cause, it’s very likely they are right.

Too often, a quest to try and overcome pain turns into a quest to “bring everything into balance,”
which is a fine analogy from emotional
emotional psychology (and thus tempting),
tempting), but is no more than
than an
analogy. Just like being a good person doesn’t mean being the PERFECT blend of assertive yet
caring (just don’t be an asshole), being medically sound in the realm of muscle imbalances
doesn’t mean being perfectly symmetrical.

TLDR: if you’re experiencing pain and

a nd it’s not obvious to your doctor that muscle imbalance is
the cause… it’s probably not and you had best look for other reasons, such, perhaps “you’re just
weak all over and need to get
get stronger” or “your technique
technique sucks.” You know, boring shit most of
us would rather avoid addressing.

3.) Sport Performance Relevance

Ok, so if your imbalance is clinically relevant, go see the doctor. But if it’s short of that, can’t it
still be impeding your sport performance? Probably not, actually. It has been shown in direct
examination that good athletes are actually not superbly symmetrical in force production,
especially right limb vs. left limb. Turns out that the leg athletes jump from or kick from IS
GOING TO BE STRONGER and that’s exactly what it needs to be! If the other leg was arbitrarily
just as strong, it would be needlessly so… strength
strength that could bebe better used elsewhere,
elsewhere, perhaps.
perhaps.

So if you’re a baseball pitcher and you’re worried about your pitching a rm being stronger than
your non-throwing arm… don’tdon’t be. Wasting time trying
trying to perfectly balance your arms in strength
could be time better spent training for baseball in general, getting stronger legs, or even resting
more so you can recover better.

Another important point is that for both sport

sport and health, different
different muscles across the
the same joint
are NOT SUPPOSED to be symmetrical. Your hams will never be as strong as your quads, your
rear delts as strong as your front, and if your biceps and triceps are the same strength, there’s
something wrong!

Now, if your imbalance IS directly relevant to sport, then for sure it must be fixed. Like, if your
grip always gives out on your left hand way before your right and it’s costing you deadlifts in
competition, that should for sure be fixed. But it MUST be performance-relevant! If your calves
look tiny compared to your quads and you’re a powerlifter, who gives a shit… you don’t need your
calves in powerlifting!

4.) Physique Competition Relevance

If you’re reading this and you’re not as jacked a you want to be, you very likely shouldn’t be
worried about balance. FIRST
FIRST put on the raw size, and THEN fix the little things. Putting on
major size is a lot easier to do when you’re younger and healthier, and balancing your physique is
something you can always do later. In fact, trying to balance too much before putting on the
majority of your size is like sculpting a statue before you’ve put half the clay on. Slab clay first,
sculpt later.

Another issue is that

that just because YOU might
might notice your asymmetries,
asymmetries, it doesn’t mean that
that