How to Tell if You Are Quad Dominant

• If you’re not sure that you belong to the quad dominant group, here are some things to look out for.
• In a reclining core exercise, where your back is flat on the mat, you feel your hip flexors muscles. Hip flexor muscles is a group of muscles that run around your groin area and attach the upper legs to torso.
• You always feel the front of your legs when you squat and lunge but nothing much in the back of your leg.
• You feel a strong stretch in the front of your legs when you go into a bridge position.
• Your quads and hip flexors are sore after running and walking

What Causes Quad Dominance

Quads are the muscles across the front of the thigh that are responsible for flexing your knee. The muscles at the back of your legs, hamstrings, and glutes, are responsible for extending your knee and extending your hips. When your body relies primarily on the front on of your leg for extension and flexion of the knee and hips, that’s what’s called quad dominance. In simple terms, there is an imbalance between quads and hip flexors, and hamstrings and glutes.

The muscles in front of your body try to take over every movement even when its none of their business. Our bodies like to take the path of least resistance. When you have weak muscles in your body, the stronger muscles take over the work of weak muscles.

Modern humans like to sit for extended periods of time. All the sitting at the office desk shortens and weakens your hip-flexor muscles and shuts off your butt muscles. This results in a muscle imbalance in your legs and leads to quad dominance very quickly.

Runners and Quad Dominance

Quad dominance presents as overstriding for runners. Overstriding means that the runner’s leg is falling too far in front of the body with an overly extended leg. This results in the knee absorbing most of the landing force which stresses the knee. Overstriding can lead to injuries. Coach Caitlin Sapp explains it well in her blog, “your leg is the pendulum which should move equally in front and behind your body at any speed. When we overstride, the pendulum is swinging more forward than it is backward, as we are not getting the leg behind us while running.”

Another reason why quad dominance doesn’t work for runners is it leads to fatigue early. Quadriceps muscles are made for power and mostly consist of fast twitch muscle fibers which fatigue quickly. Glutes have mostly slow-twitch fibers and are supposed to endure. Relying on your quads results in less endurance and poor aerobic capacity.

Quad Dominant Running Injuries

Whenever I tell someone that I am a runner, people always tell me that they can’t run because it hurts their knee. The painful knees aren’t due to running. The painful knees are a result of poor posture and quad dominance. When a runner is running at speed, a lot of force is required from the muscles to extend the hips. Because of the poor posture and weak gluteus muscles, runners favor the quads to do the work instead of the glutes. This results in sheer forces at your knee which can lead to many injuries for runners.

The most common running injury because of this postural asymmetry is an adductor or quad strain.  Other common injuries seen in quad dominant runners are shin splints, tibial stress fractures, knee osteoarthritis and plantar fasciitis. Notice that these running injuries are in the front part of the legs, the muscles that are overused.

Bottom Line

Strengthening the weak muscles and placing your hips over your feet when you land, can relieve the knee pain, and avoid these leg injuries. Next time you go on your run, make a video of yourself running from a lateral view. Check if your legs are following the full pendulum swing or not.

The post What Does Quad Dominant Running Do? 4 (1) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

Competing in a marathon is a significant accomplishment. It is hard on your body, and physiologically your body goes through many changes. Training for a Marathon for months and building the distance and strength takes a toll on your body and mind. Recovering from a marathon which is part of the training plan, is often neglected by the runners.

Sleeping it off won’t make the post-marathon recovery. Rest is a big component of healing, but there are many other things involved. Improper recovery from your Marathon increases injury risk and increases the total marathon recovery time.

What happens to your body during the Marathon?

Marathons are tough on the body. Every physiological system is pushed to its limits during the Marathon. Some of the systems that undergo stress and damage are mentioned below-

Skeletal Muscle- Marathon running induces inflammation and muscle fiber damage, lasting up to two weeks post-marathon.

Cellular Damage- There is an increased production of creatinine kinase (CK) – a marker that indicates damage to skeletal and myocardial tissue. According to a research study, the CK levels can stay high in blood for more than seven days post-marathon.

Immune System- Immune system is compromised post-marathon. You are more susceptible to catching flu and cold after Marathon.

Here are a few strategies that I have found to help with the recovery process after Marathon completion. 

Keep Walking

Keep walking post-marathon. I know your body will tell you to stop, but that isn’t the best way to recover from Marathon running. By walking, the heart drop is gradual, and the circulation slowly gets back to normal levels. 

Eat and Drink

Eat a carb snack like a banana right after finishing Marathon. Within 30 minutes of finishing the Marathon, drink a protein shake with 30 – 40 grams of protein. Protein is king when it comes to recovery. You might not feel like drinking it, but your body will thank you for it later. You can consume a big meal later for post-marathon celebration.

Ice and Compress

Ice your sore legs and put those compression stockings on.

Stretch

Practice some gentle yoga or stretches for five to ten minutes. My favorite pose is hanging my legs up the wall. It works wonders if practiced before you hit the bed.

Roll and Massage

The following day get your foam roller and roll with it. You can also schedule a relaxation massage after 24 hours. Just make sure the massage is super gentle. A light massage will help loosen your muscles. 

Take a Break

Give yourself a break from running for a week. You can do light walking, stretching, and yoga in the first week. Take the week to celebrate your achievement and show gratitude to your body for pushing through the race.

After the Marathon, your legs are full of muscles damaged and have millions of micro-tears damaged on the cellar level. These steps will help you recover and get back to running efficiently without the risk of injury.

The post Tips for Marathon Recovery 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.