Correcting imbalances?

fireytiger

I started trying to do the stronglifts 5x5 last year and I liked the program, but I ended up stopping after only about a month because I lost access to my gym. Now, I have access to a gym again and am guaranteed access for the next year. However, I had a free session with a personal trainer, and when I asked him to take a look at my form to make sure I was doing it right, he said I had a lot of imbalances that made my form weak. So he pulled me from the barbell, and had me working with the TRX suspension and some 14 pound dumbbells. He said I needed to correct the imbalances before continuing or else I would just injure myself. I definitely don't want to hurt myself so that's why I asked to have someone look at my form, but I'm not sure how to transition from this correctional stuff, to actually doing the lifting I want to do. Any advice?

SideSteel

fireytiger wrote: »

I started trying to do the stronglifts 5x5 last year and I liked the program, but I ended up stopping after only about a month because I lost access to my gym. Now, I have access to a gym again and am guaranteed access for the next year. However, I had a free session with a personal trainer, and when I asked him to take a look at my form to make sure I was doing it right, he said I had a lot of imbalances that made my form weak. So he pulled me from the barbell, and had me working with the TRX suspension and some 14 pound dumbbells. He said I needed to correct the imbalances before continuing or else I would just injure myself. I definitely don't want to hurt myself so that's why I asked to have someone look at my form, but I'm not sure how to transition from this correctional stuff, to actually doing the lifting I want to do. Any advice?

One option would be to post a few videos of your squat and see if some folks who are well versed in squatting can take a look at it.

Muscle imbalances do exist but with no disrespect intended at all, the other issue could just be that you don't yet know how to squat.

The NASM has a model of movement assessment where they try to identify movement dysfunction and then address it by bringing up weak points and loosening overactive or tight muscles. This sounds good on paper but when you take someone who is very new to a complex movement, often times they don't do it correctly because they don't know how to do it correctly.

For my n=1 example that certainly doesn't make me correct -- my squat looked like crap for a long time because I didn't know how to squat. Was my forward lean caused by overactive hip flexors? Was my knee valgus caused by an overactive adductor complex?

I very much doubt it. My movement issues with the squat were caused by me not having a freaking clue how to squat. I fixed it by first learning the proper technique through cueing and very frequent practice.

So none of this is to say that your trainer is wrong. Could you have some imbalances? I suppose it's possible. It's also possible that you just need to learn how to squat properly and practice the hell out of it until you no longer have to think about it.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

Sidesteel can certainly correct me here if I'm wrong (please), but I have also been told that unless the imbalances are extreme, compound movements like the lifts done in SL can actually help even things out because we are forced to use the whole body (including the stabilizers) rather than concentrate on one side, one muscle, etc.

canadianlbs

i'm kind of ambivalent. maybe my own imbalances are in that extreme zone, but i can certainly testify that just lifting hasn't evened me out. in fact in my case i feel like i got away with it for the first couple of months because i wasn't lifting enough weight for my asymmetry to do me any real harm. but during december i was driving hard to squat 100 pounds and even though my overall frame was strong enough by then for it to actually feel pretty good, it did definitely put some money into the pockets of my chiropractor and massage folks. fwiw, my chiropractor did say that 'we' don't really like people to lift when they're 'off' because then you get accustomed to your own accommodation patterns, and a muscle habit is hard to break once it's in place.

i can kind of attest to that. so now i'm really trying to take care of it by making my overall weights just wait! dammit! until my left side can take part in them.

fwiw, i'm still doing sl, and i think i plan to. the problem with just doing isolation on the weak side is as sidesteel says: i'm not sure at all that a) i'd be picking the right muscles to strengthen, and b) i'd even recognize the point where the left and the right were caught up to each other again. so atm my approach is to keep doing the lifts i'm trying to get back into shape for doing, but do them at beginner weights again, and concentrate 90% of my attention on trying to make sure i'm not letting my left side kip out, or 'progressing' past what my left side can handle fairly. so if that means squats at 60 pounds and ohp at 30 until who-knows-when, well right now i'm thinking it's still worth the time.

i think if i had the whole process to do again, or if i were choosing where to spend money next, i might just invest in a trainer who would watch me while i do the lifts, and catch my any time i letting my stronger right side compensate for something weak on the left.

and personally . . . i wing stuff a lot and who knows, i could be deforming myself into a used pipe-cleaner shape. so feel really free to just ignore all of this. i had an experience today with doing super-duper-slow motion versions of the 'clean' movement, which highlighted imbalances i would never have seen - or felt - if i'd just whipped the bar from my thighs to my chest. it kind of opened my eyes, and i'm actually thinking this evening that maybe i'll try that out on the other lifts too, and see what other things might come to light.

questionfear

I have had imbalances in the past (I tore my ACL, had *kitten* PT, then ran on the imbalances that created for several years until I tore my meniscus in the same knee and found a much, much better PT). I still have some slight imbalance but I try to be in-tune to it, and rather than skip stronglifts or similar lifting, I just try to be very aware of my form if I'm favoring one side. I also do some single leg squats to help my weaker leg a bit.

It's all subjective and I haven't formally had it evaluated, but I do think Stronglifts and squatting has helped my imbalances a great deal. When I first started squatting with weight my right quad was super sore because it was handling far too much of the work (my left leg is the weaker one) and I spent some time incorporating single leg squats into my warmups and just try very hard to focus on my left side, and I haven't had that excess soreness in a while.

Of course, we're all an experiment of one, so what worked for me might not work for you!

fireytiger

Thanks for the replies! I don't really have any way to take video of myself squatting with the bar, as I go to the gym alone and I can't get guests in. I also can't afford a personal trainer, so I've really got to figure this out myself for the most part.

Sidesteel, no offense taken in the slightest at suggesting I may just not be doing the squats right! that is exactly why I used that free training session to have him look at my form, because first and foremost I want to know I'm doing the movements correctly. After posting this, I did spend some more time on the stronglifts site reading how to squat with proper form, and I *think* I've identified a couple things that I may be doing wrong that are causing some of the problems. However I've had a nasty cold this week and haven't been back to the gym yet to test it out, so we'll see.

The trainer was not just concerned with my squats, he was also saying I had an arm imbalance as well. He said that my right arm seems stronger than the left (odd considering I'm left handed!), causing my overhead press to be wobbly. I think that has more to do with not lifting in over a year and having crappy upper body strength though.

DawnEmbers

Interesting on the right stronger but being left handed.

My right is stronger than my left, but I'm right handed. It's also showing better shape just a little more and I'm not the only one who can see the difference. But as far as that was concerned (and another reason I don't remember), had 2 different trainers at the gym recommend dumbbell bench press along with the regular bench. I do it as an accessor and have done dumbbell row as an accessory too. I do ones that my left can handle for 3x8, though I might research accessory rep ranges some more. I considered doing one sided and letting the left do more but eh, I'll just do both at the same weight along with the bar work for now. Least, that's what I'm doing.

Then again, while I am right handed and the left side is weaker, the right side is the most injured. *shrugs*

Hope you feel better soon and can get back to the gym for some more fun.