Help with building legs

[Bagpuss13]

Ive been trying for a while to build my legs but I have a nagging knee injury which makes it difficult. I started doing mainly barbell squats and leg extensions ( I dont have access to a gym so cant use leg press which I love!)

Anyway I have had to go to single leg because my one side is taking over ( Im guessing because of my knee) and I was starting to get muscle imbalance...nothing crazy but I could see it.

So I changed to single leg extentions and Bulgarian split squat just until the imbalance goes....this is kinda working but my knee hurts when doing any type of lunge.....

My question is...as long as I put the muscle into hypertrophy will my legs grow? so if I could use leg extention ( which strangely doesnt seem to hurt it ) and something like bands and time under tension would that work or is it simply not enough? Do I need the weight increase to make the real bulk to the muscle or is there a way I can cut down on the weight but still get the growth?

Thanks in advance

[SuffolkPunch]

It sounds like you are doing mainly quad work. You need to balance this off with posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, back)

Learn to do a Romanian deadlift with a proper hip hinging movement (Alan Thrall and Eric Helms have good videos on this).

Do barbell hip thruster for glutes.

If you knee issue is related to a muscle imbalance (which I suspect) it should get better. If not, it's something else and you need to work with a sports physio - never train through pain.

[Bagpuss13]

It sounds like you are doing mainly quad work. You need to balance this off with posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, back)

Learn to do a Romanian deadlift with a proper hip hinging movement (Alan Thrall and Eric Helms have good videos on this).

Do barbell hip thruster for glutes.

If you knee issue is related to a muscle imbalance (which I suspect) it should get better. If not, it's something else and you need to work with a sports physio - never train through pain.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply...
I cited my quad movements as its mainly those that irritate my knee ( when I isolate the movement to the quad ) I currently start with Romanian deadlifts on leg day as I find them just a great compound move... the knee thing is odd, Im still trying to figure out if its muscle related but it crunches literally everytime I get up from a crouch or kneeling....but not when I put it into extention? (I was thinking maybe a bit of crepitus) but the pain is always sharp behind my kneecap if I try and increase my weight... and a sharp pain makes me stop immediately...

So Im just trying to find a way around it really ( to not aggrevate it) and wonder if I can still get growth ( allbeit a lot slower) without increasing the weight as often and using time under tension more....does that make sense?