Thread: Building leg mass in atrophied leg

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board and am posting of the first time. I have an unusual scenario to run by everybody and would appreciate any and all advice you can give.

About 10 years ago I got into a severe motorcycle accident and nearly lost my leg. As a result of being bed-ridden for a couple of months, my upper leg muscles in my right leg atrophied (shrunk) by about 40%. I would like to aggressively try to rebuild the mass in this leg and would appreciate any advice on exercises, routines, eating...basically everything!

I had quite a bit of knee surgery performed, so I cannot do leg extensions for my quads, however I am able to squat to around 90 degrees. And my knee is surprisingly stable during squating motions. At the moment, I think I'll have to focus on squating/pressing type motions for quads, and glutes. For hams, I'm thinking I'll focus on seated hamstring curls and lying curls.

As mentioned, my main concern is on building upper leg mass. Not really concerned about the lower leg at this point. Thanks in advance!

AfricanChoclate

Originally Posted by AfricanChoclate

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board and am posting of the first time. I have an unusual scenario to run by everybody and would appreciate any and all advice you can give.

About 10 years ago I got into a severe motorcycle accident and nearly lost my leg. As a result of being bed-ridden for a couple of months, my upper leg muscles in my right leg atrophied (shrunk) by about 40%. I would like to aggressively try to rebuild the mass in this leg and would appreciate any advice on exercises, routines, eating...basically everything!

I had quite a bit of knee surgery performed, so I cannot do leg extensions for my quads, however I am able to squat to around 90 degrees. And my knee is surprisingly stable during squating motions. At the moment, I think I'll have to focus on squating/pressing type motions for quads, and glutes. For hams, I'm thinking I'll focus on seated hamstring curls and lying curls.

As mentioned, my main concern is on building upper leg mass. Not really concerned about the lower leg at this point. Thanks in advance!

AfricanChoclate

Interesting scenario indeed. The smaller/weaker leg should hypertrophy very quickly to catch up to the other leg. It's fine that you can't do leg extensions; it's a shitty exercise for the most part anyway. Squat and deadlift variations are key. A combination of bilateral and unilateral movements would probably be best for you. Take a look at some of the stickies to see what a good leg workout might look like.