VMO Training

VMO is the abbreviation for Vastus Medialis Oblique, one of the quadriceps muscles that sits on the inside of the knee. This little talked about muscle is essential not only for optimal knee function but also athletic performance whether it's a track or field event or a team sport.

The VMO is the one of the muscles responsible for increasing jump speed and power because it the primary muscle responsible for the stance phase, the part where you switch from an eccentric to a concentric. Charles Poliquin has noted not only this but in his experience the most powerful athletes are those who spend least time in the stance phase.

So once learning this, how do we train this little muscle.

Different forms of step ups are vital to begin with if the muscle is weaker than it should be, Poliquin and Petersen step ups for the really weak or unco-ordinated. Females especially will need to start with less challenging exercises to build proprioception.

Then you can move on to split squats and full squat variations. It is essential in both exercises that you use full range of motion to ensure full VMO activation. The muscle is most active at the top and bottom of the range. An exercise to really target the VMO is 1 1/4 squats which is basically an extra quarter movement at the bottom of the range. This is however an advanced exercise and you should go through all the other variations first.

Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into the VMO, it's functions and how to train it effectively.