The right 3 of my abs are more protruded than my left. When standing in the mirror my right oblique is less protruding than my left The left side of my back is bigger and tighter than my right My left pectoral is bigger than my right My right shoulder is not as long horizontally as my left because of tightness None of this mattered until I hurt my back a month and a bit ago, but now i'm working really hard on correcting the imbalances. Anyone have any advice or similar imbalances?
I'm very interested too. I actually tore my back muscle due to the imbalance. I haven't really done much to fix it, not sure what I can do. I'm also interested in any advice anyone has to give on this.
Strength balances is extremely important when it comes to guarding against injuries. I was actually reading an article earlier today: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1347125 Some points that were made: Vertical push to vertical 0.85-0.95 to 1 Horizontal push to horizontal pull 1 to 1 Internal rotation to external rotation 1 to 0.75 This is for shoulder health. For the knees theres a similar comparison that can be done between the extension and flexion movements. I'd imagine that for the trunk movements, the ratios would be 1:1 due to symmetry. Anything other than that could lead a poor "relaxed posture" which is critical for optimum performance and injury prevention. One common suggestion is to do unilateral exercises. For example, instead of bench pressing the bar with two arms, use a single dumbbell and press it one side at a time. Do a set with the weaker arm first, then repeat the same reps/weight with the stronger arm. I know it can be tempting to work the strong arm harder, but then the imbalances will never be corrected that way. In addition to working each side equally, 1 side movements can be a terrific exercise for the obliques. An important role of the trunk muscles is to stabilize the spine - this means resisting motion. A lot of people trying to train their "core" do lots of crunch and twist variations, but the lower back area really needs to be more stable, not more mobile. When doing 1 arm exercises, you'll feel your body wanting to bend or twist under all the weight, so your legs will work to counter the moment, leaving your torso rigid to transfer that force. This is what core strength is really about.
LOL Hey, at least you're balanced as gravity is constant You should cut back on your cheese intake tho
I've go a whole "core" regime from a recent men's fitness that helps balance the strength around the back and midsection. I also used to only do excercises that were counter to what my badminton was. Imbalance is the major reason i see a chiropractor - my right side is still way over used than my right (badminton and squash)
Muscle Pain If you are having muscle pain or groins injury like what i have 3 months ago then i will advice you to take Hydroyzed Collagen Supplement which will relief your muscle pain and groin injuries and rebuilt your muscle and cells as an anti body to prevent you from injured again . This Supplement had been widely use in all Hospital and sports centers as part of the Therapy for muscle pain and groins injuries .
The Lakota is a type 2 collagen. The most direct way for the (knee) joints to get nutrient is through needle injection of hyaluronic acid (many brands out there) and/or injectable grade glucosamine (haven't heard any in the Canada and the U.S.).
i went to a physiotherapist (kinesiologist) she identified which muscles are more toned in my back and stomach. After she did acupunture on me for around 30 min. The acupuncture was unpleasant b/c she would rotate the needles in my back which would cause muscle spasms. Afterwards I felt somewhat better, the next day my back felt great and saturday my back was 60% better! After almost 2 months of not being able to train or rotate, or even run in a straight line without pain one acupunture treatment has helped so much already. I went to a chiro and massage therapist for the 2 months, neither of it really seemed to help, I did tons of strengthening in my core... one acupunture treatment helped more than 2 months of western practice. Acupunture is the first time i've used eastern methods to induce healing. Anyone with back problems or tense muscles anywhere should get acupuncture ASAP!
Did they do Chinese massage prior to needles? I found that the massage did more good than anything else. The guy kept talking about "poi" ( sounded like that) - which I think he, meant bad energy. ( he spoke very limited english) From my standpoint he found every bad knot and nerve cluster that was irrittated in the legs ( the ones in my left calf were excrutiating) , lower back and middle to upper back on my right side. Left forearm was surpisingly sore too. I'm now trying to work my way through a lower back/glut/hamstring pull prior to the CWC open.
