The Importance of Structural Balance

Achieving optimum structural balance doesn't sound half as sexy as building large muscles or dropping 15kg of body fat, but it is a highly important component of achieving either of those goals. It takes on even more significance if you have any aspirations for the playing fields and athletic tracks. It was once written that you can’t shoot a cannon out of a canoe and that is what is essential for you to grasp when it comes to the importance of structural balance. If your “big” muscles are strong, but the fixators and stabilisers that support them are weak, what do you think will happen? Yes that’s right – injury, impaired performance and frustration will all ensue. Forget about working your core for “stability” – focus on large muscles and the muscles that enable them to fire properly and safely. 

I guarantee more powerful endeavors in both the gym and against whichever opponent you chose to pit your wits against.

Now I have a quick personal admission to make here – for my sins I was initially schooled by an old bodybuilder, which means I had fantastic schooling in all aspects of body composition, but bugger all in smart balanced training to achieve a healthy, optimally functioning body. If I had known what I know now then unquestionably I would be a better athlete as I would have worked harder on my shoulder mobility (after I dislocated it) and I would also have a more stable knee as a result of proper training. I would definitely not be semi permanently crucified by the pain in my right shoulder due to supraspinatus tendon inflammation and a host of other rotator cuff problems. Educating one’s self in the importance of achieving structural balance has been a lifetime’s work to date and it isn’t going to conclude any time soon. I must thank my peers as there are no better in the world at fixing up an athlete to reach his / her optimal performance.

Let us break down the key four areas of potential structural imbalance.

Weak Vastus Medialis

The vastus medialis (VMO) is the tear drop shaped quadriceps muscle on the inside of the knee. It is essential to maintain correct tracking of the knee as you move (especially for lateral movements) and I personally blame it’s weakness for a huge number of our leading premiership footballers injury woes.

We should also note that women have notoriously weak VMOs, and as they suffer 4 times the ACL injuries of men (due to the inferior Q angle at which the femur hits the tibia because of the wider pelvis if the female) strengthening the VMO should always be a priority whether we are dealing with a weekend warrior or a top athlete.

A reluctance to squat properly (i.e. deep and below parallel) is a primary cause for the prevalence of weak VMOs. The knee joint was designed to squat to below parallel and the incidence of knee injuries amongst Olympic weightlifters, all of whom squat to the absolute bottom of their range of motion with extremely heavy loads, is amongst the lowest in the sporting world.

So proper squatting is always recommended, with the one caveat that a trainee must earn the right to squat. Proper flexibility is an absolute imperative, as is sound coaching. Nor is throwing a supple beginner into the squat rack usually a clever thing to do as the VMO is unlikely to be sufficiently developed to support proper tracking of the knee in heavy deep squats (if your knees move inwards or outwards as you squat you need to strengthen the VMO in order to limit this dangerous practice). In cases such as these we recommend step ups and one legged squatting movements such as variations on the split squat.

Weak Hamstrings

Hamstrings are designed with two functions in mind – to flex the knee and extend the hips. A weakness in the hamstring can result in overcompensation injuries in the quadriceps or glutes, or pulled / torn hamstring muscles themselves.

An easy way to test the balance of the quadriceps / hamstring structure is to simply compare the maximal effort front-squat to the maximal effort back squat. If front squat strength (primarily focusing on the quadriceps) is less than 85% of the back squat, then there is a structural imbalance that needs addressing.

The best way to address a hamstring weakness is to pick the right rep range protocol. Far too many programs are written with ill conceived time under tension aims for hamstrings. Let’s make this crystal clear – hamstrings, especially the bicep femoris responsible for flexing the knee during leg curl type movements, are fast twitch muscles and therefore respond best to short time under tension (10-30 seconds) and low rep ranges (3-7 reps).

If you wish to strengthen your hamstrings focus on what will actually work and leave the high rep stuff to those who like to exercise with bosu balls and power plates.

Weak Scapulae Retractors

Pull your shoulder blades back. There you go; you have just achieved scapulae retraction. It sounds simple, but far too often we see athletes and desk jockeys alike with rounded shoulders and that thrust forward head look. Achieving good control of the scapula is essential for healthy shoulders as it’s the shoulder blade muscles that help keep your upper arm properly attached to your body!

Prone shrugs (face down on an incline bench, shrugging dumbbells back using only your shoulder blades, and holding the contraction for at least 2 seconds) are a great exercise for gaining scapulae control, and they don’t even require that you use too much weight. In fact as a general rule it’s not necessary to use a huge load when aiming for control – far better to feel the movement in a controlled and precise fashion.

Weak External Rotators

My own personal problem after years of neglect, the external rotators comprise of the teres minor and the infraspinatus muscles of the rotator cuff. They are crucially important for stabilising the shoulder in all forms of throwing, pressing and punching / handing off movements. They are also the best example of the “not being able to shoot a cannon from a canoe” analogy I referred to at the beginning of this article.

If this is an area that you have neglected then swallow your pride and be prepared to use tiny weights for your external rotations. 

If I can use a 3kg dumbbell in a public place, then so can you...

Matthew Page

Famed Swiss climber dies in fall

Loretan began climbing aged 11
Renowned Swiss climber Erhard Loretan has died in a climbing accident in the Swiss Alps on his 52nd birthday.

Swiss police say Loretan was leading a client up the summit ridge of the Gruenhorn, in the Bernese Alps, on Thursday afternoon when the pair fell.

The climber died at the scene, while his Swiss client was flown to hospital in a serious condition.

Loretan was one of the few people to have reached the summits of all 14 mountain peaks above 8,000m (26,247ft).

But his career was blighted by a family tragedy just before Christmas 2001, when he killed his own infant son by shaking him to death to stop him crying.

The two climbers fell for unknown reasons at a height of 3,800m, up the 4,043-m peak, police from the Swiss canton of Valais said.

It was a fall of 200m, according to Swiss newspaper La Tribune de Geneve.

Manslaughter conviction

Loretan, originally from the canton of Fribourg, began climbing at the age of 11.

He scaled his first 8,000-m peak, Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, in 1982.

Over the next 13 years, he climbed the other 13.

His 1986 ascent of Mount Everest, without bottled oxygen, by night and in just 40 hours, stunned the mountaineering world.

That same year, he climbed 38 Swiss peaks in 19 days, La Tribune de Geneve reports.

He told L'Objectif magazine in 1995 that he had an "extreme fear of death" but his fear kept him crucially alert when climbing.

For the manslaughter of his son of seven months, Loretan was convicted and given a suspended sentence of four months in 2003.

He said he had shaken the child for just a couple of seconds to stop him crying, then put him to bed and the crying had stopped. He later called an ambulance.

The case's notoriety led to new research showing many parents were unaware that infants can die from being shaken for only a few seconds, because of weak neck muscles.

A sad story.