[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We often hear about the importance of
strength training. Building muscle and increasing strength improves exercise performance, decreases the risk of injuries and improves functional mobility for everyday activities.
However, it's also important to consider your relative strength of opposing muscle groups. Muscle imbalances can compromise your mobility, increase pain and increase your risk of injuries.
Below, learn what muscle imbalances are and how to identify, prevent and treat muscle imbalances.
Muscle Imbalances: Understanding the Signs, Causes & Remedies
What are muscle imbalances?
A muscle imbalance is a generalized term that refers to noticeable differences in the size or strength of various muscle groups in your body.
There are various ways in which muscle imbalances can present themselves:
- You may have discrepancies in strength between the two sides of your body. For example, your right arm might be much stronger than your left arm.
- You might have significant differences in your upper-body versus lower-body strength.
- You might have muscle imbalances between opposing muscle groups on the same limb. For example, your quadriceps on the front of your thigh might be quite strong but your hamstrings along the back of your thigh might be weak.
What could be the cause?
Many people develop muscle imbalances without even knowing there is an issue. In fact, some of the most dedicated athletes who spend hours per week training develop muscle imbalances. Generally, muscle imbalances are caused by overtraining or overusing certain muscle groups and underutilizing or neglecting other muscles.
For example, weightlifters often focus on the muscle groups on the front side of the body such as the pectoralis muscles in the chest, the abs, the quads and the biceps. We can readily see these muscles in the mirror when we flex, so it is natural to gravitate toward training them more intensely than the muscles on the backside of the body.
Runners can develop muscle imbalances between the right and left legs if they consistently run the same direction around a track or on the shoulder of cambered/sloped roads. The pelvis has to tilt to compensate for the lateral slope, which loads the glutes, quads and calves of the leg on the lower angle of the road.
Cyclists and runners can also develop muscle imbalances between opposing muscle groups. For example, cyclists often focus on the downward part of the pedal stroke, which activates the quads, while allowing the upward return of the pedal to be rather passive. This can cause the quads to become stronger over time while the hamstrings lack the opportunity to build strength.
What are the signs?
Sometimes, the presence of a muscle imbalance is obvious. You might notice it while using your body or you might be able to visually detect smaller versus larger muscles on opposing sides of your body or on opposing sides of a limb.
Other times, muscle imbalances are insidious, and you may not even know that you have a problem until some type of injury occurs as a result. Physical therapists are the best resources to identify muscle imbalances and provide exercises to rectify any issues.
How to fix muscle imbalances
All three types of muscle imbalances can pose functional problems for athletic endeavors as well as daily life activities. Additionally, muscle imbalances can predispose you to injuries. Therefore, it's important to identify whether you have differences in the functional strength and mobility of your muscle groups and then take steps to correct these issues. Again, the best strategy is to work with a physical therapist.
On your own, you should strengthen the weaker muscle groups and work on increasing mobility through stretching and foam rolling the overactive, tight muscles. Generally, muscle imbalances between two sides of your body are best corrected with unilateral exercises, so that you can perform additional reps and sets on the weaker side.
For example, suppose you notice that your quads and glutes are notably weaker on your left leg. Rather than do bilateral squats and hip thrusts, you should focus on exercises such as forward and reverse lunges, single-leg Romanian deadlifts and single-leg bridges. You would try to even out your strength imbalances by doing additional reps and sets with the weaker leg.
With muscle imbalances on the same side of the body but with antagonistic (opposing) muscle groups, the focus would be on increasing the training volume on the weaker muscle groups. For example, if you typically do a lot of push-ups or chest press exercises, your chest and anterior deltoids (front portion of the shoulder muscles) might be a lot stronger than the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, rhomboids and posterior deltoids.
You should try to balance the relative strength in these push vs. pull muscle groups by increasing the number of exercises that address the pulling muscles. Examples include assisted pull-ups, lat pulldowns, reverse flies and rows.
How can I build muscle fast?
Another important component of any strength training program is nutrition. This includes hydration. Make sure that you are fueling your body before your resistance training workouts with carbohydrate-rich pre-workout snacks.
Examples include a banana with a handful of
trail mix,
energy bars,
dried fruit, oat bars, an apple with
vegan jerky, organic energy balls,
whole-grain oatmeal,
nut butter and
honey on wraps and
fig bars.
During workouts, consider adding electrolytes to your fluids if you are going to be sweating, performing long workouts or exercising in a fasted state. Studies have found that drinking
sports beverages that contain carbs during resistance training workouts can
increase muscle protein synthesis.
Lastly, post-exercise snacks should be rich in protein while also providing carbohydrates to replenish glycogen stores. The general recommendation is to consume a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein in your post-workout snack.
Examples of good post-workout snacks include
protein bars, a
nut bar with a tuna or turkey wrap,
high-protein cereal with fruit and milk, Greek yogurt with
granola, eggs with
whole-grain bread or
tuna with
crackers.
How can I prevent muscle imbalances?
Overall, the best way to prevent muscle imbalances is to take a holistic approach to your training. Make sure that you are targeting all the major muscle groups in your body with relatively equal training volume.
Consider periodically asking someone to videotape your workouts so that you can assess your movement patterns. Don't forget to use resources such as physical therapists and personal trainers to assist you in developing the best strength training programs and rehab exercises to support your needs.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][vc_row_inner equal_height="yes" content_placement="middle" gap="35"][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="180540" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1733510821731{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/wild-planet-wild-albacore-tuna-3-oz-1"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="180539" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1733510836954{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/primal-spirit-foods-primal-strips-meatless-vegan-jerky-hickory-smoked-1-oz"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="180538" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1733510852641{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/natures-path-love-crunch-protein-granola-organic"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
