Symmetry issues in vastus medialis

[mneugeba]

I've been struggling to address some symmetry issues between my left and right leg vastus medialis (quad: tear drop). I am very right side dominant, and I have issues with my right side being stronger/bigger throughout my body - but nowhere as pronounced as in my quadriceps.

Any training tips on addressing this symmetry issue would be much appreciated.

This is the only photo I have illustrating the difference, and unfortunately it's a bad angle. But my left leg vastus medialis (right side of the picture) is significantly smaller

[ThickAsABrick]

unilateral leg extensions

[mneugeba]

unilateral leg extensions

In your experience, about what duration of integrating unilateral leg extensions in my routine would be required to improve a minor symmetry issue?

Only reason I ask is because I used left leg only leg extensions (both occluded and not) for about 6 weeks and I didn't see any visible change. But I was still doing standard back squats the whole time...

In fact come to think about it - my right side dominance has mildly hampered my squat form. I occasionally come up with an unconscious tilt to the right. I'm sure that's the cause of the problem. Would you advise a break from squats while trying to bring up the left side using leg extensions?

[grumble1]

Unilateral movements in general as well. Unilateral leg presses, split squats, lunges, etc. Just start with the weak leg first and only do the same amount of reps for the strong leg as you did for the weak leg.

[Bostongeorge617]

I had the same issue. If you are curious, take a gander into my progress pics section. I made several changes into my leg routine and saw the left finally catch up. The changes I think contributed the most to this specific issue was eliminating isolation exercises in favor of hard hitting compound movements to get the most bang for my buck, and also just plain old time and consistency.

My once-per-week leg routine evolved into a very simple but brutal one. 4 sets of squat (exclu. warm up), 3 sets front squats OR leg press, 4 sets of walking lunges, 4 sets of SLDL. Done. I trained calves on my shoulder day.