What’s the Best Way to Fix Your Muscle Imbalances?

They may seem like NBD, but muscle imbalances can up your injury risk in and out of the gym. Here’s how tweak your training to keep these disparities at bay. Even if you’re a serious gym rat, your workout program might be partial to a few specific muscle groups. For example, if building strong, muscular quads is at the top of your goal list — and you despise nothing more than training your hamstrings — you may not think twice about skipping Romanian deadlifts and Nordic curls day after day.

But you may want to reconsider your priorities: Neglecting certain muscle groups or sides of your body, among other causes, can lead to harmful muscle imbalances, according to experts. Ahead, they break down the potential risks of muscle imbalances and why they develop in the first place. Plus, they share tips to help restore your body’s strength balance — and keep it that way. 

How Muscle Imbalances Develop: Simply put, a muscle imbalance refers to one muscle group being stronger than another, and it can develop practically anywhere in your body, says Grayson Wickham, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., a physical therapist and founder of Movement Vault. You can experience imbalances between the four small rotator cuff muscles, the three heads of your deltoids, and between your major pec muscles, for instance, he says.

Excerpted from Shape

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