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How to Fix Muscle Imbalances (5 Tips!)

How to Fix Muscle Imbalances (5 Tips!)

by | Sep 15, 2024 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief

We are human…we’ll never be perfectly symmetrical or balanced.

But that doesn’t mean we should ignore strength or mobility imbalances between each side.

Because imbalances are often worse than inflexibility overall when it comes to putting us at risk for aches and pains.

When we have a big difference in strength or mobility between each side, we will compensate to allow that weaker side to keep up.

We will seek out ways to achieve the range of motion we are asking our body to do even if only one side can truly do it.

And we will CHEAT to mimic a proper looking movement and proper form.

This creates overload of other muscles and joints to try and help out when they really shouldn’t be working in that way.

And it can end with either our weaker or our stronger side becoming injured.

That’s why I first want to dive into why addressing imbalances is so key a bit more and then go over how you can address these imbalances to improve your overall strength and mobility to avoid aches and pains!

So Why Is Addressing Your Imbalances So Key?

Because our body takes the path of least resistance to perform the movement we are asking it to do and will find a way to squat or twist or push, using whatever mobility and strength it can find easily.

This can mean using muscles not meant to carry the load they are asked to carry or joints trying to provide a range of motion they really aren’t capable of.

Constantly feel your lower back or knee is sore one side after you squat?

This may be because muscles or joints are being asked to carry a load they aren’t meant to, or able to, carry to perform those barbell back squats you’re doing!

And because we are asking areas of our body to work more than they should, they can become overloaded.

We can see this happen on both our weaker or even our stronger side. It’s why we can’t always just assume a muscle is weak and in need of strengthening when it is injured.

If you have one leg that is stronger, you may find you shift in that squat to that stronger side to try to help move a weight your weaker side really can’t lift.

This can lead to you overworking that stronger side and muscle not meant to work as much working extra.

If you do see yourself shifting with your squat, you may “force” yourself not to. This may mean your weaker side calls on muscles it shouldn’t to try to find the strength to keep up.

This can lead to injury on that side too.

This is why if you’ve constantly felt like you’re getting injured trying to go up in weight on your squat or deadlift or bench press or row or even bodyweight moves like the push up or pull up, it may be time to assess if you have a mobility issue or strength issue on one side causing you to overload other areas!

What Should You Do To Address Imbalances?

And this brings me to one of the most important things to include to address imbalances, unilateral moves.

While I will touch on the prehab and mobility components that are key to include in your warm up, and the fact that an imbalance may mean imbalance prehab work (aka doing moves only one side), I think something we so often shy away from in our workouts is those one-sided or unilateral moves.

But they are truly essential.

When you do unilateral moves, the stronger side can’t compensate or take over.

And the weaker side can’t try to cheat to keep up as easily.

Both have to work independently so you can really feel and see those weak links to address.

These moves also work on our stability and often strengthening through a full range of motion which really pays off and helps us avoid injury.

Not to mention, they force us often to ditch the ego and go lighter with the loads as they are awkward and coordination challenges often to start.

So if you have an imbalance, start to focus more on those unilateral moves so you can address each side independently.

But also recognize that some fully unilateral moves are harder than we give them credit for.

That’s why on things like the Single Leg Deadlift, you may need an 80/20 variation or a support to start so you can truly focus on each side working!

With those unilateral moves, you may find one side can’t do as much as the other side or can’t do as much weight or as hard a variation for the same amount of reps.

And you don’t want to just advance your stronger side while leaving your weaker side doing lighter loads. This will only perpetuate the issue.

But you also can’t let your form slide and not pay attention to what you feel working, and force your weaker side to do more than it can truly handle.

This is where you will have to use either Rest-Pause Technique or hold back your stronger side in your workouts…Maybe even using a combination of both at times.

Rest-pause technique is great when your weaker side can do a variation or weight that your stronger side can do BUT not for the same volume or number of reps.

With rest-pause technique, you’ll do the reps on your stronger side, say you do 10. You’ll then move to your weaker side and do the reps you can do properly, say that’s 6. You’ll then pause for 15-20 seconds and do more reps to complete the 10.

If you need to even do 2 reps, pause again and complete 2 more that’s fine. By keeping the rest so short though to perform the same volume as your stronger side, you will bring up your weaker side.

However, if your weaker side can’t do the same load or variation as your stronger side, you will need to modify the move to a variation you can perform correctly, holding back that stronger side for a bit.

With holding that side back, you will even want to potentially END your workout with some extra work for that weaker side. Just make sure you are tacking on this extra work at the end of your rounds so you don’t fatigue your weaker side more during it.

It can feel weird doing more for one side, but when we have an imbalance, we may need to do imbalance work to correct it.

We just want to make sure the work we do isn’t perpetuating the issues, strengthening the stronger side further.

And this is why in our warm ups and prehab work we want to make sure we’re addressing the underlying issues, even doing foam rolling, stretching or activation moves only on one side or even more on one side.

