How To Fix Muscle Imbalances

Our body has hundreds of muscles, tendons and ligaments that work in tandem to generate movement. If you move any part of your body, there are muscles that contract while antagonist muscles that relax at the same time, enabling that specific movement. Similarly, our joints are surrounded by muscles that facilitate movement by balancing each other out.

For optimum muscle strength and movement, all our muscles must be in balance with each other. If they're not, then muscle imbalances can occur which can lead to pain, problems in mobility, unsymmetrical appearance, and injury to muscles, bones, joints, ligaments and tendons.

Read on to find out more about muscle imbalances and how you can fix them.

What are Muscle Imbalances?

Muscle imbalances occur when some of your muscles in a group are stronger than others. There are two types of muscle imbalances:

• Body Muscular Imbalances: This type of muscle imbalance occurs when the muscles of one side of your body are stronger, larger or weaker than the corresponding muscle on the other side.
• Joint Muscular Imbalance: This type of muscle imbalance occurs in a joint where all muscles are supposed to be working together with balance. If one or more muscles becomes tighter, looser, weaker or stronger, it can result in muscle imbalance and limit movement of the joint.

Correcting Muscle Imbalance

Here’s how you can identify and correct muscle imbalances.

Identify the Muscle Imbalance

The first step in correcting muscle imbalances is to identify that they exist. It may be difficult to diagnose the problem on your own since it requires biometric testing by physiotherapists or doctors. Biometric testing can evaluate muscle movement and identify muscle imbalances. Keep your eyes open for any recurring pain, discomfort, or postural issues you may be experiencing. 
Some athletes observe their body at angles via mirrors or photographs to ascertain asymmetry due to muscle imbalances.

Switch To Unilateral Exercises

When you have muscle imbalances, it is a given that the stronger part will always dominate in exercises that train both the left and right side together. For example, if you’re using a barbell bench press, your dominant side will always raise the bar higher, leading to the underworking of your weaker side. A workaround for this is to use unilateral exercises that train the left and right side one after the other, like the dumbbell bench press, so that both sides get an equal workout.

Strengthen Weak Muscles

Once you have identified the weaker muscles, it's essential to strengthen them to restore muscle balance. Perform exercises that target the specific muscle groups you need to work on. For example, if you have weak glutes, include exercises like squats, lunges, and hip thrusts.

Start Your Workout With the Weaker Side

We instinctively start our exercise with our dominant side out of habit. And hence we expend most energy on our stronger side, which can further lead to muscle imbalances like chest muscle imbalance due to slight neglect of our weaker side. A great tip is to start your workout with your weaker side, so that it can get an equal load and become stronger.

Determine Workload with Weaker Side

We often let our dominant side determine our workload. For example, when performing dumbbell exercises, we start with our stronger side and set the number of reps. But we may soon find that the same number of reps is proving to be difficult when done on our weaker side. This can again lead to muscle imbalances over time. To offset this, let your weaker side decide the number of reps, and do the same reps on the opposite side. This way, both sides get an equal workout.

Practice Stretching Exercises

Muscle imbalances can be due to tight muscles pulling on weaker muscles. Incorporate stretching exercises into your routine to increase flexibility and mobility in the tight muscles. Focus on the muscles that are commonly tight, such as the hip flexors, hamstrings, and chest muscles. You can gradually increase the intensity or duration of stretching once the tight muscles start loosening.

Thus, fixing muscle imbalances requires a multifaceted approach that involves the above steps. If you feel you have muscle imbalances, then get the FITPASS app today to find the best gym near you and restore your muscle balance. With a FITCOACH membership, you can get the correct muscle strengthening workout routine from our innovative AI-led fitness assistant. Ensure your body is free from any imbalance to prevent obstacles in reaching your fitness goals.