muscle imbalance

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by giant_q_tip, Feb 25, 2007.

  1. giant_q_tip

    giant_q_tip Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2006
    Messages:
    190
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    New York
    2 months ago i found out that the muscles in my body were imbalanced, upper body more specifically.

    so i decided to only work out my non dominant side which is my left side ONLY (bicep, forearm, tricep, shoulder, traps, abdoments and back muscles), for two months i havent worked the right side of my upper body since i play with my right arm, which affects a lot of upper body muscles.

    is this a good way to correct muscle imbalance?


    PS im not trying to brag about muscles since im an ectomorph (skinny,fast metabolism and extremely difficult to gain weight and muscle) which sucks BIG TIME
     
  2. Roman00

    Roman00 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2006
    Messages:
    101
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    E
    acutally thats not a good waY to balence the muscle. For myself my left arm was smaller in like ever single way then my right. After reading lots of forums and asking questions about the imbalence I knew the right way to properly balence your arms out are by doing the same thing *as in wieghts reps/sets, for both of the arm... Slowly the arms will be equal, mine arent even equal yet hopefully soon.

    what i suggest doing is with dumbell curls is using your left arm first, after then use your right. ( and do the same rep/sets/weight) Thus your muscle on the left side of the arm will be more broken then the right side of the arm leading to more growth in the left side of the arm then the right slowly equaling the same. Just to tell you lots of people have lots of imbalance between muscle :(
     
    #2 Roman00, Feb 25, 2007
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2007
  3. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2004
    Messages:
    1,121
    Likes Received:
    14
    Location:
    Ottawa
    If you're a skinny guy then muscle size differences should be easy to fix. The reason is, even if the percentage difference is great, since there is little muscle there hypertrophy on the weak side to compensate should occur fairly easily. By the way, most people who say they are ectomorphs simply eat too little to grow when trying to gain weight. If you want to gain size, try eating more food.

    Also, be careful to avoid bilateral exercises. For example, if doing a bench press the dominant side will provide more force. The result is you train the strong side more than the weak side. Doing the press using dumbbells is a way around this - this way there isn't a way to redistribute force.
     
  4. virtualkidneys!

    virtualkidneys! Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2006
    Messages:
    143
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    england
    muscle balance in the upper body normaly occurs by lack of technique on your overhead clear and smash which forces more pressure onto the muscle than is actually necessary causing a muscle imbalance. Try to do weights or use one of those long elastic ropes to do exercises to even out the muscle.
     
  5. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2004
    Messages:
    1,121
    Likes Received:
    14
    Location:
    Ottawa
    Not exactly. I'd say that bad technique can cause injury because it forces energy into directions your tissues can't handle instead of transferring it efficiently, but that mode of injury generally wouldn't be considered due to be due to muscle balance.

    Consider for example how many forehand clears you hit, versus how many backhands. Probably a lot more forehands than backhands. So, if using good technique meaning going for many around the head shots, the amount of times you use forehand overhead shots (why rely on internally rotating the shoulder) will greatly exceed the number of backhand shots (which rely on externally rotating the shoulder). The end result is that the internal rotators become tighter, and the external rotators become looser - what you get is bad posture. Here's a simple test: let your arms hang loosely at your sides while standing. If your internal and external rotators are evenly balanced, your palms should be facing the side of your legs. If the internal rotators are stronger than the external rotators, the palms will be facing behind you.
     
  6. giant_q_tip

    giant_q_tip Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2006
    Messages:
    190
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    New York
    heh well fu hai feng has major issues with muscle imbalance apparently

    but idk if he knows or doesnt know what hes doing

    hes pro so i assume hes well aware of his huge left arm
     
  7. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2006
    Messages:
    651
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Winnipeg, Canada
    Agreed with the dumbbells. Working out IS the best weight to correct muscle imbalance as a badminton player (because good knwos badminton wont). But you should be doing exercises on both sides of your body or you could risk injury, especially to your back and spine. I suggest using dumbbells for every upper body muscle group. As for legs, when using machines do each leg in isolation at a lower weight.

    For dumbbells for arms, use a weight that is very difficult with your left but doable with your right. Once your left tires, stop and take a break rather than continuing with the not-tired right arm. You still want to keep your right engaged to preserve the muscle you already have.
     
  8. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2006
    Messages:
    651
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Winnipeg, Canada
    Agreed with the dumbbells. Working out IS the best weight to correct muscle imbalance as a badminton player (because good knwos badminton wont). But you should be doing exercises on both sides of your body or you could risk injury, especially to your back and spine. I suggest using dumbbells for every upper body muscle group. As for legs, when using machines do each leg in isolation at a lower weight.

    For dumbbells for arms, use a weight that is very difficult with your left but doable with your right. Once your left tires, stop and take a break rather than continuing with the not-tired right arm. You still want to keep your right engaged to preserve the muscle you already have.
     
  9. mojopin

    mojopin Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2007
    Messages:
    268
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Medical student
    Location:
    Ireland

    how'd you find out exactly?

    Badminton doesnt have a massive effect on your upper body muscles really, so it cant be that bad...
     
  10. charliebadders

    charliebadders Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2009
    Messages:
    139
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    student
    Location:
    england, london
    i find that my shoulder, forearm and lattismum dorsi on my right size is much bigger than my left, about 2" bigger forearm lol i tried working out for 3 months but my forearm and shoulder never seemed to get an bigger even though i was doing compound exercises and specfic forearm exercises. my bicep and tricep seemed to level out but my right side is soo toned compared to my left. how do you guys get thm do be simularly toned?
     
  11. giant_q_tip

    giant_q_tip Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2006
    Messages:
    190
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    New York
    lol wow i made this thread 2 years ago! i was 17 then and im 19 now haha

    time flies fast!

    i wouldnt have noticed if charliebadders hadnt bumped this thread,

    but in any case, i lift weights now but it doesnt substantially correct my muscle imbalance, but my left side isn't as small as it used to be compared to the right side of my body.
     
  12. bradmyster

    bradmyster Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2008
    Messages:
    744
    Likes Received:
    1
    Occupation:
    Customer server network Support
    Location:
    Australia, Brisbane
    alot of misleading information in this thread lol.

    The best way to even up your muscles is with free weights such as dumbells which hav been mentioned. Starting with your left arm first wont change anything because both arms are still working the same reps/weight.

    what you need to do is find a comfortable weight for your strongest side first. This might be a 10kg dumbell if you have average strength. Then find a weight for your left which you can manage to complete the full reps and sets with. But at the same time it needs to feel like its struggling and putting some good pressure on those muscles your concentrating on. This might be around 7.5kgs depending on how much of an imbalance you have.

    Work your sets into your workout daily or every couple of days depending on how much you want to work out. As your imbalanced side increases in strength you can increase the weight. But do not increase your stronger sides weight until both sides feel they can comfortably move forward with the weight increase.

    If you do it properly balancing things out will fall into place. But badminton really does have a big impact on your upper body's muscles. Although some people may not think so it does. This also depends on how much you play/train. My body is fairly balanced as iv worked out a fair bit to even my strength up. But you can still see a size difference between my arms and a shape difference in my shoulder muscles which is specifically different through badminton.
     

Share This Page