Symmetrical Muscle Development – Right-Side Left-Side Symmetry
Muscle symmetry or muscle balance is when the muscles of our body are in perfect ratio to one another. To elaborate, it is when our right and left-side, front and back-side body muscles are equal in size, but more importantly performance ability. It is also when the ratio between our muscles from our top to bottom are in perfect ratio to one another (i.e. the ankles to the calves, the calves to the quads, the quads to the hamstrings and so on). Having muscle symmetry enables us to utilize our maximal athletic potential. It is also essential for preventing skeletal deviations that lead to debilitating pain and injury.
Because this topic covers several aspects, we are only going to cover right-side and left-side muscle symmetry aspect in this post.
To illustrate common right and left-side asymmetrical development, we are going to look at an individual (John) performing a regular pull-up. John is right-side dominant (right handed) and works as a panel beater. Because John predominantly works with his right arm, it has become significantly stronger than his left. If John doesn’t pay attention to holding ‘strict form’ during his pull-ups exercise, he will instinctively favor his strength dominant side – and hence perform his pull-ups engaging more of the muscles in right than left side.
For the pull-up, the major muscle groups involved are the back muscles (latissimus dorsi, rhomboid major and minor, teres major, trapexius lower) and the biceps and brachioradialis of the arms. Also however, the core muscles are engaged to some degree throughout the movement (that degree depending on if strict form is held). If John continuously were to perform his pull-ups with ‘poor form’ his muscle imbalances would eventually lead to skeletal deviations and probable injury and pain.
Why Muscle Asymmetry Leads to Skeletal Deviations
The spinal column is held in place by muscle fibers attached to it. If we pulled the spinal column out of the body, it would hang in its natural curvature position. In the body however, much like a tent pole held vertically in place by the strings pulling on it on both sides, the spine is keeps its natural curvature and erect state when the muscle fibers that are attached pull on it in a balanced manner. But imagine what would happen to the tent pole if we put more tension on the strings on one side relative to the other. It would naturally bend – and to stay upright, tension would have to be placed elsewhere on the other side to compensate. This is exactly what happens to the spine and joints when exercise is performed incorrectly or when posture is held poor for long durations of time (i.e. sitting slouched at a desk for 8 hours a day).
The compensation needed is keep us from falling over is found in other curvatures of the back or the hips, leading to us walking and moving differently, again to compensate for shifts in balance. The end result in all of this is all sorts of deviations from the feet to the knees, hips, back, shoulders, neck and head. Eventually, the compensating deviations place such a tremendous strain on the ‘”outof alignment joints” that it results in injury and debilitating pain. This can all be prevented however through developing our muscles in a symmetrical manner.
Why Right-Side Left-Side Muscle Asymmetry Leads to Decreased Athletic Ability
To go back to our example of John, only this time he is using his exercise developed pull-up strength to assist pull out a boat stuck in the mud (hand over hand pulling). As his right-side muscle are more capable than his left-side muscles, his less capable muscles will fatigue quicker. Along with that, the full potential his right-side muscles won’t be able to be realized, as his left-side will have already failed. Remember, you are always only going to be a strong or able as your weakest link.
Developing Muscle Symmetry – Posture & Strict Form
Most people have muscle asymmetry (or muscle imbalances) to some certain degree. But no matter how severe or minor the imbalance, symmetrical muscle balance can be achieved over time through maintaining good posture in every moment of every day and by training with good strict form. When we are holding Good Posture, our core muscles remain slightly engaged. This ensures that our spine is protected at all times, and that we are not letting our spine deviate from its natural curvature while performing everyday tasks such as sitting, driving, reading, watching TV, walking and performing general movements.
What Good Posture does for everyday activities, Strict Form does for our training. It is an accentuation of good posture, whereby we hold everything just a little bit tighter and a little bit more engaged. Strict form ensures that our spine is protected during exercise, and that we maintain awareness of exercising our muscles evenly. In fact, holding strict form makes it very difficult to exercise favoring our strength dominant side as it ensures the entirety of each exercise movement is performed symmetrically
See my post Good Posture and Strict Form for more information.
Developing Right-Side Left-Side Muscle Symmetry – Equal Reps & Weight
When performing unilateral (one-sided) movements during exercise, it may be even more important that strict form is maintained, as it is easy for the spine to become strained and unsupported otherwise. Many children start experiencing spinal deviation from an early age if they carry their school bag on one shoulder daily with no awareness of maintaining strict form – even if they did know… that just wouldn’t be cool. Furthermore, when performing unilateral movements, ensure that you work both sides evenly – same amount of reps, same weight, and same tempo. It is a good idea to start with your weaker side as it ensures you will be able to match it on your stronger side.
When performing bilateral movements (such as squatting, bar pressing, pulling), be mindful of keeping strict form at all times. As said, holding strict form makes it very difficult to exercise unbalanced, but even so, remain aware your posture and movement – especially when correcting for bad habits in the start.
Remember, keep your good posture from bed rise to fall, and maintain that strict posture during your exercise and serious play. Gaining symmetry is dependent upon the degree of your asymmetry. But the gradual shift will see that you become exceedingly fit and healthy as you become more and more symmetrical in your skeletomuscular system. It will ensure that you not only increase your athletic fitness ability, but that you gain and/or maintain your overall wellness and health.
See my post Symmetrical Muscle Development – Reciprocal Symmetry for information pertaining to front-side back-side symmetry.
With love, gratitude, presence and certainty,
Karl
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