Leg Rehab

[KingKong44]

I broke my left leg a few years ago but never really got into rehabbing it properly. I am a basketball player and my left leg is(was) my power leg. I got into training on and off (I never did any sort of weight training before the injury.) but my upper body was the main focus because it was discouraging to see the weakness in the leg, and when I did train legs it was always double leg press etc. This made the right one continously grow larger than the left one, and then I just stopped legs altogether. My leg power was always much more dominant than my upper body and I could dunk at 5'11"(probably from track and feild.) I am gonna start doing single leg everything and double up on the left leg, as I was advised in another forum.

Has anyone had to deal with this and had some successfull results?

Should I do explosive leg press reps right away? Or should I do slow movements untill the size is up and then go for explosive? (my right leg is alot larger than my left, to me.)

 

[timtim]

I broke my left leg a few years ago but never really got into rehabbing it properly. I am a basketball player and my left leg is(was) my power leg. I got into training on and off (I never did any sort of weight training before the injury.) but my upper body was the main focus because it was discouraging to see the weakness in the leg, and when I did train legs it was always double leg press etc. This made the right one continously grow larger than the left one, and then I just stopped legs altogether. My leg power was always much more dominant than my upper body and I could dunk at 5'11"(probably from track and feild.) I am gonna start doing single leg everything and double up on the left leg, as I was advised in another forum.

Has anyone had to deal with this and had some successfull results?

Should I do explosive leg press reps right away? Or should I do slow movements untill the size is up and then go for explosive? (my right leg is alot larger than my left, to me.)

nothing explosive to start. ever. as for doubling the work on the one leg, i would wait to do that first and see how i respond to the unilateral training first. you might not need to double anything.

 

[zedhed]

Start out with small weights and progress slowly. Your bod will tell you when its time to add weight. Also read everything you possibly can about squats, deadlifts and lunges. DO NOT DO LEG EXTENSIONS, at least for several months. Also read up on mobility and stretching-not the same thing. That leg is different now and will never be the same as it was. It has physically changed and your ankle, knee and hip have probably stiffend up. Good luck.

 

[KingKong44]

Thanks, yeah im gonna read up on all of those things. Yeah my ankle is alot stiffer, there is still a plate down there, but it still gives me enough flexibility. Calf raises are hard to do full range, if i want a full range I use like 45lbs..., but i will stick with the low weight and build it up, because i dont wanna be stong in part of my calf and very weak in the lower ranges. I did single leg presses the other day, 8 sets with the left and 4 with the right, sorness all around so, I like that workout. Have it written down, I will smash it every time. I notice that i really need to hit my hip flexors, at least on my left, my hip gets pretty sore after a few consecutive days of basketball. The first day I came back to ball, my lower back was very sore (alot of added upper body size, and havent jumped around for a while). Hopefully in a few months I can start using leg extensions, to pre exhaust the quads before presses and squats.

What kind of deadlifts? And should I do them on back day, or do them with my legs? Stiff leg deads im gonna start doing after my leg curls.

 

[zedhed]

All good but take your time. We all only get one body so make it last.

 

[InGreatShape]

I would not do an explosive workout for that leg. I would ease into it. God forbid you should re-injure it again, something even worse could happen to your leg.

 

[KingKong44]

I had a leg workout 4 days ago and its still brutally sore. Did I overtrain it? Or is this normal for my first leg workout in about 3 months? I didn't do all that much. 6 sets of single leg press for the left and 3 for the right, a few sets of lunges (my leg already feeling like jello. 6 sets of leg curls for the left and 3 for the right (leg cramps). When it came time for calves, they were already cramping and I just got lazy, left after a few sets with only 50lbs.