Hi guys!
So, today we are going to talk about muscle imbalances.
Why?
Let me tell you! Have you ever been to the gym and hired a personal trainer? One of the first things they have you do is a squat test and when I hired personal trainers and they had me do a squat test I just thought that meant that they were looking at how well I could do a squat. lol...
That's not the case though, your personal trainer is actually looking to see if you have muscle imbalances.
Why is that important? Basically, by the time you hit your mid 30's you have done a lot of sitting behind a desk, sitting in a car, sitting at kids' sports games...a lot of sedentary behavior and I don't mean as in you don't do anything, but for most of you, a good portion of your day consists of sitting.
If you think about filling out a health questionnaire that asks what your activity level is ie. light activity, moderate activity, etc. even if you go to the gym and work out, if you spend most of your day sitting behind a desk or in a car, or as you are shuttling kids around, it's a high probability that you have a muscle imbalance!
That means that you have major muscle groups that are too tight and other muscle groups that are too loose. What happens is that when you go to do a regular everyday activity, the muscles that are too tight have been overworked and can't perform the actions that they are supposed to do so they recruit other muscles to perform the activity. Problem! These other muscles aren't meant to do those activities so you end up getting injured by doing simple things like picking up a sock from the floor!
These kinds of injuries have been happening to me since my 30's due to being a carpool driver and soccer mom for countless years. So, over time, these muscles have shortened and other muscles have been stretched out and they no longer function the way they are supposed to.
That is why when you are at the gym and your trainer has you do a squat test, they are looking for those muscle imbalances.
As we fix your muscle imbalances a few things are going to happen!
1. You will have better posture! Anyone who has seen my transformation pictures will notice that my back is so much straighter! That's because I have fixed those muscle imbalances, muscles in my chest that were too tight thus pulling my shoulders forward, and muscles in my back that were too loose and couldn't keep my shoulder back in place the way they are supposed to be. Because of this imbalance, I was starting to hunch over and didn't even realize it until I saw my before and after pictures!
2. The second thing that fixing these muscle imbalances will do is help increase your joint range of motion. As these muscles have gotten too tight, and too loose, you lose your full range of motion in your joints which means that as you do simple daily activities you won't have the same range of motion that you used to have.
I was just saying to my daughter the other day, "have you seen that ridiculous yoga video with the lady that is doing a plank with her arms on the ground and her chest facing up? Please, who does that?" And she said, "what, like this"? And then she seriously did a backwards plank because she is 17 and still has full joint range of motion. I do not because I have had a lot of sedentary years and so I have to work at that and the exercises I do that fix muscle imbalances will also fix that full range of motion.
3. As you go through our program and fix muscle imbalances you also create a lot of stability in your core that helps you with more advanced exercises down the road as well as daily simple activities. It also helps you with your flexibility and ALL of these things help prevent injury. That is the key thing I want you to have as your take away!
Everything you do, starting in your mid-thirties, is forward thinking. By the time you hit your mids 40 to mid 50s your body is changing and if you haven't been keeping up on these things that keep your muscles balanced, keep full joint range of motions, keep your fexibility and your core strong, you will have a lot of health problems. It is so much easier to keep up on your physical health than it is to fix it when your body stops responding like it did in your 20s!
Now you can be young and strong and still have muscle imbalances! Maybe you go to the gym and you work out hard but you don't work all your muscle groups the same. Have you ever noticed men at the gym that are really muscular but their muscles pull forward? It's because of an imbalance! They have spent too much time working their pecs and not enough time working their back! Maybe you're a runner and you have spent a long time working on your leg strength and have neglected your upper body. All of these corrections for an athlete's imbalances would require the same work that I'm going to suggest for you. This is something that everyone can pay attention to and do!
So, let me show you how to determine if you have a muscle imbalance.
There are three different things that we look for when you do the squat assessment that I mentioned earlier.
The first one is a pronation distortion syndrome which has to do with your knees and feet, the second is a lower crossed syndrome which has to do with your quads and back, and the third is an upper crossed syndrome which has to do with your shoulders and neck.
We are looking for a couple of things during the squat test and this first is a Pronation distortion syndrome. 1. Do your knees pull in toward each other, and 2. do your feet pull away from your body or tip when the knees pull in. Those are things you look for when you are watching yourself from a front view.
With the Upper and Lower crossed syndrome you will be looking from the side view and watching to see if 1. your hips are popping out, 2. your arms are falling foward away from your ears and 3. if your upper body is leaning too far forward.
When you do this assessment you can video record yourself. Just prop up your phone and hit record and do as I am doing here. Then you can watch the video and look for the things that I mentioned.
First. you will stand with feet hip-width apart. Next you will extend your hands above your head with your arms next to your ears.
Next, while recording yourself, do a few squats from a frontal view and then again from the side view.
Finally, watch your video. Are your knees falling towards each other or your feet pulling out in the frontal view? On the side view, are your arms falling forward during your squat? Is your buttocks popping out instead of staying tucked under you? Is your upper body falling forward as if trying to compensate?
If you notice any of those things then it is an indication that you have an imbalance. It can be extreme or it can be subtle, in either case, there are things you can do to correct it and we will talk about solutions in upcoming videos.
Stay tuned for and more information and hopefully, all of this information can help you with determining how you can better support your own body!
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