Let’s face it, when it comes to exercise, many of us enjoy
the challenge of lifting heavy weights, or working through fast
paced routines involving whole body movements. If you’re medically fit,
it’s appropriate to your level and goals, and workouts are well supervised,
these types of programmes produce proven results. It is however important to
devote some time in your weekly routine to perform exercises aimed at bringing
balance to the body.
These less exciting routines may involve symmetry work, in
which you work each arm and leg individually to minimize strength discrepancies
in the different body planes and limbs. It may involve spending more time on
weaker muscle groups, for example, hamstrings are often disproportionately
weaker than quads and may require more work to balance those opposing muscle
groups. Sometimes muscle groups are tighter than others, or one side of your
body is tighter than the other and requires more mobility or stability work to
balance things out. Sometimes larger muscle groups may be disproportionately stronger than the muscles that stabilize a joint. For example you may have strong pectoral muscles but weak scapula stabilizers, so you bench press big weights but without good enough shoulder stability making you vulnerable to injury.
One of the biggest causes of injuries is imbalance,
instability and asymmetry in the body. Spend time every week on addressing
these areas, doing the boring stuff, and working on moving properly, and your
risk of injury will likely decrease while
your overall performance will
come on leaps and bounds. I’m always available if you need help.
Ashley Galliard April 2016
