It’s normal to have one side of your body be weaker than the other. For most people, the right side of the body is more dominant. It’s also used more which makes it generally stronger. Very few people are ambidextrous—able to use both arms perfectly. If you’re right-handed, you’ll struggle to write, brush your teeth, or lift heavier weights with your left hand. For everyday activities, this is a non-issue. But when you let your dominant side take on heavier loads more often, it can lead to muscle imbalance.
Muscle imbalance can lead to an increased risk of injury to your dominant side. It can also lead to pain and weakness due to overload.
Types of Muscle Imbalance
There are two types of imbalances that affect your body’s coordination.
Body muscular imbalance: This is when the muscles on one side of your body are stronger and larger than the other side. This often happens when you overload your dominant side.
Joint muscular imbalance: The muscles work in tandem with the joints to ensure your body can move as needed. When one side is overloaded more than the other, the joints in one side also become bigger, tighter, and stronger than the other.
Effects of Muscle Imbalance
Having one side of your body being stronger than the other can lead to limited mobility. This refers to how far you can move a joint from its resting position. When you overload one side of the body, it leads to limited mobility on both sides. This is because one side, while stronger, gets exhausted quicker and is more prone to injury. The weaker side having weaker joints and muscles is also limited.
Muscle imbalance also means you’re more at risk of pain. This is also more common when you have a physically demanding job or favour one side during workouts. Overload can also lead to joint damage and muscle cramps on your more dominant side.
If you work out one side more than the other, it will give your muscles a more lopsided look. The muscles you focus on more frequently will look bigger and the skin tauter. The veins will also be more visible on one side.
Instability is also a common effect of muscle imbalance. It can lead to damage in your joints, ligaments, tendons, connective tissue, and bones. This can also lead to back pain.
How to strengthen the weaker side of your body
It’s important to strengthen the weaker side of your body to ensure your muscles remain balanced. For instance, if you have a young toddler and you only carry them on one side, strengthening the weaker side helps you share the load on both sides.
1. Change your daily routine
You can make simple adjustments to ensure you don’t overuse one side. Being conscious of your sidedness makes sure you switch hands when you’re overdoing it on one side. For instance, if you only carry bags with your right hand, switch sides regularly. When standing for a long period, don’t put your weight on one leg or hip. Keep switching or try to balance your weight on both legs. Check the wear on the soles of your shoes to see if you favour one side over the other. Change how much weight you place on your feet when you walk. Fitness: How Can I Build Muscles Without Getting Bulky?
2. Exercise
You can strengthen your weaker side through exercise. This is an assured way to achieve muscular symmetry. If you have one side visibly larger than the other, you can do specific arm and leg strength training exercises until both sides are balanced. You can also do less demanding exercises on your dominant side to maintain muscle strength. In addition to improving muscle balance, you improve stability. Utilising unilateral training—weight training exercises that focus on one side of the body—also strengthens your dominant side while you’re working on your weaker side.
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3. Use the correct form
When working out, it’s essential to ensure proper form to achieve muscle balance. If you don’t have access to a trainer, you can work out in front of a mirror. It could also be that you developed muscle imbalance because of using incorrect form when working out.
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