Muscle imbalances affect and cause a lot of postural problems and injuries. I just wanted to talk generally about them today as a lot of people left this in my comment section and trying to go through individual muscle imbalances in one post is madness. Remember nearly every injury I talk about results from some sort of muscle imbalance problem, so we will talk more in detail about them as I get more posts up!
Muscle Imbalances from LaurensFitness on Vimeo.
Ignore the demo thing at the top I’m too cheap to buy the full product…sorry.
Heather says
Thanks Lauren… this is exactly what I need! 🙂
Big Al says
Great information Lauren, thanks for this post. Some constructive critisism about the video post: slow down! You’re clearly reading it, which is totally fine, but you’re rushing to get through it! No doubt you’ve read through it many times to make sure it sounds right and are probably bored of it!
Think of it like an exercise – keep good form all the way through 😉
Lauren says
yep was reading it, otherwise I forget what I want to say…and no, wasn’t bored of it, I just tend to speak fast! I’ll slow down.
jonathan says
Good stuff. I have 1 hip higher then the other–what excercise do you recommend?
Heather says
I’m the same as Jonathan and always thought it was overpronation.
Lauren says
You can do a lot of stretching work through the tight side…obliques, glutes etc, and do some more oblique work through the lengthened side. Side Prone Holds are good. Do both sides, but do the lengthened side once more each session.
It may not be a result of this, it could just be you have one leg longer than the other.
Erin says
Great post – I really needed this info. For some reason every problem I have (glute activation, muscle imbalance, dodgy knees!) there is always a fix for it here 😀
fatbastard says
Great article. I’ve noticed since using the Wii Fit that I’m far more out of balance than I knew. I’m thinking that has a lot to do with my knee issues when I ran (that and the extra weight).
Thanks!
steve bickel (Yoga Video DVD dude) says
Hi,
I exercise so much that my muscle imbalances required that I do far deeper stretches than my “normal” after exercise stretches. Experimenting with deep stretching, especially in the hips and shoulders, takes a lot of time becuase the muscles can be so tight , but the wait is well worth it.
Yoga Video and DVD Dude at MyYogaVideo.com
Steve
Matt says
Lauren?
How did your fix your glute problem? I am going through the same thing–left glute weak, right IT-band tight.
Thanks.
Lauren says
Hey matt,
A whole lot of Isolation exercises for my butt, on both sides.
Bridges
Clams
Supermans
total hip extension machine
All of these basically, all the time
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-optimize-posterior-chain-power-glute-activation/
oh and a lot of hip flexor stretching
the hard bit for me is transitioning it into volleyball movements, I am still working on this.
Cheers