Working Hamstrings and Quads ?

[gb123]

Generally most people have weaker Hams than they do Quads.

But in the odd cause where you can lift more with your hams or you can lift around the same what should you do ?.

I find this kind of interesting because i'd want to keep my legs in proportion, but im unsure whether i should be lifting x amount more with my quads or what ?

What do you think ?

[dallasmsl]

MAN! I wish I had that problem. I've been training my quads separately from my hamstrings. In other words, on separate days all together. Like today, I'm going to train hams and along with calves and some other upper body part - maybe blast some hammer curls or something. I don't really have a scientific answer for you but the fact that you're training your legs puts you lightyears ahead of other lifters!

[brent]

Use Good-Mornings. They really get the hams well, and they get the length of the hams, not just the bulge in the middle. Also, be sure you rest enough between leg workout: they are huge muscles that take a long time to recover. Don't over-train them!

[hulkmuscle]

Think of your legs as you'd think about your biceps. You have two opposing muscle groups working in tandem (Bis/tris, quads/hams). In fact, if you think of it, even though the "bulge" is in the rear, your hams are like the bicep of your leg. Naturally, you need to treat them with equal care in order to have proportionate legs. On a squat or a leg press, your quad is what pushes the weight on the positive stroke of the exercise, but it's the hams that stabilize and pull on the negative.

Now, in your case, since your hams are the seemingly stronger of the two groups, which tends to be less common, here are a couple of ideas.

1. Pre-exhaust your compound moves with leg-extensions. This way you'll fry the quads first and they will be working harder on your leg presses and squat.s

2. When you do squat (assuming you do), how do you perform them? Freeweight or on a Smith machine? If your feet are fairly far in front of the bar, you'll work your hamstrings more than the quads. Make sure on Smith squats especially, your legs are barely in front of the bar. Adjust the weight accordingly.

3. On leg presses, the higher you put your feet on the platform, the more the hams take over. Instead, put your feet as low as you can on the platform, and adjust the weight accordingly.

4. You can add additional exercises that emphasize the quads, such as hack squats (again feet low on the platform), sissy squats (which stretch the fascia of the quads), one-legged squats (other leg in back of you on a bench).

5. De-emphasize ham training if your strength proportions are dramatic. Do maintenance work on leg curls and stiff-leg deadlifts (good mornings are really more of a lower-back exercise because you round your back; on stiff-leg deadlifts and romanian deadlifts you keep your back flat which throws the emphasis on hams) until you feel your quads are at a suitable level.

I prefer to train hams on their own day, usually with lower-back work. This way I get them when they're fresh, and I'm not wiped out from quads. And no, they don't need to be 50/50. Most guys just don't train hams hard for the same reason they don't train back...if it ain't it front, it's not as important.

Hope this helps provide some insight. Good luck!

[gb123]

Cool, thanks for the advice ..

[glammaman2000]

...hard to explain....Either work with a partner or on a knee-pad.Face away from your partner.He holds your ankles down.You are on your knees with your hands on your head.If you don't have a partner,brace your ankles with your face away from the brace;on your knees/Place your hands on your head&tip your body AWAY from your ankles;your body from shoulder-to-knee stiff.Lead with your pelvis.It's kind of like a leg curl;only using your full body-weight.Best of luck!g.