To address imbalances we want to use foam rolling to relax overactive and tight muscles, muscles that limit joint range of motion and even tend to want to take over.

We then want to stretch, especially dynamic stretching, to mobilize joints. Although you may find that if you have a big imbalance the occasional static stretch is needed at times.

While static stretching has been demonized in warm ups because it can have an impact on strength and power, these static stretches can be super beneficial for your flexibility and mobility and may be needed to first address the imbalances you have to allow you to lift more.

You then want to include activation work to activate underactive muscles. Any muscles that are weaker and struggle to engage especially will be the focus of your activation work.

You may find you only do glute activation for example on one side if one side is weaker.

It’s key to note though you don’t want to do so much activation work that you fatigue the muscle. You are just trying to create that mind-body connection and feel it start to work so you are better able to use it when you lift!

But this work prior helps prime your body to move well BEFORE you then go into your unilaterally focused lifting sessions.

These small tweaks to your routine and the addition of unilateral moves to your workout with either rest pause technique or holding back that stronger side can help you alleviate those aches and pains you often see building as you’re even able to do harder moves and lift heavier loads!

So don’t ignore if one side is weaker or less mobile! Work on it and see your results improve!

Working to improve your mobility and strength? Check out my Dynamic Strength program!

–> LEARN MORE

 

AH! One Side Is Weaker! What Do I Do?

AH! One Side Is Weaker! What Do I Do?

by | Mar 10, 2018 | Blog, Pain Relief

First off, I just want to say that you are never going to be perfectly balanced. Heck, if you brush your teeth with only one hand twice a day or press the gas pedal with your right foot…right there you are already creating an imbalance!

And we do way worse things than that on a daily basis to create imbalances!

We sit hunched over a computer. Spend hours commuting in a car. We walk and text.

These all create muscle imbalances between opposing muscles. For instance, our hips get tight, our glutes are underactive and then our hips, hamstrings and low backs try to do the work our glutes should be doing.

But it isn’t just imbalances between opposing muscles, but also imbalances between our right and left halves that can cause problems!

Ever notice when doing a glute bridge that you feel one glute but not the other?

Or ever notice you tend to struggle to keep one shoulder down during pull ups or rows?

That is also an imbalance!

And while we will never be perfectly balanced, there is a difference between normal strength discrepancies between dominant and non-dominant sides and imbalances that put you at risk for injury.

And the more you can NOTE any imbalances, the more you will just be aware of any compensations you may have so you can prevent those imbalances from becoming INJURIES!

So say you know you have more than the normal slight difference between your dominant and non-dominant sides…

How can you start to correct that imbalance?

A. Do you do more reps on the weaker side?

B. Do you use less weight on that stronger side based on what your weaker side can do?

C. Do you do what your stronger side can do and force your weaker side to do it?

Want to know the answer…D. All of the above! 😉

All of those can be implemented and all can work. Exactly what you may need will depend AND you should probably even use a combination of them all to get the fastest, and best, results possible.

When doing activation, I’ll often have clients do extra reps, or even ONLY reps, on the side that doesn’t activate as easily or may be weaker. That helps establish the mind-body connection.

Then often when they start out with a new move, I’ll tell them to start on their weaker side and base what they use off of what that weaker side can do. You want to make sure you don’t overload yourself and then start compensating on that weaker side!

So sometimes slightly holding that stronger side back is necessary so that weaker side can work correctly.

BUT if their form is good and they’ve been working out with a move for awhile and really want to build strength, sometimes I’ll have them do what their dominant side can do.

HOWEVER, this is only possible as long as the weaker side can maintain good form and recruit the right muscles. If you do this, you will simply PAUSE briefly (10-20 seconds) as needed until you complete the same number of reps on your weaker side as you could on that stronger side.

So say you can do 10 on that stronger side, but 5 before you start to compensate or fail on that weaker side.

Do 5, pause as briefly as possible, keeping it for sure under 30 seconds, then complete another round.

If you can get out the rest, great. If you need to pause again after doing 3 to finish the final 2 that is fine too. The point is to pause so you can finish with good form using the right muscles.

This is great if you’ve gotten the activation down and can move some weight but just don’t yet necessarily have the “endurance” on that side.

All of these different techniques though help correct the imbalance while still challenge your body so you get results and everything grows stronger.

They key with all of these though is using some UNILATERAL EXERCISES in your training. This helps you isolate each side to correct the imbalances and even help improve your bilateral lifts!

And heck, if you’re a runner, you need unilateral training even more because running is a unilateral exercise!

So if you’re working to correct imbalances, start implementing a combination of these techniques!

Here are even more posts to help you correct those imbalances, including unilateral training, activation workouts and why imbalances are worse than inflexibility!

–> Why Unilateral Glute Activation Exercises Are A Must-Do!
–> Unilateral Booty Burner Workout
–> Why Imbalances Are Worse Than Inflexibility
–> Unilateral Training – Why you should do it and 23 Unilateral Moves!

Why Unilateral Glute Activation Exercises Are A MUST-DO!

