I may have an strength imbalance between my quads and hamstring muscles. i.e. my hammys may be too strong/tight compared to the quads. Does anyone know how to check this with extension vs curls on a weight machine. Should the amount of weight that a distance runner can extend equal the curl amount...etc? Or are there other exercises to check this imbalance out?
The quadriceps should be slightly stronger than the hamstrings.
In healthy individuals, the hamstrings should be able to produce 60-75% of the force produced by the quads.
The only way to correctly test this is with an isokinetic machine, which measures the force produced by the leg and keeps the angular velocity constant. If you know a good physical therapist or exercise physiologist they may be able to help you with this. There are many types of machines; the brand I am familiar with include Biodex and KinCom.
I did a biodex test a while back and it showed that I had stronger hamstrings than quads, although I was battling a bit of a knee injury so that may have affected the results. Its an interesting test to go through, it can give you an idea of your fast twitch vs slow twitch makeup as well.
My hamstring "bit" me last week. Now it is black and blue behind the knee. Anyone know the difference between a pull and a tear? If there is such a difference?
I feel i can jog on a treadmill. Would that be ok?
Should I stretch? Do leg weights?
Any time I start speed work the last 3 years this happens .
Thanks for any input.
Try this site:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/sambc.htm
It's a simple test using single leg extensions and leg curls. I had a lot of tightness and pain in my left hammy a couple months ago. I've gone from way out of whack i.e. 20% ham/quad to about 60% ham/quad in the last 6-8 weeks by avoiding pre-run stretching and just plain running. The only weights I do are the imbalance tests every 2 weeks. I'm sure you would improve faster if you added a little extra weight work on the side that was weaker.
At high speeds, your hamstring/quad ratio actually should be close to 1:1 ratio.
in sprinters it can be as high as 1.2:1.
Imbalanced wrote:
Try this site:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/sambc.htmIt's a simple test using single leg extensions and leg curls. I had a lot of tightness and pain in my left hammy a couple months ago.....
Thanks, that's a good site in general too...
My quads got weaker than the hammys after years of little running. The 2 years I've spent running since have not alleviated the imbalance it appears...So it's off to the gym I go...
Any advice?
I'm a sprinter. This is a reoccuring problem for a lot of sprinters. I had a bad pull/tear about a year ago --the pull caused muscle fiber tear which resulted in internal bleeding, therefore bruising. Your area of injury is probably directly above the bruise due to blood pooling downward. It took me about 6 weeks to get back up to speed. I did work on the elliptical and lots of swimming to maintain my base. I didn't stretch until about 3 weeks after the injury in order to let the muscle heal. Ice and anti-inflammatories helped. I started dead lifts and leg curls after 4 weeks but at much lower weight than I was originally lifting. ART massage helped to break up scar tissue.
For future problems, ease into your speed work. Make sure that your ham strength is at least 70% of your quad strength (leg curl weight to leg extension weight). Stretch religiously. Hopefully this will help you avoid future problems.
Spikez wrote:
thanks spikez. i'm a middle aged 800 type,with a mid-life crisis. Would just like to break 220 for 800 , but numerous injuries and 7 surgeries have frustrated me. Just 3 x 33 sec 200s did me in. Tryin to do 4. Thanks again for the advice. Stay healthy.
I'm a sprinter. This is a reoccuring problem for a lot of sprinters. I had a bad pull/tear about a year ago --the pull caused muscle fiber tear which resulted in internal bleeding, therefore bruising. Your area of injury is probably directly above the bruise due to blood pooling downward. It took me about 6 weeks to get back up to speed. I did work on the elliptical and lots of swimming to maintain my base. I didn't stretch until about 3 weeks after the injury in order to let the muscle heal. Ice and anti-inflammatories helped. I started dead lifts and leg curls after 4 weeks but at much lower weight than I was originally lifting. ART massage helped to break up scar tissue.
For future problems, ease into your speed work. Make sure that your ham strength is at least 70% of your quad strength (leg curl weight to leg extension weight). Stretch religiously. Hopefully this will help you avoid future problems.
sjm1368 wrote:
in sprinters it can be as high as 1.2:1.
Not surprising, since the hamstrings are a bit more Type II than Type I. Also, good sprinters are pulling into hip extension as much or more than they're pushing off into knee extension.
I would be interested to see results of a study on this. All of the machines I've seen and used aren't capable of allowing an angular velocity as fast as needed. Humans are capable of producing very fast movements with which a machine can't keep up. (700+ degrees/sec vs 360, the fastest I've seen a Biodex go).