Building Quads

Brian?

Looking for a bit of advice here.

I am currently trying to build strong quads, mainly as I have damaged cartilage in my left knee and the best thing I can do for it seems to be building up the quad.

At the moment I am doing:

Leg Press: 3x8, one leg at a time.
Leg Extension: 3x8, one leg at a time.

On both i do all 3 sets before swapping legs.

I was thinking of swapping the leg press for squats on a smith machine and maybe throwing in some lunges.

My concern is that lunges might be a bit too high impact on the knee.

I also do a fair bit of cycling.

Anyone have any advice on what I should think about doing differently.

Cheers.
Brian

Hanley

Building muscle on your quads for appearance sake is gonna be a totally different ball game to building muscle to enhance knee stability. Talk to a professional about the latter.

Brian?

Hanley wrote: »

Building muscle on your quads for appearance sake is gonna be a totally different ball game to building muscle to enhance knee stability. Talk to a professional about the latter.

I thought what I am doing is building muscle for stability, is it not?

I've been to a physio who gave me excercises to do at home, which helped initially but its only since joining a gym 6 months ago and starting to do weights that my knee has really improved.

Brian

spiral

You probably need to do a mix of BW and free weights exercises , single leg and double leg. I damaged my ACL last year and was given a lot of single leg exercises to do . Single leg squats , single leg knee drops , stepups, step downs , lateral stepups , single leg RDL's , Lunges , walking lunges, bridges single and double leg off a swiss ball. I also squatted BW only and with a bar Front and Back Squat. Cycling and rowing were also recommended.

This is what was recommended to me . You really need to see a good sports physio and find out what is recommended for you , how you should start off and get a progression and some goals to aim for.

Hanley

briankeating wrote: »

I thought what I am doing is building muscle for stability, is it not?

I've been to a physio who gave me excercises to do at home, which helped initially but its only since joining a gym 6 months ago and starting to do weights that my knee has really improved.

Brian

It's as much a function of creating correct motor patterns and ensuring all the various muscles around your knee are working properly, as it is just building muscle.

"Educating" your muscles to stabilise the joint properly is as important as making them bigger. If you're not activating the right muscles at the right time, the pain and injury will only get worse.

I couldn't tell you how to achieve this tho, that's why you need to go and talk to a professional.

If everything is in check and working properly then squats, NOT done on a smith machine, will be your friend.

BossArky

briankeating wrote: »

Anyone have any advice on what I should think about doing differently.

Try incorporating 3 to 5 sets of single leg split squats into your routine. 8 to 10 reps per set.

I have no clue about knee injuries, but I found these helped my stability in general. i.e. now I don't fall over doing them :pac:

• Make sure your knee dosen't go further forward than your ankle.
• Put a plate or some marker on the ground so that you have the forward foot in at the same point when exercising each leg.
• Put the back foot on something like a window sill / bench / lower bar of squat frame.
• Add some weight once you can do the above reps and sets comfortably.

Brian?

Thanks for the advice.

Whats wrong with doing squats on a smith machine?

Brian

Colm_OReilly

The Smith Machine, apart from hanging towels, has a limited, if not dangerous, use.

It forces your body to move along an unnatural pathway. If you were to squat that way without the machine you'd fall over as your centre of gravity is in front of the weight.

It eliminates the posterior chain, which is the primary driver in a back squat.

It doesn't require the body to stablise itself, and the load, over the midpoint of the foot. So you're losing the benefit of squatting for stability.

Which could lead someone to ask how come they exist - there are far greater salesmen out there than I, and using a smith machine requires little to no instruction, whereas free weights do.

Brian?

Cheers Colm.