To some degree, we all go through life leaning and listing, bowing and bending. The chores we do and the choices we make shape us. We become misaligned, asymmetrical.
This one-sidedness was the impetus for an exercise-video series by FitPrime last year. The workouts were hard-core fusion, featuring emphasis on “non-dominant training.” The idea is that you should start your unilateral moves on the weaker side.
“By prioritizing your lifts by training your non-dominant side first, you are giving that lift the most amount of energy and mental focus,” said Keli Roberts, the certified personal trainer who led several of the videos. “That’s important in terms of bringing balance back into the body.”
Bilateral strength training–the bench press, squat, barbell curls–is favored by most in the weight room. It saves time, for one thing, and, more importantly, it challenges large muscle systems.
Most of the time our imbalance is slight and acceptable. Some experts suggest you examine your posture in the mirror or have a certified personal trainer or health professional do it. If you do have an issue of imbalance, University of Connecticut kinesiologist William Kraemer suggests the following:
– Concentrate on the weak side until it catches up.
– Be conscious of your right and left limb handling equal force when doing bilateral exercises.
– Overload the weak side with unilateral exercises, and do a moderate load on the strong side until you get fairly close to even.
– Work the muscle from different exercise angles to strengthen the whole muscle with different unilateral and eventually bilateral exercises.