Why Unilateral Glute Activation Exercises Are A MUST-DO!

by | Feb 6, 2018 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Exercises

Have you ever noticed you have a stronger and weaker side?

Have you ever been told your hips are uneven? Your SI joint is “out of whack” or you have an upslip or even rotation?

Or maybe you’ve just noticed you always get low back or hip pain on one side?

Heck…maybe you’ve even noticed a leg length discrepancy you weren’t born with!?

All of these things show imbalances and compensations that need to be addressed….

Addressed by UNILATERAL moves.

All too often with bilateral movements, we can compensate and our dominant side takes over for our weaker side.

We can often “hide our weakness” and make it hard to activate the right muscles when we do bilateral moves.

Plus, because one side is stronger, we compensate so our weaker side can “keep up.”

But if we don’t want to risk compensating, which can lead to injury, we first need to correct our imbalances.

And by correcting those imbalances, especially when it comes to GLUTE ACTIVATION, we can create lumbo-pelvic-hip stability so we can prevent injury and lift more.

This is where unilateral activation comes into play.

It helps us address those imbalances so that right muscles are working and we can shrink the gap between our weaker and stronger side!

So if you have hip issues, low back issues…even knee pain…unilateral glute activation is especially important!

And not only doing unilateral, or single sided glute activation, but even potentially more reps, on that weaker side.

So if you’re ready to build hip stability, try these 3 Unilateral Bodyweight Glute Activation Exercises to correct those imbalance and get both glutes firing!

1. Glute Bridge with Rocks:

Unilateral moves are essential to correct imbalances because you can isolate one side at a time and focus in on the muscles that need to be working. And glute bridges are a must-do activation move to improve your hip extension.

HOWEVER, Single Leg Glute Bridges are an advanced move that could lead to you using your lower back or hamstrings to power the lift instead of correcting the existing imbalance.

So how can you get the benefit of a Single Leg Bridge if the move is too advanced? Do a Glute Bridge with Rocks! This move allows you to use both sides to bridge up WHILE pausing to activate each side a little extra individually.

glute bridge with rock

To do the Glute Bridge Rocks, set up like you are going to do the Basic Glute Bridge. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Your feet should be about hip-width apart and your knees should be in line with your feet and hips.

Bend your arms to 90 degrees and then drive through your arms, upper back and heels to bridge up. Squeeze your glutes and brace your abs to bridge up. Then slightly release the contraction in one glute and rock to bridge one hip up slightly higher. Really focus on contracting that glute. Release that side and rock your other hip slightly up to contract that glute harder. Keep your abs braced as you rock slightly and alternate contracting each glute a little bit extra at the top of the bridge.

Do not let your low back take over as you hold at the top and work to contract each glute a little bit extra. Also, do not let your hips sag down toward the ground. Alternate rocks until all reps are complete then lower down.

2. 3-Way Hip Circles:

Activation moves can not only activate but also MOBILIZE. And the 3-Way Hip Circles do just that – they activate your glutes as you open up your hips.

You will work your glute medius with the Fire Hydrant and your glute maximus with the Donkey Kick portion. And you will even activate your abs with a Knee Tuck! It’s the perfect move to build hip stability!

glute activation hip circles

To do the 3-Way Hip Circles, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet.

Then, keeping your knee bent to about 90 degrees, kick one leg back like into a Donkey Kick. Hold there for a second. Make sure to keep your arms straight and squeeze your glutes as you extend your hip and drive your heel up toward the ceiling.

Then, keeping your knee bent, bring your leg up and out to the side into the Fire Hydrant position. Do not lower your leg down as you move from the Donkey Kick to the Fire Hydrant. Keep your foot flexed and knee bent to 90 degrees.

Without touching your knee down, then drive the knee forward and in toward your elbow. Feel your abs engage as you hold.

Repeat the circle, kicking your foot back to repeat.

3. Warrior III Squats:

Work on your balance, core stability, hip mobility AND glute activation with this Unilateral Activation Exercises – The Warrior III Squats. You’ll feel this move working from the ground up!

warrior-iii-squats

To do Warrior III Squats, set up in the Warrior III position. Start balancing on one leg then hinge over so that your chest is parallel to the ground. Reach your raised leg back toward the wall behind you as you keep your hips square to the ground and straighten your standing leg as much as you can. Then reach your hands overhead toward the wall in front of you or out to the sides or even back toward your feet.

From this Warrior III position, bend your standing leg to perform a small squat. Make sure to keep your raised leg up and reaching toward the wall behind you as you stay in that hinged over position as you squat. Do not start to stand up as you squat.

Straighten your standing leg back out and then repeat the small squat. The lower you squat as you maintain that Warrior III position, the harder the move will be. Also, the more you completely straighten your standing leg, the harder the move will be.

Complete all reps on one side before switching. Do not let your hips open up as you squat. Also, do not go forward onto your toes or round your back. The move doesn’t have to be super big to have benefit!

Ready to correct those imbalances with 15-minute booty burner workouts? Learn how here –>