pillows_

In the past month or so Ive noticed a muscle imbalance in my legs. My right thigh is more developed compared to my left, and my left calf is more developed compared to my right. There isn't too much of a size difference but the strong side's muscle fibers do feel a bit more defined/dense

I think what's happening is my body positioning is leaning to the right causing me to favor my right side power stroke, then making my left foot point down more to compensate for the length difference causing more calf activation. Does that make sense?

Im trying to stay more aware of my body positioning and pedal motion while I ride. In the meantime, what are some good exercises or drills I can do to balance this out? I was thinking one legged RDL's. Maybe some box jumps?

tyrion

Are your legs different lengths? (Mine are and I didn't realize it until I was 50 and a physical therapist was surveying my body.)

backonblack

Weighted leg squats. You'll have fun with the new found power in a few weeks.

backonblack

Everyone;s are slightly indifferent. Same goes for arms. And one will usually be naturally stronger. better defined etc. Work the lesser harder to compensate. Its only necessary if your a competitive body builder imo ( or just extremely anal).

mitchmellow62

How noticeable a difference? No one is symmetrical. If slight, I'm not sure I'd worry. Although perhaps you should have someone look at your pedaling to see if there is a significant difference from side to side?

pillows_

There is probably a slight difference but in previous seasons I haven't noticed anything quite like this year, although this year I've ramped up my mileage on the bike and started running.


Okay, I'll look into that, thanks

pillows_

Not really noticeable unless Im sitting down and straighten my legs out flexing my quads. Even then, the size difference isn't too bad but I can definitely feel the difference with my hands.

Ive doubled my mileage per week compared to last season and I started running this year. Currently doing about 150-200 mpw on the bike and 25-30 on foot but I have a goal to hit 60-70 mpw on foot by the end of the year. My form/mind muscle connection has suffered a bit, Im guessing, towards the later stages of my workouts.

If I cant remedy this myself I'll definitely go in and talk to a professional

backonblack

Dead lifts are great too. Depending on how developed/ strong you are now theres no need to be a hero and practice with just your body weight, or an unloaded bar to perfect form. After one good session you will have muscle ache. Legs can take up to a week to be ready to hit again depending how hard you work them. Include some good protein supplements into a balanced or close to balanced diet to speed up healing and grow. Stretch and warm up prior ( a light ride is great for that) Both movements are very effective when done correctly, but do take a little practice to do correctly. Its easy to start wrong and develop bad form from the start and think your doing things correctly. We only get one set of knees and a back. A lot of people do both of those movements wrong evidently on sites such as ***tube or observing in a gym. Try to find some professional trainer techniques. I should of noted this originally. I can be a bit hasty while multitasking.

rydabent

Probably as simple as which leg you lead with when starting off.

jgwilliams

Funny you should bring that up. I've noticed lately that I seem to apply slightly more power with one leg that the other. I don't think my knees would let me do squats any more though.

gregf83 

Rock71

Have you ever had any lower back problems? I have smaller right side on both the thigh and calf, but it's caused from muscle atrophy when I blew out my L4 and L5 discs in my lower back.

itf6 

+1 for one leg RDLs. I dislocated my knee years ago (not the worst you can do to a knee by a long stretch) which resulted in some atrophy in the leg muscles on one side of my body during recovery. The knee healed but there was still an imbalance until about 5 years ago when I started with more single leg training. One leg RDLs are really great, focusing more on the back of your leg/posterior chain, but I would also introduce something like a step up or a lunge to work the front side/quad area (I don't have the best knees either and can only do lunges on a good day). Leg work will also help with core strength. Box jumps are a bilateral/two-leg movement (and might also be considered a plyometric exercise), they serve a purpose but not sure it will necessarily help you address an imbalance. That said, I only ride for exercise and commuting but train more to play other sports, so maybe someone else might have better riding specific options.

pillows_

Hmm, thats certainly possible. Ive lost 10-15 lbs in the last 9 months

I tweaked my back pretty good about 6 years ago, actually. I could hardly walk for a couple weeks and had to crawl up stairs but I never had it looked at (young with no health insurance). The pain went away and didn't leave lingering issues but I work a desk job and my lower back is weak for sure. It's something I've been focusing on lately.

These are the kind of responses (personal experiences) I am looking for. Thanks

JohnDThompson 

First of all, is it a problem? If not, no worries. Unless you're a runway model or something, nobody's going to care much if your legs don't perfectly match.

Second, if it is a problem, get a referral to a sports medicine physical therapist to determine the cause and how to mitigate the problems you have with it.

Doug64

During rehab for serious leg injury, I did a lot of one-leg pedaling on my trainer. It took almost 10 years before my injured leg was on par with my good leg. It was especially noticeable when skiing

While getting a bike fit from a physical therapist, my wife found out she had one leg shorter than the other. A 4mm shim under her cleat took care of the problem. Seeing a sports PT is a good investment.

Wileyrat

My left calf is a bit smaller than the right due to an ankle injury, but it doesn't seem to affect anything so I don't worry about it.

The left ankle being about half again as big as the right does create a problem, I have to do all kinds of things to keep my ankle from hitting the crank arm.

big chainring 

Could be a slight curvature in your spine too. Are your hips level? I have a high right hip due to spine curvature. Lots of stretching and excersizes can balance you out.

pillows_

A couple years ago I had some aching pains in the front of my knee. I raised my saddle and it solved the problem. Turns out my saddle was a bit too high, now, and because I never had any pain in the back of me knees I never really changed it. I lowered my saddle about 5mm and I can feel a much more balanced distribution of power while seated. Just a couple weeks in and I can already feel the difference in my leg muscles

livedarklions

Might be a missed opportunity here--if you leaned into it and made the one leg noticeably different from the other, you could make up a "I was born on the side of a hill" story you could go out to lunch on for years.

Happy Feet

Almost everyone has a dominant leg which is stronger, just like arms. If you blindfold yourself and try to walk a line you'll eventually go in a circle.
Why the opposing calf might be bigger.. ?
As previously stated; an injury could cause it to develop more as compensation. I have an old ankle injury the physio can pick up on easily because of how I compensate for loss of full range mobility when doing squats - yet my calves are still very strong. I've just gotten so used to it I don't notice.