Does anyone know the proper balance between hamstring and quad strength? I seem to get patellar tendonitis whenever I start doing squats and I’m wondering if this is due to muscle imbalance. I also want to ask if anyone knows which of the two muscle groups is typically underdeveloped in your average deskjockey.
try warming up on a bike for 5 - 10 mins, then body weight squats, and then start slow. when you get knee pain like that ou have to really warm up
also every 2 or 3 heavy squat sessions do one in the higher rep ranges, like 20 - 30 with moderate weight. i found alternating between heavy and light sessions reduced my knee pain quite a bit.
fish oil, vitamin c, stretching
i think a normal ham - quad ratio is something like 2/3
Yes, it could be from an imbalance. If you’re not doing deadlifts also, you should be. Targeted hamstring work can help as well.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1778726
I’ve had a lot of success avoiding any sort of knee pain by warming up with a bike for 5 minutes, then doing the split squats, lateral lunges and rotational lunges in the above article. I’ll also do a few sets of overhead squats with a chunk of PVC before starting any low body work. From there a few lighter and high rep warm up sets then the work sets.
good luck.
Normally hams/quads is 2/3 but stronger hams are not a bad thing. The VMO, or Vastis Medialis is the part of the quad on the inside of the knee. It is often weak and that can lead to knee instability. It is best worked by deep squats and with Peterson step ups. It basically is preferentially trained at both of the extreme ranges in knee extension.
In my own personal experience knee pain is always from a lack of stretching. For instance, I will notice I am getting tense and I have pain in my knee. For about a week I am really good about stretching on a regular basis. After the pain and tension is gone I end of forgetting about it until about a month later when it all starts over again.
from pgatour.com - it can applied to anyone who sits on their butt most of the day…referred to as ‘gluteal amnesia’…search this site for fixes - worked for me!
"The Lower Crossed Syndrome / “S-Posture”:
One of the most clinically relevant patterns of muscle dysfunction is a lower crossed syndrome. Simply stated, the lower crossed syndrome is a grouping of weak muscles combined with overactive or tight muscles, that create a predictable movement pattern in the lower back that can lead to injury. A physical therapist from the Czech Republic, named of the Vladamir Janda, was really the first person to document this type of muscle imbalance. Janda noticed that many people developed a distinct pattern of muscle imbalances due to prolonged static postures, such as sitting at a desk all day.
He noted that when a muscle is subjected to a short or contracted state for an extended period of time it causes a reflex inhibition or weakening of the muscles on the opposite side of the body, called reciprocal inhibition. For example, if you sit in a chair for eight hours a day, with time your hip flexors will become shortened or tight. Therefore, your brain will automatically start to shut down or inhibit your glute muscles (butt) which are on the opposite side. Now, since your glute muscles are not working properly your body will recruit synergistic muscles like the hamstrings and lower back muscles to assist the glutes in performing hip extension. In other words, you start to recruit muscles that were not intended to be used for specific actions such as walking.
The most common pattern of imbalance that Janda observed, he named the Lower Crossed Syndrome. It is basically the combination of tight hip flexors and a tight lower back, paired with weak abdominals and weak glutes. This combination leads to an excessive arching or rounding up your lower back (swayback), a flabby or protruding abdomen, and a flat butt due to weakness in the glutes. This is a very dangerous combination of muscle imbalances due to the excessive stress that it places on the structures of the lower back.
It is easy to spot a golfer who has a lower crossed syndrome by observing their set-up posture from down-the-line. If you look at their lower back it has an excessive swayback or curvature creating what we call, the “S-posture”.
Some golfers actually put themselves into this position on purpose because they heard it was good to stick their butt out at set up. Unfortunately, if you arch your back to stick your butt out at set up, you are also putting your lower back in jeopardy of being injured.
You can actually stick your butt out at set up without arching your back if you just hinge from your hips and keep your spine in a neutral stable posture. Obviously, this requires good core strength and proper stabilization in the lumbar spine.
So if you have a lower crossed syndrome, the good news is this is very easy to eliminate. All you need to do is perform stretches to help lengthen your hip flexors and lower back muscles, and perform exercises that help develop strength in the abdominals and glute muscles. Once these muscle imbalances are corrected, work on developing strength in a stable neutral lower back posture. Above are a series of exercises that will guide you through the process of eliminating the lower crossed syndrome. Good luck!"
[quote]lil_azn wrote:
from pgatour.com - it can applied to anyone who sits on their butt most of the day…referred to as ‘gluteal amnesia’…search this site for fixes - worked for me!
"The Lower Crossed Syndrome / “S-Posture”:
[/quote]
Wow! Amazing article, thanks a lot lil_azn.