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Muscle imbalances are the main culprit when talking about injury. Most injuries occur because there is a significant imbalance between antagonistic (opposite) muscle groups. To compete at optimal levels there must be a balance throughout your entire body. For example, let’s say that your pushing muscles (chest, shoulders and triceps) muscles are far stronger and tighter than the Pulling (upper and mid-back) muscles. That means you have a common imbalance between these two muscle groups and you are likely to hurt your rotator cuff (common shoulder injury). So what do you do about it? What you have to do is stretch the pushing muscles and strengthen your pulling muscles to create a balance between the two muscle groups, producing less stress on the shoulder joint resulting in an INJURY FREE Shoulder.

How do you develop muscle imbalances?

Over the course of time your body can develop muscular imbalances which can lead to serious injury or decreased performance. Your body develops these imbalances through poor posture, incorrect training, and compensation from existing injuries. In order to correct and prevent muscle imbalances at Optimal Performance Training Center every client/Athlete completes the “Optimal Performance Profile” which is a thorough assessment and evaluation that tests structural imbalances, length tension relationships between muscle groups, and functional movements. The results will give us the proper data to correct any imbalances you may have.

How do you determine if you have muscle imbalances?

A key tool we utilize is what is called the functional movement screen. It is a 7 point test that include;

Overhead Squat

Hurdle Step

In-Line Lunge

Shoulder Mobility

Trunk Stability Push Up

Active Leg Raise

Rotary Stability

Each of the above movements has a unique scoring system that measures how efficient your body moves. Once our Optimal Performance Trainers collects the data, they then prescribe a set of proven corrective exercises to help correct any asymmetries or limitations discovered during the assessment. That is how Optimal Performance Training Center produces such great results… We use the data from the screens to give us a blue print on what exactly needs to be done in order to prevent injury increase speed, agility & quickness increase size, strength & power develop into a better athlete. Remember assessing is an essential part of creating customized results with your sports training program. It is when an assesment or evaluation is completed that a true indivdualized program can be developed.

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Jason Zaretzky is Owner and Program Director of Optimal Performance Training Center, a Sports training facility located in Rockland County NY. He specializes in Athletic performance training for athlete ranging from the pee-wee to the professional. To learn mor about Jason and Optimal Performance visit http://www.rocklandsportstraining.com