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2005/10/09, 10:31 PM
Second to underdeveloped hamstrings, are hamstrings that are not properly balanced. This is a problem that I know I have, but was unaware of exactly it was. I recently read an article on hamstring development by Charles Poliquin, and it forced me to realize that it was this inbalance that was causing my feet to turn out during heavy front squats and cleans and snatches.
If you don't know who Charles Poliquin is, then you should find out... He has forgotten more about strength training and athletic development than anyone here will ever know. At 18 he learned german to read the german journes on strength training. He has probably had the largest impact on the way athletes train today out of anyone. Name any strength coach, DeFranco, Alwyn Cosgrove, Louie Simmons, anyone, and they have been influenced by Poliquin.
Anyways, basicly, there are two major muscles of the hamstring. The medial hamstring and the biceps femuris (sp?). The medial hamstring is responsible for rotating the feet in, while the bicep femuris rotates the feet out. If you have an inbalance in one or the other, then it will show while training your hamstrings. Here is an exerpt.
"How to find out if your hamstrings are balanced.
When there is a muscular imbalance, the body never lies. To do a simple test to see if there is a head of the hamstrings that needs remedial specialization, select a weight you can do for 6RM in the Leg Curl with your feet in the neutral position.
As you reach muscular failure, your feet will rotate in one direction if there is a lack of balance between the two heads of the hamstrings. If they turn towards the midline of the body (medial rotation), your semi-tendinosus and your semi membranosus are too strong for your biceps femoris.
If they turn away from the midline of the body (lateral rotation), your biceps femoris is too strong for your semitendinosus and semimembranosus."
Poliquin uses the proper names for the medial hamstring, semitendinosus and semimembranosus. I have noticed that my feet turn outward often, esp in movements that train triple extension, and in hyperextensions. I hope you guys find this information useful.
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2005/10/09, 11:52 PM
lol....just realized not only are my hamstrings overdeveloped compared to quads but my bicep femoris tends to dominate towards the last couple reps as my toes tend to go outward as I am fighting for last couple reps....eh...
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2005/10/10, 12:29 AM
You have OVERdeveloped hamstrings??? Thats not something most people usually have.
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2005/10/10, 07:30 AM
But wouldn't the rotoation out just be the bodies way of going naturaly to the strongest muscle for the rest of the reps? Dunno if that made sense....?
That last one or 2 reps isn't all that bad.....only if you did it on all of them I would think?
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Friends don't let friends squat high...
People don't reach thier true potental, only those who seek it.
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2005/10/10, 08:00 AM
It seems so...I mean i can SLDL considerably more than I can squat.....what's a good test to check for such an imbalance?
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2005/10/10, 01:01 PM
You mean an imbalance between hamstrings and quads? Do a 6RM in the hamstring curl as opposed to the leg extension.
Your hamstrings should be at LEAST 60% of your quad strength.
I have heard that in some world class sprinters, hamstring strength is over double quad strength.
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Your two most important minerals: Iron and Chalk.
If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
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2005/10/10, 10:45 PM
sdl also has alot of back in it too.....
But does yoru feet rotating out mean theres an imbalance.....or just your bodies natural way of "getting it up" so to speak?
Kinda like on bench, when you get stuck, your push towards your toes, like on a decline which somtimes causes butt to come off pad.
Kinda a bad example......but still
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Friends don't let friends squat high...
People don't reach thier true potental, only those who seek it.
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2005/10/11, 12:51 AM
fresh...i can do about 305(max) on sitting leg extension machine for about 10-12 reps...and i can do sitting leg curl machine of about 300-305(not quite sure as the machine goes to about 205, so I had to stack plates on top) for about 3-4 reps....my hamstrings are very strong....
when I do SLDLs...i take my back out of the exercise...I do it similarly to ronnie coleman...where i drop down to about where I would with RDLs and then come up about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up....I feel it almost completely in my hamstrings....I basically work through about middle portion of ROM...so that I don't go low enough to set the weight nor come up high enough to lock the weight out.....
I have also noticed since I got much stronger, especially on DLs, I can sprint down the court quite a bit faster....beating down some smaller players in rec games in bball....as well as jumping much higher....
I think when the body gets tired, it leans towards using the strongest muscles...so that what wrestler said makes perfect sense....the strongest muscles also have a tendency to stay fresh longer so that they can be pushed harder at the end of sets....thus the tendency of people to push inward or outward with toes if there's an imbalance....
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2005/10/11, 03:28 PM
what leg extension machine are you on that goes up to 305?
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Friends don't let friends squat high...
People don't reach thier true potental, only those who seek it.
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2005/10/11, 06:41 PM
don't remember...i'll write it down next time....it has 290 resistance in 20 increments, and then 3 plates of 5lb sideways which u can add on....u can also overload the machine I think...but since I never do it as primary exercise I don't bother....but I think i can probably get it to about 400....(put 45 plate on pin, and then put special plates they got on top of the stack....)
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2005/10/12, 04:45 PM
I find that when I walk, my feet tend to want to turn out...does that mean my hamstrings are unbalanced?? if so how do I exercise one part of my hamstring more than the other to get them in balance again?
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