WARNING WEDnesday: Are you an imbalanced mess?

Do you fall in any of these categories?
-Your biceps can lift a substantially heavier weight than your triceps? (or vice versa)
-You can pound the weights for your squats but when it comes to lunges, you can’t seem to match even half of that weight?
-Doing a row is easy peasy but you can’t do a proper push up to save your life?

If so, you have been infected with the case of imbalanced mucles!

Yikes!

Don’t worry…its very easily remedied.

Firstly, please understand why its important to be balanced.

When one side is always stronger than the other, when you start to challenge the weaker side, what may happen is the stronger opposite muscles will compensate because the weaker muscles don’t want to work harder… that can lead to a whole another topic about improper contraction, alignment and technique- which I can cover another time.
How about posture? The stronger side will cause the body to stay more ‘contracted’ on that side while the opposite gets ‘overstretched’… (think protracted shoulder blades from a weak back)
Health problems!! You could be faced with such as tendonitis, bursitis, osteoarthritis, neuritis, scoliosis, hammer toe, and other distortions of the human body in your future!

I think that is more than enough reasons, don’t you?

How do you know if you are imbalanced?

Well, how much weight can your biceps handle? Does your triceps match it? And your chest/back muscles? (you can go down your whole body…) Of course, one muscle group may be a bit stronger than the other and that is normal. I’m talking about a substantial weight difference. (I know someone who can squat a hefty amount of weights but can’t seem to handle any weights for her lunges! That’s a prime example)

Once you figure out which muscle groups are lacking the equality of strength, you will need to start to focus on getting that one stronger. Maybe do more reps on that side…add a few extra exercises that target that area in a session…push through a heavier weight…in some cases, you might even have to cut back training the stronger side so the weaker one can catch up.
You should always be training out of your comfort zone – so when it starts to get too easy, change it up or increase the weights!!

When balance is restored, you will notice an immense improvement in your overall workouts. And not just the resistant training, I’m talking about cardio as well as flexibility! Listen to your body, read it…you should notice it! Looking in the mirror can help too, because you should be able to see a difference.

Until next time Team, a healthy life is all about balance….mind, body and breath. =)

Health respect & happiness,
beki