Old Forum 1h swings to correct hip/glute imbalance?

[strengthgoals]

Hi all, I have an imbalance in my legs. When I do a hip thrust, I note my left knee is noticeably (2-4cm) higher than my right at the bottom and even more so at the top of the thrust. I also have a very tight left ankle. I am left-footed.

Will doing 1h swings correct this imbalance? When doing the 1h swing, I often hear about maintaining ‘neutral’, but perhaps if I were to tense say, my right glute, and use that predominantly to fire the exercise, when swinging the bell in my right hand, and vice versa, it would help this imbalance?  Is this possible?

Open to suggestion. Thanks

 

[Steve Freides]

Best to figure out a little more about why you have the imbalance in the first place, e.g. if you know you have a tight left ankle, I'd deal with that separately, e.g., do mobility work for your ankle before you do swings.  But _why_ do you have a very tight left ankle?  A Functional Movement Screen sounds like a very good idea for you.

If I was looking to address a strength imbalance - not a mobility imbalance - I'd work on one-leg deadlifts and pistols, not swings.

-S-

 

[Pavel]

MM, you need to see a specialist.

 

[strengthgoals]

Hi Steve and Pavel,

I've had an FMS screening and scored a 1 in ankle flexibility (only on the left ankle) and a 1 in core strength. Is this the kind of specialist you mean, Pavel?

I've had a badly sprained ankle before, where I was in a cast for 8 weeks... so perhaps my ankle is permanently injured from that and i'll have to keep stretching it every time?

Thanks for the advice Steve. I've been practicing Pistols for a few days now - I seem to be about equal strength on both legs. I've also started doing "spiderman crawls" which seem to help balance things.

 

[Steve Freides]

Good that you had the FMS.  I'd see a doctor now to find out if you need to respect your current, limited range of motion or if it's OK to work on improving it.

Bodyweight-only pistols with a tight ankle are tough.  Did you do weighted or unweighted?  Either way, if and after you are cleared to do them, I'd like to see a video of an unweighted pistol.

-S-