Your Workout Routine Suffers Because of Unbalanced Recovery
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You’ve been injured, then you’ve ‘recovered’ (or so you thought), and then as soon as you start moving again, you feel that one side feels flimsier, almost like it’s two steps behind the other.
It’s almost like you have two different versions of your body merged into one. You think you might need a few warm-up reps, but then you notice the imbalance following you into every single exercise, and the stronger side is left to pick up the slack every time.
As scary and confusing as this is, this happens to a lot of people after nerve or soft-tissue trauma.
That’s because recovery doesn’t happen evenly throughout the body. There could be a situation where you lose strength/coordination in one limb faster than the rest of your body. And, as you can probably imagine, this’ll affect your workout in a major way.
You are only as strong as your weakest link. And in this case, the weakest link is your weaker side – it limits you; it holds you back.
The way to handle it is to know why the imbalance exists and what you can do to bring both sides back to normal.
Why Does One Side Heal More Slowly?
If one side of your body is slower to heal, the reason is usually in the way your body reacts to the injury.
Trauma to the nerves can interrupt normal signals that are sent to the muscles, so the weaker side doesn’t activate as quickly and can’t contract with the same force. Soft-tissue damage adds another problem to the mix because scar tissue and stiffness limit how well you can move.
This makes the injured side feel tight and even more uncoordinated.
As you try to protect the injured area, you start to hesitate when making certain movements, and you unconsciously shift everyday tasks to the stronger side.
Over time, the stronger side takes over more work in both the gym and daily life, which causes your muscles to develop unevenly and differ in stability.
How ‘Imbalance’ Disrupts Your Training
Strength splits don’t work the way they used to because you can’t expect both sides to handle the same weight or the same number of reps anymore.
This means that you need to adjust the volume and intensity to match what the weaker side can safely do.
Your mechanics change, as well.
During squats or deadlifts, your body naturally shifts weight toward the stronger side, which adds pressure to the joints and especially the lower back because it’s working extra hard to keep you balanced. Progress gets harder to measure because the weaker side is what sets the limit.
Even cardio starts to feel off, since your stride and posture change, and one side gets tired faster than the other, so your whole rhythm is thrown off.
How to Rebuild Balance
It’s important to know that where you live can be a factor in how well you recover because, if you live in a bigger city like Chicago or Los Angeles – where you have easy access to major academic hospitals, multidisciplinary pain clinics, various specialists, etc. – not only is it quicker to file a CRPS injury claim in Chicago or L.A., but it’s also easier to get access to top-notch rehabilitation than it would be if you were in a smaller city like Tulsa or Boise.
In smaller cities, not only would you have a limited supply of specialists and places where you can go for quicker recovery, but even if you find one, you’re more likely to end up on a long waiting list.
The location alone can make recovery faster or slower, so be realistic with your expectations.
Let’s see what you can do to get your ‘old self’ back into action as fast as possible:
Assess Strength/Mobility on Each Side
The first step is to figure out what’s holding the weaker side back.
Look at how each side moves and whether the issue comes from tightness or loss of strength. Simple one-sided tests will help you see where the real gap is because each limb has to work on its own.
Unilateral Exercises
Single-sided movements help wake up muscles that stopped doing their job after the injury. When the stronger side can’t take over, the weaker limb has no choice but to activate and carry its share of work.
Just keep the pace steady and mind your form so you don’t fall back into old habits.
Restore Movement Quality (Before Adding Load)
You rebuild control first and think about heavier weight second.
Do slower reps and partial-to-full range movements to get the weaker side to move smoothly again. Once you have both sides moving with the same level of control, you can safely increase the load.
Track Fatigue
Your weaker side gets tired/worn out faster. And you have to adjust for that. Otherwise, you’re risking pushing past your limit, and this could lead to injury. Lower your reps and adjust the load based on your weaker side, even if your healthy side can do it – don’t.
The rest of the body will suffer the consequences. As your body heals, the gap between the two sides will get smaller and smaller.
Conclusion
Yes, it can be frustrating that one side of your body is sort of an anchor that’s weighing you down. And even though the healthy part of your body CAN do the full workout, it’ll prevent you from healing fully, and if you go too far, it might even cause further injury, setting you even further back.
The main point is that you know that this is NORMAL. And that patience is key. There’s no need to skip training. All you have to do is adjust your workout routine completely based on your weaker side.
This way, you’re still in shape, you aren’t slacking, and your body is still healing.
