As human beings, our body isn’t at full balance, one side will always be stronger while the other side may be better coordinated with the brain. We are a well designed machine that works in harmony, but this design has a few flaws to it, and while we strive to be the best version of ourselves, sometimes we may struggle with anatomic obstacles.
We come across those side strength differences almost everyday without thinking about it, for example, when you go grocery shopping, you’d probably use your stronger hand to hold the groceries, or if you require both your hands at work, you’d have an uneven load on both hands to perform the task as easily as possible for your body.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s alright to have a stronger side, but we should always try to keep both sides as even as possible. So let’s bounce from grocery shopping to training, can be at a gym, studio or even outdoor, how many of you are focusing on one side while performing a certain motion and than do the same for the other side? Most people are doing Bilateral (both sides active) exercises during their workouts, and do not try Unilateral (one side active) or uneven Bilateral exercises, where one side is loaded with X kg. while the other is loaded with Y.
If you are less interested in how you may encounter the slight strength differences, you may scroll down to some examples of exercises we all do with the Unilateral or Uneven Bilateral version for them.
Now, for those who are interested, if you look at other trainees, you may have noticed the bar not going straight up while some people perform a Bench Press, or one arm is done with the motion while the other is struggling to do so with dumbbell exercises, maybe a slight rotation of the back to ease the lift for a certain side, all those, and other examples alike, are signs of lack of symmetry between left and right muscles of the same joint.
Again, so you do not think you have an issue with the body, those examples are natural to have, and do not mean you have a problem, but might require a closer examination of the motion or muscle fatigue to ensure you won’t injure yourself. Breaking down the exercise, to it’s simplest form, every exercise is a group of joints performing a certain movement using various muscles, every motion is created using a few muscles, and every muscle can create a few motions. Having that said, if a muscle or a joint, can’t perform their part of the motion, the body will use other muscles and joints to compensate the movement and finish the exercise, certain compensations are harmless, but the other compensations can lead to future injury.
So how do I determine good from bad compensation? If the range of motion, or the motion itself differs on both sides, it’s an issued compensation, on the other hand, if the range of motion and motion are the same on both sides, and the only difference is the velocity of the motion, the compensation is fine, for the body is using a weaker muscle to end to motion, rather than a different joint to ease the motion.
So, now that the overall data is laid out, let’s discuss what can be done with a few quick examples of Asymmetric exercise compared to Symmetric exercise:
SQUAT
While performing a squat, a certain knee can go either external or internal to where it should be located, the pelvic might be uneven, the angle in the knee joint and leg’s gap from the middle can be different. Those are signs of unbalance that I would address using Asymmetric Squat:
Unilateral: Single Leg Squat, Pistol Squat, Box Climb. Those are great for knee, ankle and pelvic stabilization.
Bilateral: Squat with an uneven bar load, Squat -> Single Leg Stand. Great for pelvic balance and stability along with core activation.
PRESS
If while pressing the bar or dumbbells you encounter one side that is pushing harder and finishes the motion quicker than the other, you might want to consider moving to Asymmetric work for a while, or just add it to your routine.
Unilateral: Press with a single dumbbell, starting with the weaker side to set the repetitions limit, and do the same with the stronger side afterwards.
Bilateral: Press the bar with extra load on the ‘weaker’ side, or with different weight dumbbells setting the ‘weak’ side with the heavier load. Another method would be to add a rubber resistance as an extra pull on the issued side.
ROW
An uneven lift would be dealt best with a Unilateral method: a Single Hand Dumbbell Bentover Row, or a Supported Dumbbell Row using a bench or a higher platform for support, should do the trick as they allow you to concentrate on the motion and strengthen up the issued parts separately.
In general, I would advise everyone to engage an Asymmetrical workout every once in a while, can be either Unilateral or Bilateral, the impact on the body while engaging this type of routine is great, and can help reduce pain or injury probability.
If you have questions, as always, you can contact me with anything you wish, do not try those for the first time without any supervision, wrong use of any Asymmetric technique can cause injury. Stay Safe!