What are Muscle Imbalances, and How You can Treat Them

Hello Ziddis! While we work so hard to make our bodies better and muscles bigger, there are more challenges to it. Muscle imbalances are one of the common muscular issues we know of but it isn’t as spoken about as it should. The naivety around this topic often makes everyone think this is very abnormal. So let’s jump right into this blog to understand more about Muscle Imbalance.

What is Muscle Imbalance or Disbalance

Muscle imbalance or muscle disbalance is what occurs when a set of muscles like the back or the arms stronger than the other, usually an opposing group of muscles. This created uneven tension and bad posture.

This Could Happen for Various Reasons:

• Poor posture
• Bad form while exercising
• Improper workout techniques
• Uncalibrated gym machinery
• Imbalance in push and pull exercise routines
• Not working opposing muscle groups
• Not doing an overall workout
• Avoiding a muscle group in your workout routine

Imbalance Shoulder Muscles

Our shoulders very literally carry all the burden. Be it stress, strain or posture tension. Should imbalance be caused by exercising only one side and ignoring the other? For example, you only do 3 sets of weights by your dominant arm but 1 by your non-dominate arm. This can cause one side of the shoulder’s muscles to grow and develop more than the other because of poor form, overuse of one side and muscle injuries. This can lead to shoulder pain and locking of the shoulder.

What would help is if you can’t do more sets by both sides, do less but an equal number of sets. Make sure your posture is correct and your shoulders are not tightened.

Back Muscle Imbalance

Back muscles can feel imbalanced because of having a sedentary workstyle. Like sitting in the office all day in front of a laptop in an unfavourable position can cause back muscle imbalance. This can cause back pain. When you go to the gym with a very common back pain, you end up exercising other muscles to avoid worsening your injury. By doing chest, arms even abs exercises and avoiding the back this causes an imbalance. Your whole body toned and back slouchy can make your overall appearance bad and put more strain on your back to carry an otherwise built-up body.

Make sure that you treat your back issues before they get worse and get a diagnosis for it in case there is an underlying spine issue.

How to Fix Muscle Imbalance?

Do not worry! This is not as serious if you find out before contracting any major injury. But you must work on making it better for yourself. Here is how you can fix muscle imbalance:

• Understand where you feel the imbalance in your muscles.
• Target those muscles and start training them
• Strengthen the weaker muscles
• Stretch the stronger muscles
• Use a foam roller for muscle soreness
• Use gainers to put on weight so that you can build muscles
• Use creatine to heal and repair your muscles faster and keep them healthy.

What Exercises Can Help with Muscle Imbalance?

Some exercises are better at helping you gain balance in your muscles than others which can cause injuries in this condition. Those are:

• Face pulls
• Reverse Flys
• Lat raises
• Rows
• Pull-ups
• One arm rows
• Dumbbell press

Make sure you pick the one that addresses your underdeveloped target area

Takeaway

Muscle imbalances are common but can be corrected with the right training approach. By identifying which muscles are weaker, performing targeted exercises, and maintaining good form, you can address these imbalances and prevent future injuries. Whether it’s your shoulders or back, a well-rounded training routine that includes both pushing and pulling movements will keep your body balanced. Make sure you are not avoiding what is essential for you out of fear or laziness. Your body will thank you for understanding it better one arm curl at a time.