Balancing the Scale: The problem with symmetrical strengthening exercises
I want to start by asking you a few questions:
Do you ever get tight in weird places, only on one side of the body?
Do you perform the same exercises, stretches, etc. but fail to improve or find relief?
Do you notice that you feel like you have to put out more energy to do the same exercises when you’re in the gym?
If you’ve ever started an exercise program, you’re probably familiar with the concept of a balanced program. Generally speaking, that would refer to the idea of working all involved muscles, movements, metabolic systems, to an equal amount.
Some common ways you might see someone approaching the movement aspect of this picture, is to do a push/pull program, where they work opposing muscle groups in consecutive sets, or they alternate days with one being dedicated to working their back/biceps, and the next triceps/chest, etc. Another approach you might see is when someone splits muscles up into subgroups such as stabilizers and movers and then seeks to activate the stabilizers and then train the movers.
All these are fair concepts, and I wholeheartedly share the sentiment.
However, I have seen individuals create your “perfectly” balanced program and fail to achieve the results they want, whether that means sustaining an injury, performing worse in sports or activities, or simply finding that they are unable to progress in their program. Even those who incorporate mobility drills and exercises designed to target stabilizers or deeper fascial systems often fail, even given that they are taking what seems to be a more science-based, cutting-edge, or holistic approach.
Underlying these training mistakes, is a false presupposition that the human movement system and physical human body is inherently balanced.
I know all this, because I was one of those individuals, constantly searching for the next best exercise, stretch, or modification to my lifting technique, and until I changed my perspective to reflect the reality of the movement system we are given as humans, failed to achieve the improvements in performance that I wanted.
Ron Hruska and the therapists, trainers and coaches associated with the postural restoration institute are leading the way when it comes to bringing these facts to light. As Ron describes, the physical human body is inherently asymmetrical, and the human movement system follows the function of its form, and performs asymmetrically.
Some significant differences between right and left sides are:
Diaphragm is shaped differently on the right and left, with the right having a much larger attachment to the central tendon
Your liver is on the right side of your body, you do not have a liver on the left side
Your right lung has three lobes, while your left lung has two lobes
You have a heart on the left side of your body, but not on the right
Your brain has two distinct hemispheres, which are specialized towards different functions
From a movement system perspective, a few things you will commonly see:
Greater expansion of the left chest wall during breathing, ribs flare more on left
Tendency toward standing on the right leg
Tendency toward leaning to the right, opening the left chest/abdominal wall
Tendency toward leading with the left hip and right arm during movement, thus emphasizing activity of the left hip flexors/back extensors, and inhibiting the left abdominals, and promoting left trunk rotation
Tendency toward trunk rotation to the left
See the problem?
Once you understand that the framework of human movement is one of asymmetry, you can understand how high-level strength and conditioning programs, athletic, and other performance activities could result in overuse of the preferred pattern and result in the progression towards asymmetry in the undesired direction. To counteract this problem, we need to balance the scale.
If I asked you to balance the scale on the right, what would you do?
You most certainly wouldn’t add the same weight to both sides? That would just keep it out of balance.
The news gets worse.
In the mathematical context provided by this model, adding the same weight to both sides makes things better. Let's say we had a 3kg weight and a 5kg weight on either side of the scale, and then add 2kg to each side. Now we have 5kg and 7kg on opposite sides. The 5kg/7kg ratio, which equates to ~ .7 is a ~ 17% improvement from the 3kg/5kg ratio, which equates to .6.
However, in the body that is oriented physically asymmetrically and neurologically patterned asymmetrically, loading an individual with a symmetrical load results in an asymmetrical acceptance of that load. Furthermore, even if loaded in an asymmetrical fashion, if the individual lacks the capability to inhibit their preferred neurological pattern, they ultimately will disproportionately utilize their preferred pattern over the desired pattern, thus leading them further towards asymmetry in the wrong direction.
How do we fix this?
The remedy to this problem is neuromuscular facilitation of muscles which inhibit the preferred pattern so that reciprocal activity can be achieved. For example, if the individual is disproportionately standing on their right leg, using the adductor magnus to hold the right pelvis over their femur, they can facilitate the right gluteus maximus to inhibit the adductor magnus, and help get them off their right leg. There are many examples of this.
To function optimally, you have to earn each subsequent level of progression. There is no way to cheat. Movement doesn’t care about your feelings, goals, or desires.
The good news is once neutrality is earned, and maintained, it can easily be restored through the implementation of specific inhibitory exercise techniques in the event that the individual regresses back out of neutrality. Regressions from neutrality are normal, but they must be controlled for optimal results.
Here is an idea of what this concept looks like in practice:
Remove any stimulus which causes an upregulation in the use of the preferred patten that promotes asymmetry in the undesired direction
Maximize positioning that inhibits the preferred pattern
Use facilitation of reciprocal muscles to inhibit those which contribute to the preferred pattern, until a neutral position can be achieved and maintained
Progressively introduce activities that challenge the ability of the system to remain neutral, without resulting in the system getting stuck in the preferred pattern after performing the activity
This is all great in theory, but how do I achieve it?
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Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the Postural Restoration Institute; I just think their system is the bees knees. The results I have achieved from incorporating techniques similar to those which they utilize have changed my movement, performance, and life.
Thanks for reading.
-Greg