Hi This is my first post but it's something that's been troubling me in the past 2-3 months. I play approx 8-10 hours a week and at the end of play experience muscle strains on the left side of my body (I'm left handed). I had a physiotherapist work on my body and just by looking at my back and shoulders he was able to tell that I play a racket sport. He mentioned how much more developed the left sides muscles were. I especially get repetitive muscle strains on my lower left back (from the swinging movements) and my left thigh and glutes (from the lunging). I try and go to the gym about twice a week when I'm not playing to try and strengthen the other side's muscles. I concentrate on the right side of my body with glute extensions, low rows and other core body resistance machines. But I haven't really seen any benefits, my body still feels quite strained. Do you guys also get these? What do you think is the best way to try and 'balance' the development of muscles? Thanks in advance.
I'm right handed, and I have exactly the same situation with my arms. Luckily I'm both a body builder and a badminton player, and I use a body builders' technique to address the problem. While weight training I use my left arm first for any one-arm-at-a-time exercises, and then do exactly the same amount of work on the right arm. This way my right side isn't being neglected and my left side can catch up. I suggest you do the same - do leg presses or lunges on your right leg until failure, then do exactly the same amount on the left leg, for example. The same applies to dumbbell curls and one arm triceps pushdowns, etc. Doing exercises where you use both legs/arms at the same time will only allow your left side to dominate (and you won't even know it's happening), so concentrate on unilateral (one side at a time) exercises when doing your "balancing" routine. Bodybuilders use this to bring their weaker side up to scratch.
I had the same thoughts the last couple of months, and I don't think that you can balance out 10 hours of badminton training a week by using the other side more often in daily activities...would love to hear some tips, too
Thebaschti - I know what you mean about daily activities. I live on the 5th floor of an apartment building and I don't use the lift. I go up the staircase by climbing up 2 steps at a time with my right leg and 1 step with my left. I feel the strain when I reach the top but the pain only lasts a min or two. Then it's back to feeling the ache in my left thigh and left 'bum'! Mark A - That's very helpful advice. I notice that my left side inherently does more when it comes to resistance machines and the exercise is bilateral. I will try my right side out with unilateral exercises. I'm impressed with the fact that you can body build and be flexible/agile/quick enough to play badminton! PS: Do you play in the St Helens League?
id advise weight training equally with both sides to balance the development correctly. If your body can't handle badminton and weights at the same time, take a break from racket sport for weight training or just rest is not unreasonable once in a while.
You've hit the point. The problem is trying to fix a problem that's created over 10hrs/week using only 1-2 hrs/week of effort. If the imbalance is significant, don't do too much or even any extra training for your stronger side while you're doing strength training to bring up the weak side. People usually think: "oh, well if I'm in the gym I might as well get stronger on both sides while I try to balance myself" but the problem is that this often feeds the imbalance and causes it to become greater.
