Bodybuilding Tip: The Value of Having Muscular Balance

If there is one lesson that I have learned in life its that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The same analogy can be applied to our bodies and bodybuilding. We are only as strong as our weakest body part. Oftentimes having a weak body part can create an imbalance that is not only physically unattractive, but can also lead to an injury.

Let's take the example of a young man who is just starting out with bodybuilding. When most young guys start out, they are concerned about getting their chest and arms as big as possible. It looks good to their friends and it looks good to the girls, which is just fine by them!

Big growth in the "showpiece muscles" is great. But too often, an imbalance occurs, as the chest muscles become stronger and the "antagonistic," or opposing, back muscles on the other side of the torso, being unworked, provide no counter balance. This imbalance can result in the shoulders being pulled forward and a "slope shoulder" sort of appearance developing.

It can also set the trainee up for injury.

I thought about this the other day as I was performed a set of stiff legged dead lifts following some quad work on the leg press. I remember from my days at Gold's Gym and World Gym in Venice that many bodybuilders would train their quads with squats and leg presses utilizing ungodly poundages, yet when it came to training their hamstrings (the antagonistic muscle group to the quads) they would do a mere 3 or 4 sets of light leg curls.

Fortunately this is a mistake that is commonly confined to beginners. As the trainee progresses, he realizes that to have a pleasing physique he must work all of the muscles in the body equally.

Anyhow, there I was, doing my stiff legged dead lifts and feeling the weight really pulling through my hamstrings and buttocks and I couldn't help but think how effective this exercise is, and how this exercise is actually like doing squats for the hamstrings.

After setting the weight down I ran to my pad and started jotting some notes, which I am sharing with you here today. As I have already discussed, balance is important and so I am going to list some antagonistic muscle groups for you to look through and ponder.

If you're training one of the following muscles you must also train its antagonistic partner (but not necessarily in the same workout) in order to create balance and prevent injury in the body. Here is my list of antagonistic muscle groups.

1. Back and Chest
2. Abs and Erectors
3. Biceps and Triceps
4. Quadriceps and Hamstrings
5. Calves and Tibialis

Please take a moment to go through your current bodybuilding workout routine and make sure that you are giving these antagonistic muscle groups an equal share of the training load. This will help build balance into your workouts, and your body.

Did you know that you can also develop an imbalance within a muscle group? Let's take the deltoids (shoulders) for instance. Bench press and military press work stresses the anterior head of the deltoids, along with the medial head. But this does very little for the posterior head of the deltoids. All too often what happens is that the anterior deltoids get overly developed while the posterior deltoids remain weak and undeveloped. This can lead to injury within the shoulder structure.

In summary: by simply being cognizant of how muscles work in both complementary and antagonistic manners, we can avoid injuries and we can accomplish the balanced development that is so pleasing to the eye.

Keep this in mind as you go through your workout this week.

On another note: Stick with your workout. Don't blow it off. You are building your body and your health, one day at a time. Make the investment that pays off day after day. Invest in your body. Go get 'em!

About The Author

Lee Labrada, is a former IFBB Mr. Universe and IFFB Pro World Cup winner. He is one of few men in history to place in the top four in the Mr. Olympia seven consecutive times, and was recently inducted into the IFBB Pro Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. Lee is President/CEO of Houston-based Labrada Nutrition.