming a plan of attack. And I don't think your hammies becoming too strong is anything to worry about. I only referred to dominant hammies as the only example I could think of where "overly" strong hammies might be a bad thing.
 
Tried those hack squats. I think my ass is too big :p Got stuck everytime. exrx said "Individuals with short arm to torso ratio or protracted shoulder posture, may find this exercise very difficult to perform." ?
 
With my knee MRI I found that it is good to not read the radiologist's report. My physio and doc told me what the radio would say and then showed my why it was incorrect. My GP would have made the same cockup, too. Who is requesting your MRI?
 
jzpowahz said:
Tried those hack squats. I think my ass is too big :p Got stuck everytime. exrx said "Individuals with short arm to torso ratio or protracted shoulder posture, may find this exercise very difficult to perform." ?
Click to expand...

Don't know about that...I have relatively short arms and yet I'm very strong on Hack squats (done 320kgs for 6 reps)
 
TLS said:
With my knee MRI I found that it is good to not read the radiologist's report. My physio and doc told me what the radio would say and then showed my why it was incorrect. My GP would have made the same cockup, too. Who is requesting your MRI?
Click to expand...

Physio's and GP's won't be able to interpret the MRI as well as a radiologist.

The radiologist will include all visible pathology on the report. If they ignored the radiologists report then there was probably no point in getting the MRI, or the requesting doctor didn't fill out the request properly.
 
You are entitled to your opinion.

My doc wasn't a GP (My GP was an Epic Fail in this case), he was an Orthopaedic Surgeon (Dr Jim Fardoulys), specialising in Knees and Elbows. I agree that most GPs and regular physios would not be able to interpret the MRI as well as a radiologist. That's why I recommended taking it to the Phsyio above. I have full confidence that this physio (who has treated well over 10,000 broken knees) would be able to interpret the foils better than a number of radiologists. He is a sports physio with extensive experience with Qld Cricket, Bris lions and a number of rugby teams, and works on most of the cases from the Orthopaedic Surgeon mentioned above.

My radiologist didn't miss anything, but they did give a false positive. They indicated a rupture in a structure, which was totally incorrect (demonstrated in clinic and proven in surgery.) I should have said, "It is a good idea to not take the radiologist's report as gospel."

For all I know, JZP's GP is also well versed with knees and may well be able to interpret and remedy. But I am guessing low probablility of that.
 
^ Ahh that changes things. That's possibly bad reporting that led to a false positive, could be a number of things though.

I'd guess that the orthopaedic surgeon and the physio were able to correctly diagnose your problem due to a large amount of clinical experience rather than their expertise in reading MRI's. It's good when doc's don't rely completely on medical imaging to make a diagnosis.
 
Cool

I had ruptured my ACL, but due to my generally sloppy ligaments it was hard to tell clinically. The radiologist confirmed the ACL rupture but came back with me having ruptured something else as well. Turned out to be garbage, it was just the ligament disappearing off one set of foils and appearing at another place in the next set.
 
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