| |
| |
|
Muscle Building Information |
|
|
|
The Skinny on Muscle Imbalances - Restoring Order As A Means Of Eliminating Back Pain
There are many causes of back pain. Injury, illness, herniated disks and poor posture are just a few. Muscle imbalances are one of the lesser side effects of improper use, posture, strain and injury, and are commonly the cause of the aches and pains associated with back pain. Unfortunately, most doctors don't diagnose muscle imbalances until it is too late. Muscle Imbalances Defined So what exactly is a muscle imbalance? A muscle imbalance is exactly as it sounds, an 'imbalance' or inequality that exists within the muscles. It occurs when two or more muscles in the body that oppose each other are disproportionate. An example of a common muscle imbalance occurs in the muscles of the quadriceps and hamstrings. Most people work hard to strengthen the front part of their leg but often skimp when it comes to exercising the hamstring. A muscle imbalance in this area of the leg can result in a 'popping' sound in the knee. It can also result in back pain. The single most common muscle imbalance leading to back pain is disproportionate abdomen to back ratio. Think of it this way... it's like a teeter totter that isn't balanced because one end is shorter than the other. It will still work but not optimally. Not exercising the abdomen can lead to severe back pain because the abdomen supports the back. Biology of Muscles It will help your understanding a bit if you have an idea of how muscles work. Muscles are fibrous tissues that connect to bones in the body, supporting the function of movement. To facilitate movement muscles contract and then relax. So a muscle gets shorter and then longer in response to movement. A muscle imbalance may result in too much or too little contracting or relaxing. Or, some muscles may get too strong while others aren't strong enough and can reduce a persons' stability. Factors Contributing to Muscle Imbalances One of the primary causes of muscle imbalances is poor posture. If you sit for too long in a bad position or continually stand with bad posture, your muscles adapt to your posture but in a bad way resulting in imbalances. Muscle imbalances can also result when you overuse a muscle. If you are right handed for example and use a pull lever on the job, and only pull with the right hand, the right hand/arm will be stronger than the left which presents an imbalance. The Benefits of Exercise The good news is that exercise can help reduce and even eliminate muscle imbalances. (If not careful however, improper training can also lead to muscle imbalances). You can exercise weaker muscles to catch them up to stronger ones and work to correct imbalances and maintain overall stability. You can assess whether or not opposing muscles are out of balance by testing your lifting strength. Try lifting your maximum on one side and then the other. For example, if you can lift a 10 pound weight during a bicep curl on the left side, but a 30 pound weight on the right, you have a muscle imbalance. You should enlist the assistance of a trainer when testing muscle imbalances. By working with a trainer, you can develop a fitness program that not only addresses muscle imbalances but improves overall tone and strength. Usually a combination of strength training and physical therapy or chiropractic therapy can be used to correct muscle imbalances. Prevention Prevention is critical when it comes to muscle imbalances and back pain. One of the best things you can to correct and prevent future injury is seek out the help of a professional trainer. A trainer can perform a physical evaluation and test the relative muscle strength you have on each side of the body. You can then work together to develop a strength training program that provides overall strength and eliminates potential problem areas. About The Author Steve Preston, President of Fast Fitness has been training and counseling clients for 15 years. He offers personal fitness training, metabolic testing and customized fitness and nutrition plans. His new guide *The Better Back Guide: 6 Weeks to Improving Strength and Reducing Pain Without Surgery* teaches people how to reduce, eliminate and prevent chronic back pain using a six week program. You can read more about his guide and his other fitness guides and services at: http://www.fast-fitness.net. Learn More about Back Pain at: http://www.backpainworkout.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Build-Muscle - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Build a Bigger and Better Chest Creating a larger more powerful chest is difficult but if you follow this easy workout you'll see results in no time.Each of the chest exercises listed should be done with proper form to not only avoid injury, but the better your form is, the better results you will get. Sneak a Little Intensity into Your Workout You know you're on autopilot during your workouts when, halfway through you're set on the pec dec, you realize you're sitting on someone's lap. It's time to shake things up a bit. How To Get A Flat, Toned Stomach One of the most common fitness questions this time of year is "How can I tone my stomach for swimsuit season"? Typically, people believe that the guaranteed quick route to obtaining a rock-solid six-pack is a path packed with hundreds of sit-ups or abdominal crunches. Wrong!The reality is that even if you do crunches every day you aren't guaranteed to get the stomach you desire. