Muscle Imbalance

Wondering why you're not able to lift as much with your left hand (or maybe your right) ?

Have you ever experienced the frustration of realising that one side of your body is weaker than the other? You're not alone.

Picture this:

You grab a pair of dumbbells, ready to tackle some biceps curls. But then, you notice something unexpected. "Why am I struggling to lift with my left hand?" (Or, if you're a lefty, your right) Ugh.

It's extremely common for people to have strength differences between their sides — in fact, it is more uncommon for our bodies to be perfectly symmetrical in size and strength than it is for them to be different.

While a slight difference in strength between the sides of your body isn't anything to worry about, if it's big enough to catch your attention in the gym, it might be worth your attention.

Reason:

The reason you're not able to lift as much with the left (or right) side of your body actually has nothing to do with your exercise routine , but rather, it's the result of unconscious daily movements.

"While your gym workouts tend to hit both sides pretty evenly, when you go about your daily routines, you unconsciously use your dominant side far more than your weak side.

It makes sense, when you think about it: almost everyone has a dominant side of the body, and for as many years as you've been able to move your body, the muscles on your dominant side have worked harder in everyday life to do things like lift bags off the ground, carrying groceries, sleeping on one side of your body consistently, crossing

your legs the same way every day, or always carrying your tote bag on one side, you name it.

Even though these everyday habits don't require as much strength as, say, your bench presses, the repetition of those movements adds up. While you wouldn't necessarily consider this every activity 'exercise,' the more you repeatedly use one side, the more efficiently your brain learns to fire to those particular muscles.

This results in stronger muscles on that side, and quite often larger muscles as well.

Also, if you've ever injured an arm or leg and had to baby it for a while, that might have something to do with any imbalances between your left and right side.

The best way to even things out is to focus on one-sided exercises:

The number one way to correct for muscle imbalances is by including unilateral strength exercises in all of your workouts.

First step: Drop the barbell

When you use a barbell, your 'good' arm always moves more of the weight. Perform dumbbell exercises instead -- curls, rows, shoulder presses, and bench presses -- one arm at a time.

Choose a weight that you're able to lift with your weaker arm, and do as many repetitions as you can. Then, using the same weight, duplicate the reps with your dominant arm, even if you know you can lift more.

Not only will you be putting more strain on the side that needs it, but you'll also trigger a physiological phenomenon that makes exercising your stronger arm actually build muscle in the weak arm.

Yep, believe it. When you work your arms separately, you allow your body's natural muscle-balancing system to kick in and reapportion nerve stimulation where it's required. Once your dumbbell reps are equally challenging for both sides, add barbells back in.

It may seem like you'll risk reproducing the original imbalance all over again, as long as you don't completely ignore dumbbell training, your strength should stay symmetrical.

When you have a big imbalance, certain muscles will work harder to overcompensate, which can lead to pain and injury in either side—yes, even the stronger one.

If you're doing an exercise that uses both sides of your body at once (like an overhead press), the muscles on the strong side of your body might be working the way they should, while the weak side has to compensate by recruiting the wrong muscles to get through the same movement.

Not to mention, if you're not properly working one side of your body, those less-developed muscles are at risk for injury in general. Weak muscles are more vulnerable to being torn or not ready to take on a heavy load when you, say, lift a heavy box.

To add insult to injury, the muscles on the stronger side of your body can actually end up hurt, too—since they're stronger, they will work harder and ultimately end up overworking when there's no second side of muscles to share the load with.

Here's how to work them into your routine to get your weak side up to speed:

1. Start with your weaker side first.

2. Use weights that feel right for your weak side, not your strong side.

3. Keep the number of reps the same on both sides.

So rest assured that this is totally normal, and you're only noticing it because you're more ~in tune~ with your body than most. "Most people go through life with these strength differences without even knowing or feeling a difference. Usually, it's the exercise-centric

folks — like you and me — that figure it out pretty fast.

There's no need to "even things out" by doing more reps on your weaker side. Your weaker side will catch up naturally since it will be forced to work harder.

Remember, addressing strength imbalances takes time and consistency. Be patient and stay committed to gradual progress while maintaining proper form. If you're uncertain about your training approach or have concerns about muscle imbalances, MANA is just one click away.

Let us help you unlock your full potential, Click now to embark on your journey towards a stronger, more balanced you with MANAlifestyle.in!