Muscular imbalances

[bluemoon]

I'm not too sure where this post is going to lead to but I'd like to express some thoughts.

I love training and it's my primary physical hobby. I've been lifting for a few years having started at uni, but have only been following the beginnner 5x5 for a month. 2 workouts ago I achieved my first short-term goal of a bodyweight squat, 90kg.

I have a monthly sports massage with a physio. Tonight I discussed muscular imbalances with her as I have noticed my right quads are larger than my left, particularly vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and rectus femoris. I was aware of a slight imblalance and she explained that the development of these muscles through heavy squatting has made it more apparent, ie distinctly visible.

I tensed my quads whilst lying down and she showed how the tracking of my knee cap was skewed. My left knee cap moved slightly laterally to the outside, whereas my right knee cap remained in line.

Before and after my massage she put pressure below my knee, on the patella tendon, and showed how the tension and imbalance in my quads caused pain since it disappeared after the massage.

She strongly advised that I rectify this imbalance before continuing with heavy squatting. She warned me that as the weight increased, so would the potential for any injury, particularly with my patella tendon. As disappointed as I am to hear about it from a professional, I defintely don't want knee surgery!

She has prescribed single leg (quarter) squats and split leg squats on my left leg only. I would expect to see results after 2 weeks of "prehab" (my term for it). She recommended 3x20 3 days per week, which can be increased if necessary.

As I said, I wasn't too sure of the purpose of this post. I'm just bummed out that I can't continue with 5x5, having made such great progress, particularly as I'm 2 workouts away from my next target, 100kg squat. At the moment I feel like the "prehab" is a backwards step rather than a sideways one towards my goal.

Then again, maybe writing this has served it's purpose. Putting it onto the page makes it clearer and my reluctant knowledge that I should sort this out now is coming to the fore. Deep down I fully understand that this is very important and will serve me better in the long tem. I just feel robbed of my 100kg attempt.

I also have a weaker right shoulder girdle, chest and triceps. This was borne out of using an uneven dip attachment - the left bar was slightly higher from the floor than the right. I think I'll address this issue at the same time by doing dips in the reverse direction, causing the right side to cach up. But changing from 5x5 with heavy weights to bodyweight exercises is a signicant change. I'll need to look at my diet, too, and I need to think about how much maintenance of 5x5 I can do whilst "prehabbing".

[atypical1]

Three steps forward and one step back is still forward progress and is much better than injuring yourself.

james