Hi I recently started to weight lift (4 months ago), and I’m having trouble with my legs. I have very long and very skinny legs and have an arthroscopic surgery in my right knee (2000)and even though it was 3 years ago my left leg is much more stronger then my right leg. Can anybody help me in this area? In this four month I have had little to almost no progress in this area.
Thanks for your comments and help.
Try Ian King’s limping series–lots of unilateral work.
try ian ings limping series. some things work one leg at a time. Catch your right foot up to yourleft and you’ll be fine.
I thought this said “One legged work out”
Charles Staley says the long legged person responds best to:
step-ups
leg extensions
zerchers
hack squats
lunges
As a long-legged lifter who has a devil of a time with squats, I can vouch for King’s Limping series. I’m currently doing it myself and my squat is finally going up, my fifth week into the program.
If you choose to do his routine, just remember to start sets requiring unilateral movements with the weaker leg.
Good luck.
Hey,
I have long legs and had knee surgery on the left leg after tearing the cartlidge (medial miniscus). My left leg was really weak and atrophied. I wouldn’t suggest the ian king stuff. that’s too much work for an injury and too much shearing force on the knee all at once.
My first mistake was getting discouraged and not training for six months. I thought it was going to hurt forever. Then I remembered that I had balls. I had to work carefully to catch that leg up. It’s equally as stong now as the other and doesn’t hurt during the lifts unless I take more than a couple of weeks off. Then I have to ease back into it. Here’s what I learned and what helped me get them to equal size and strength without pain:
Warm up extra before leg day-- bike some, do the movement with extremely low weight, etc…
Take your time for awhile. Don’t overwork that leg.
Don’t try to diet at the same time. It won’t grow. At least do maintainance.
Use exercises that don’t hurt, then build up to compound lifts. I did lots of lunges with no weight and bodyweight squats.
Knee extensions and barbell squats hurt. Hack squats were the worst. I cut them out, but later added back in the squats, sumo stance first, then within a few months I could do them with any stance. Deadlifts were helpful and pretty much any hamstring exercise was okay. Knee extensions I could do 6 months later but they aren’t that useful anyway.
Make sure you don’t transfer weight to the good leg. You’ll want to… Just don’t work past the injured legs capacity. You should stop way before pain or muscle failure and avoid excessive volume. When it’s wobbly, you’re done. Working out calves with it having to simply hold up alot of weight helped it regain stability. Also, chrondroitin and glucosamine may help. Icing it down afterwards is something I just started doing that makes it feel better than before the workout.
This is specific to my arthroscopic surgery for the removal of a good chunk of cartlidge. If you tore an acl or did something else to it, it’ll be different. Also, severity, rehab participation, and how much time you had to keep it immobile and not support your weight with it adds to the recovery time. Don’t rush. Good luck.