Inner Quad / Teardrop / VMO Regional Hypertrophy NEW Science & Lifts (Build Your Vastus Medialis!)
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Key Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:07 Inner Quads VMO Overview
1:23 Why is the VMO So Important?
2:08 How to Build the VMO
7:49 VMO Regional Hypertrophy
8:33 How to Build the Vastus Medialis Longus
10:25 VML Regional Hypertrophy (Upper, Middle, Lower Quad Regions)
13:56 Regional Hypertrophy Training Resource (All-Access Membership)
14:40 Total Leg Program
15:05 Fitness-Tip Friday Newsletter
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Contrary to popular belief, there are SEVEN quad muscles - not four - and not only can they be selectively trained, such as targeting the VMO to develop that tear-drop inner quad shape, or the vastus lateralis to build the outer quads... but even the quad muscles THEMSELVES don’t grow evenly!
Like all muscles, they undergo regional hypertrophy, which science also calls inhomogeneous or non-uniform hypertrophy, and for the quads means that they have upper, middle, and lower regions that all grow at different rates - in both size and strength. And we’re talking 3-5 times the amount of growth in one part of a muscle versus another from the same exact exercise!
I’m going to show you exactly how you can apply dozens of different regional training factors and proven techniques in order to target and fill out any specific quad muscle or region you want, while also preventing knee pain and injury.
The medial or “inner” quads are made up by the Vastus Medialis muscles - vastus medialis longus and obliquus, or VMO - the all-important muscle that creates that awesome tear drop-shape just inside and above the knee.
A weak VMO is the leading cause of anterior knee pain and injury, such as patellofemoral syndrome - especially among weight lifters, so you have to preferentially target your VMO to avoid that imbalance!
The VMO is activated during the last 15 degrees of knee extension. It's type II, fast-twitch fiber dominant, so you’ll want to use quick contractions, and unlike most muscles, it grows best with concentric contractions.
Also, because the VMO is on the inside of the knee, if you externally rotate your leg while doing these you’ll position the VMO on top - directly opposite the resistance, and create a medial angle to that resistance, which increases VMO activation.
Also, physically touch the VMO while you’re working it. You’ll activate something called a proprioceptive feedback loop to increase your mind-muscle connection.
Studies have shown that closed kinetic chain exercises work the VMO more than open kinetic chain exercises do!
Now let’s hit regional training within the inner quads, or how to preferentially build its upper, middle, and lower regions.
Doing knee extensions at longer, more extended muscle fiber lengths work the lower inner quads, while working it at shorter muscle fiber lengths works the upper inner quads.
Eccentric or negative contractions preferentially build the lower inner quads, while concentric contractions generate even activation across all inner quad regions.
Compound movements like the back squat tend to preferentially work the upper regions of all quad muscles. While isolation exercises like leg extensions mostly work the lower quad regions.
However, that’s also affected by contraction speed and how heavy the load is. Fast contractions and lighter weight both engage the lower inner quads more. While slower contractions and heavier weight both engage the upper inner quads. Interestingly, the exact opposite is true for the vastus lateralis, which we’ll cover in part 2.
Wearing BFR cuffs with any exercise significantly boosts hypertrophy of all quad regions… but tends to increase upper & middle quad region growth more than the lower quad region.
Doing a couple minutes of myofascial release on a muscle region right before a workout has also been proven to increase swelling of that region during that workout. And increased swelling or puffing up of a muscle region during a workout leads to greater gains in that region. This means you can use pre-workout myofascial release to further enhance region-specific hypertrophy by rolling or gunning that region right before you work it!
Watch the video for the rest!
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