Structural Balance & It’s Role In Optimal Performance
-Mariah May, CSCS
Our bodies always strive to achieve homeostasis, regulating factors such as hormones, body temperature, blood pressure, etc. For the human body to function properly, there must be equilibrium. This principle applies to muscular strength and performance as well. For example, if you only focus on bench press and neglect back exercises, your posture would deteriorate, your bench press progress would plateau due to the lack of improvement in back muscles, and your shoulder stability would suffer.
What Is Structural Balance?
Structural balance is the theory that optimal gym and sports performance can be achieved when different muscle groups in the body are balanced with each other. This theory, developed by Charles Poliquin, emerged from his comparison of the 1RM (one-repetition maximum) of various lifts among athletes. He found that when lifts are in closer proximity to each other, the risk of injury decreases while performance improves. For example, here are some ratios for upper body and lower body movements:
Reference Lift: Back Squat to Legal Depth
Front Squat: 85% of back squat
Powerlifting Deadlift: 120% of back squat
Reference Lift: Bench Press
Close-Grip Bench Press: 90% of bench press
Push Press: 85% of bench press
Incline Bench Press: 80% of bench press
How Is This Put Into Practice?
There are several ways to ensure structural balance in your body. First, as illustrated in the opening paragraph, you should aim to work movement patterns evenly. Your workout split plays a significant role in this; examples of splits include full body, push/pull, push/pull/legs, upper/lower, etc. There are various ways to structure your routine, but it should be balanced. At the gym, we incorporate this into our programming by planning the month ahead and rotating workout days. You may notice that strength and interval weight training days change throughout the week. This rotation helps members who don’t attend the gym four days a week to maintain a balanced workout routine over the month. If leg workouts only occur on Tuesdays and a member only attends on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they would gradually become unbalanced and their leg strength would suffer.
Another way the gym promotes structural balance in our routines is by incorporating exercises targeting stabilizer complexes in the workouts. Stabilizer muscles work alongside prime mover muscles to stabilize joints. Most primary stabilizing muscles are located in the shoulder, hips, and trunk, including the rotator cuff, glute muscles, and abdominals. These complexes are typically worked on interval weight training (IWT) days during the accessory block and in many of the resistance movements on stamina days. Strong stabilizer muscles improve performance in major lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench press.
How Can I Achieve Structural Balance?
Before making significant changes to your workout routine, consider your athletic activities. Often, certain sports emphasize specific movements over others. For example, cyclists primarily use their quads, while climbers rely more on pulling muscles. However, striving for overall balance is beneficial for most individuals. To find if you have some structural imbalance, start by comparing your lift numbers and assessing their proximity to each other via percentages. Numerous resources for structural balance ratios are available online including the one offered above. If you identify a weakness in a lift, here are some tips to improve it:
Work the relevant stabilizing complex and accessory muscles of the lift.
Focus on mind-muscle connection: Concentrate on engaging the muscle intended for the exercise. For example, during a tricep pull-down, focus on using the tricep to push the weight down rather than pulling from the wrist.
Check unilateral strength: Determine if one side of your body is weaker than the other and incorporate unilateral exercises to address the imbalance.
Increase volume for specific lifts: If you want to improve a particular lift, such as the bench press, include additional sets of that movement in your weekly routine.
Achieving structural balance is not only essential for gym performance but also for overall health and injury prevention. By ensuring that different muscle groups are balanced and working together effectively, we can improve our strength, stability, and athleticism. Whether through balanced workout routines, targeting stabilizer muscles, or adjusting lifting volumes, striving for structural balance enhances our ability to perform daily activities and excel in sports.