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (Lose Body Fat) - Product Review At first glance, this product manual's title (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) was a bit distracting. While the 300+ page manual does a good job of explaining how increased muscle strength helps lose body fat and why its more important to lose body fat versus lose weight; I wasn't sure about the content of the product manual until I read it in its entirety. The Default Rep Range I had an hour long conversation with Pavel Tsatsouline on Sunday and per usual his probing questions churned up some things that I had forgotten. One thing that he asked was, "Over the years, was there a single repetition range that you preferred?" What was 'normal' for me? Put another way, what single rep range did I use most often in my weight training and why? Without hesitation I said 5-rep sets. Exercise The Right Way - Dumbbell Lunges Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes. Focus on Both Consistency and Variability in Your Workouts for the Best Results In one of my recent articles, I spoke about the fact that you must alter your training variables that make up your workouts if you want to continuously get good results, whether it is losing weight, building muscle, or toning up.While changing your training variables is an integral part of the success of your training program, your workouts shouldn't be drastically different every single time. Lifting for the Love of It! Over the last couple of years I have taken a number of layoffs, for a variety of different reasons. Many times I wonder why I lift at all. How Proper Calorie Fragmentation Improves Body Composition? It is a well-established fact that calories control everyone's bodyweight. No matter how many meals a day you have, it is the calorie balance in the end of the day that matters. Muscle and Fitness -- The Second Key To Successfully Achieving Your Fitness Goals Lets discuss Muscle and Fitness -- The Second Key To Successfully Achieving Your Fitness Goals. But just before that, I'd like to remind you about what the previous article discussed. Strong To The Core of Your Being - The Benefits Of Core Training If you were to ask me which muscle group in your entire body you could work to get the greatest benefits in the shortest amount of time, I would tell you without hesitation, "the core." Strengthening the core can realize tremendous benefits to anyone regardless of his or her training experience and can do so very quickly. 4 Secrets to A Flat Stomach Do you want a flat stomach? I don't know a person who doesn't!People spend millions, if not billions of dollars, each year in the quest for a flat stomach. Right now there are about 200 or more ab exercise devices out there. Enough Already! Stop Coming Up With New Weight Loss Programs... Great weight loss techniques are completely worthless.That's a true statement 99. Exercise The Right Way - The Flat Dumbbell Fly Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes. Building a Better Home Gym If you're looking to get fit and into shape, home gyms may provide the best option if joining a traditional gym isn't feasible.A personal gym at home will allow for more flexibility in terms of your workout schedule, and if time is tight and you want to include exercise into the busiest of routines, a gym at home is definitely the way to go. Real Muscle Real Fast! Adding muscle seems to be a mystery to most, yet if you pick up a copy of any fitness or bodybuilding magazine and you'll almost always see a headline like this: "Gain 15 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks."If it were so easy you'd have millions of muscle-heads running around. Bodybuilding: Effective Ways To Handling Criticism It's important to set the way we'll respond to different critics throughout the journey of achieving our personal and bodybuilding goals. As are other areas of life, Bodybuilding is a sport of opinion. Power Mass Training for Building Muscle Mass Many people believe you need to train with a variety of weights and reps in order to maximize your muscle building progress. I believe that you can find the appropriate rep number for your muscles and it is best to stick with that range most of the time. The Importance Of Creatine In Building Lean Muscle Creatine monohydrate can rightly lay claim to being the most popular and arguably most effective bodybuilding supplement currently available. The beauty of creatine is that it is 100% natural and occurs in many foods so it's unlikely to be banned from any sports or competitions. Exercise The Right Way - The Leg Press Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
