How do you address imbalances in strength and mobility between body sides?

COACH ANDY LOUIS

At SPU we take priority in assessing all athletes with fundamental/ functional movements in order to create an individualized program that will help the athlete reach their full potential.  Our assessment consists of 10 different movements that will test mobility, stability, flexibility, strength, and neuromuscular firing patterns. We tend to find that a lot of athletes are dealing with muscular strength imbalances and lack of mobility. Muscular strength imbalances and lack of mobility work hand and hand and they can be developed from rapid growth in height, a past injury or from the lack of adequate training that challenges the body equally. Getting properly assessed is step one, step two is to build a tailored program fit to the athletes needs and properly monitor exercise execution for improvement.

To properly address this issue, you must first seek a professional that helps you be aware of what in particular is causing the imbalance. For example, when we put an athlete through the single-leg glute bridge test, we are looking for whether they have the unilateral strength from each glute to fully bridge off the ground and hold that activation for a period of time and to see if their glutes are even activated. A lack of glute strength from a high performing athlete can be very crucial to their longevity and performance in their sport. Having one side or both of the hips weak can lead to a valgus shift development at the knee when squatting, deadlifting, and most importantly when landing. A lack of glute activation can lead to multiple biomechanics issues, such as altering running form.

We can target this by applying some corrective exercises within their warm-ups to teach the athlete how to properly fire their glutes and further more picking strength exercises that will target the hip joint both unilaterally and bilaterally to regain that strength. It is very important to give extra attention to the weaker side and have the weaker side lead all exercise intensity in strength and power training. This means that the strong side will be to lay back and do the same load as the weaker side until they’re both equally performing. When we neglect to teach a muscle group how to properly do its job, other muscle groups such as the lower back or hamstring will take the toll and be over worked and potentially lead to an injury.

Second, upon recognizing the source of the problem and getting a tailored program that will help you train from the ground up, you will use that program to work on your mechanics and monitor your progress. We tend to mistreat issues in our body by wrongfully targeting the symptoms and not addressing the root cause. Having the right exercises is very crucial to your improvement. When an athlete comes in with past shoulder injuries or elbow issues, we as professionals will expect a decrease in mobility, a lack in back strength and scapular stability. There are no amount of specific elbow or shoulder joint exercises that will help stop the problem if the back muscles stay functioning the same way. We must understand that balanced muscular strength means, better mobility, better flexibility, better stability. By making sure the back muscles fire when they should and working on strengthening to keep everything stable, the athletes’ pain should alleviate and mobility should increase if it’s not a structural issue.
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Mobility means that your body is strong and comfortable enough to safely get through full range of motion. Stability is your body being strong enough to control movements through full range of motion and Flexibility is your body being strong enough to get through full range of motion without pain or restriction.  Practicing good movement patterns and staying consistent with your program will bring results in time.

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