No massage. Just acupuncture. It was by a caucasian phyisotherapist. I'm not sure if it was attacking nerve bundles or what tho. So now my back doesn't hurt it just gets really tense on the right side and somewhat on the left when I play agressive overhead shots. I just defaulted a match, my first ever due to my back. It was getting progressively worse each match (along with the difficulty levels), then in a quarter I didn't want to stand, smash. I felt that it wasn't fair for me to continue because for me to win I would have to keep attacking which wuold make my back hurt more and more. I just didn't feel it was worth it. I was really frusterated when my back started tensing.
When I just started jiu jitsu competitively, muscle imblances became very obvious in me because join locks work pretty much in all directions, and the usual way to stall for time is to engage your muscles to prevent a lock. Unfortunately a good opponent is one who will find your 'weakest' direction and lock that. In any case... for your particular ab 'problem' if it's the result of badminton, you can probably imagine it's a part abdominal contraction during your overhead shots or something similar ... the way to correct it would TECHNICALLY be to do the esame thing on your opposite arm, but since that's ridiculously time consuming, try doing 'rolling' crunches or 'diagonal' crunches for the opposite side. That is, lie down, and do a standard situp, but 'cross over' as if you were doing an exaggerated smash torso twist/crunch motion. This should be a relatively easy way to get your other ab side equalized with the stronger side. HOWEVER, make sure that if you start doing pure ab work that you don't overdo it... not just in relation to the opposite side ab, but also in relation to your back muscles. If your abs are too strong for you backmuscles it can similarly lead to injury pronness. Having abs too strong for back muscles sounds rather odd, but beleive me, there are some pretty hulking characters at the gym who have had just that problem... usually it's easy to develop abs because they look nice which is good motivation, more motivation than to work on the back anyway. Although, you might consider that your back injury could also be helped by strengthening your back muscles. Even if one side of your abs is bigger than the other... might still be that your back is weak in comparison. Stumblingfeet's advice is pretty sound as well. You could also try some 'core' strengthening exercises which have a tendancy to round things out... things like pilates and such. They sorta work out your weakest links the most, logically.
These are great exercises for loading the body, but if there's a significant imbalance in strength, proper technique for these exercises will be compromised because the body emphasize the use of the stronger muscles to complete the lifts. In the end, you may end up making the imbalances worse. What's better is to incorporate unilateral versions of these exercises into your routine. Split squats or bulgarian squats, suitcase deadlift, 1-arm military press will work your body's ability to resist bending in a certain direction. I would also suggest something like 1-arm bench press and 1-arm unsupported rows to develop your ability to resist twisting. As for the use of pilates as a method of sports training, I think everyone should read Dr. Mel Siff's article debunking the usefulness of it over intelligent strength training methods. Basically, there is nothing really special about pilates, a well designed conventional training programme would likely yield better athletic results. http://www.dolfzine.com/page95.htm
I would have to respectfully disagree. Yes, form is of utmost importance. To maintain strict form, I recommend starting at low weights, and with the guidance of a knowledgeable trainer or friend. Concentrating on one side of the body or one limb can correct imbalances over time, but it is simply easier to use barbells and just concentrate on form. The muscular system is a system that grows best as a system. Working isolated muscle groups will rarely produce good results. By doing the aforementioned exercises, not only will your imbalances correct themselves over a short period of time (within 2-3 months), but you'll develop greater functional strength. Let's say for instance your left arm is much weaker than your right arm. You've measured your left bicep, and it's an entire inch smaller than your right bicep. If you do unilateral exercises like dumbell curls and dumbell presses, your left arm may slowly catch up to your right arm in several months time. It may not even catch up at all, because they say that to increase your arms by 1 inch, you must gain 10-20lb of lean body mass. But if you do bench presses and barbell curls, and squats for 2 months, not only will your left arm catch up, but your entire upper body will be much stronger. Both of your arms will be bigger and stronger, and your left one will be caught up to the right one. Besides, you should be doing squats for badminton anyway . Also, performing unilateral exercises may just cause more imbalances, because you may be neglecting supporting and synergizing muscles.
I do really heavy squats and leg weights but I definately use my right leg more. I'll try this out. The acupuncture is really helping though. Some of my muscles are so tight they are bending the needles she uses when they contract after insertion.
