muscle imbalance Even the most diligent lifters can be affected.
That said, no matter how carefully you train, there’s a good chance that some part of your body will get bigger, stronger, or bigger during your fitness journey. and Stronger than the opponent across from you.
The obvious problem with this is that it disrupts the visual “balance” of your body.
But it’s not the only way”Muscle asymmetry” can cause problems—they can also hinder athletic performance and may increase the risk of injury.
Therefore, most weightlifters want to know how to detect, prevent, and Correct muscle imbalances.
That’s exactly what you’ll learn in this article.
What is muscle imbalance?
Almost every major muscle in your body has a twin—the left chest musclesright pectoral muscle; left quadrilateralright quadrilateral; left tricepsright triceps, etc.
Therefore, a type of muscle imbalance is the size or strength difference between a pair of such muscles. Bodybuilders call this “Muscle asymmetry”.
Sometimes you can see these imbalances in the mirror, sometimes not. However, you will often notice them during training because one limb is stronger than the other.
For example, if one hand rises faster than the other bench presspossibly because of one or more muscle imbalance.
other type muscle imbalance can exist between pairs Opposing muscle groupslike your breasts and Backtriceps and bicepsand the upper part leg and calf.
If any of these muscles is smaller, weaker, and less developed than another, visual symmetry and performance will be affected, and sometimes there will be a risk of injury rise.
Bodybuilders call this “proportion imbalance.”
For example, overdeveloped chest muscles and underdeveloped back muscles not only ruin your “aesthetics”; Increase Chances of your shoulder injury.
Likewise, if your Hamstring Significantly weaker than your quadriceps, you may be at risk for hamstring injury Increase.
Therefore, the goal is twofold:
- Each muscle looks symmetrical one side of your body
- The proportional development of the upper, lower, front and rear parts of the body
What causes muscle imbalance?
muscle imbalance Usually happens when you train a muscle or muscle group more often or more volume and intensity relative to others.
For example, if you do more reps dumbbell curl Use your strong arm over your weak arm and it will eventually become bigger and stronger.
Similarly, if you train more chest muscles and fewer back muscles, or only focus on the upper body and ignore the legs, you will develop a disproportionate physique.
These problems usually stem from bad exercise plan.
A good program, on the other hand, intelligently distributes work between and between upper and lower areas. urgent, pulland squat exercises.
Another error occurs muscle imbalance Use one side of the body more than the other.
People often lose focus when exercising, making it difficult to concentrate spiritually connected and the muscles you want to train. As a result, the stronger side does more work than the weaker side.
For example, if your back muscles are imbalanced (your left side is weaker than your right), it could be because you’re unconsciously using more momentum when rowing with your left side than with your right side.
Or if you have Shoulder muscle imbalance (Again, your left side is weaker than your right) This may be a result of your right hand pressing harder than your left overhead press.
In both cases, your right side will do more work and will grow faster.
lack flexibility Liquidity can also cause problems. Many people spend a lot of time sitting or leaning at desks, which can lead to shoulder tension, hip flexorsand lower back muscles.
This can affect your performance in the gym and cause certain muscles to be overworked and others underworked.
how do you find out muscle imbalance?
Discover muscle imbalance It can be simple, especially if it’s asymmetrical.
Just use a tape measure to compare your muscles. Measuring them while they’re bent gives you a more accurate reading because you’re less likely to press down and distort the measurement.
Judging proportion can be tricky because it’s at least partially subjective. That said, if you take cold, unflexed photos of the front and back of your body and analyze the relationship between your upper and lower body and front and rear muscles, you may find flaws.
This is especially true if you train one side or half of your body harder or more than the other. If this is the case, then you have at least a slight imbalance.
For men, this guide Outlines the criteria for an ideal physique to help you determine what areas you need to work on in your training.
You can also use this guide Helps assess your genetic potential to develop different muscle groups and see where you have the most room for improvement.
how prevent muscle imbalance
Eighty percent prevention muscle imbalance Are following a well-designed strength training program compound exercises Train your entire body evenly.For programs that meet this criteria, check out Bigger, thinner, stronger for men, or Thinner, thinner, stronger For women.
For the remaining 20%, do the following:
1. do Unilateral exercises.
doing Unilateral exercises (an exercise that trains one side of the body at a time), such as alternating dumbbell curls, lungeand Bulgarian Split Squateliminating physiological biases that may creep in bilateral exercises (Exercises that train both sides of the body at the same time, e.g. squat, bench pressand dead lift).
and Unilateral exercisesyou cannot unconsciously lean to one side of your body – each limb must “pull its own weight.”
2. Start group and end group Unilateral exercises and yours weak side.
start your group Unilateral exercises and yours weak side when your weak side fail Preventing you from adding more volume on the strong side.
3. Train weaker, smaller muscles more than larger, stronger muscles.
For example, if your left shoulder is smaller than your right shoulder and you do about 30 Dumbbell lateral raise On each side per week, you can increase the number of left side lifts to 40 per week.
Likewise, if your legs are still too small compared to your upper body despite years of proper strength training, and if you do 12 sets of high-intensity training for your legs per week, you can increase this to 15 sets per week High intensity training.
4. Follow an activity routine.
If your body isn’t flexible enough to complete a full workout Scope of activitiesthe resulting compensation will result in muscle imbalance over time.
For example, if one of your hip flexors If one is tighter than the other, you may prefer the looser one when squatting heavy weights, which may result in muscle imbalance on your legs.
Check out the following articles to learn more about effective activity habits:
The Definitive Guide to Flexibility Exercises: Improving Flexibility, Function, and Strength
How long does it take to repair muscle imbalances?
Time required for correction muscle imbalance Depends on a variety of factors, including the severity of the imbalance, how consistently you try to address the imbalance, and how well your body responds to training (the longer you train, the less responsive your body will be to lifting weights).
For example, if you are an experienced weightlifter with a significant imbalance in your back muscles and do 1 or 2 perfunctory sets of exercises per week to fix the problem, it will take you longer to correct the problem than if you have a slight asymmetry. It takes much longer for novice weightlifters.
Therefore, it is impossible to give a one-size-fits-all timetable.
That said, with consistent effort, most people will see improvement in minor imbalances within 8 to 12 weeks.For more obvious problems you should see more clearly muscle balance After 6 to 12 months.
muscle imbalance Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ #1: What are the symptoms? muscle imbalance?
symptom muscle imbalance It may show up as a difference in muscle size or strength between the left and right sides, the upper and lower body, or the front and back of the body.
Other indicators include:
- Uneven posture
- Unable to move one limb as freely as the other
- Feeling unwell during or after exercise
- Significant differences in the performance of one party compared to the other
FAQ #2: Yes muscle imbalance Have you been cured?
Yes, you can Repair muscle imbalances Through targeted exercises, stretches and adjustments to your overall training regimen.
Basically, follow the advice in this article. 🙂
FAQ #3: Yes muscle imbalance one question?
Although to some extent muscle imbalance This is normal and may not cause problems. Important Muscle asymmetry Cosmetic imbalance, performance issues, and increased likelihood of injury may result.
+ scientific references
- Page, Phil. “Shoulder muscle imbalance and subacromial impingement syndrome in overhead athletes.” International Journal of Sports Physiotherapy, Vol. 6. No. 1, 2011, pp. 51-8, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3105366/.
- Peterson, J. and P. Holmich. “Empirical prevention of hamstring injuries in sports.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 39, no. 6, 1 June 2005, pp. 319–323, bjsm.bmj.com/content/39/6/319, https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2005.018549.