Simple Tips for Muscle Imbalance & Mountain Biking Performance
By: Amy Renn
Functional Mobility, Strength, Yoga specialist-MS Kinesiology
Do you ever feel tighter on one side of your body? More dominant on your right or left side when in motion or even when you are still? The imbalances we experience in our muscles are felt in the pedal stroke on a ride or the grip strength on our handle bars, the push up a hill, the flow down a trail or even just in our simple stride walking to the car.
For many of us we may feel this lack of symmetry in the lower back, mid back, hips, arms, legs, or shoulders. The imbalances we experience can directly impact and limit our performance on the bike as well in every activity that requires movement. Which is everything. . . The dominant muscles are disproportionately stronger and more active than its counterpart. This is often due to habitual or repetitive use, or from past injuries where we over and under compensate. It’s nearly impossible to be an active body and get through life without some injury. Although, even with this outcome I would guess most of us wouldn’t trade an active body for a sedentary body.
Regardless of where we get the imbalances, no one is completely symmetrical but it is definitely something to strive for. The muscular imbalances we all carry certainly play a role in our overall performance on and off the bike.
So what do we do to feel more at ease when in motion?
We have included several functional movement stretches and strength exercises to get you on the right track. They apply to a more general sense of equality. As all of our bodies are moving differently, there are more customized programs available to guide you in the right direction and functional movement assessments to move with ease and symmetry. This is a introductory start.
SIMPLE BODY SCAN- Stand tall and notice the sensations in your body, where the pressure hits the floor, where our arms rest by our body. Just take a moment to notice.
WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION-Now the small and simple adjustments-spend a few minutes trying to distribute your body evenly, equalize the pressure under foot, relax both shoulders evenly, rotate your pelvis in a neutral position.
LUNGE ASSESSMENT: Lunge one side, lunge the other. Open each hip flexor. Notice which is tighter. Hold the lunge longer on the tighter side. 
SHOE CHECK-Pick up your everyday shoe- the sole that is most worn is your dominant side. This is always so fascinating as it is pretty remarkable how much more force we use on one vs the other side.
SPINAL BALANCE-On your knees lengthen the opposite arm and leg. Keep your neck in line with the spine. Extend the limbs so they are parallel to the floor, engage the core. Repeat 5 +times on each side. Really focus on the lengthening and extension for this exercise.
Awareness is the start. Followed by strength, flexibility and balance exercises as the next key steps for adjustments. Having a professional customized assessment done can help tremendously to help you move with equality, power and comfort!
