Private muscle imbalance training in Irvine
5.0 on Google. Training clients since 2005, in my own private Irvine studio since 2008. Plans from $197 a month, published, because you should not have to ask.
A muscle imbalance is one muscle doing more work than the muscle opposite it. One side gets short and busy, the other gets long and quiet, and the joint in between stops moving the way it should.
Rounded shoulders
From the side your shoulders sit forward of your hips instead of stacked over them. The chest is short in front. The muscles between the shoulder blades have stopped holding their end up.
Knees that cave in
Both knees travel toward each other as you squat or land. It shows at the bottom of the squat first, and far sooner on one leg than on two.
The knee is where you see it. It is rarely where it starts. More often it comes from the hip above it or the ankle below it.
An arched lower back
Your lower back drops into an exaggerated curve once the load goes on, most visibly the moment your arms go overhead. The ribs flare forward.
This is the opposite problem to a rounded back, and it needs the opposite cue. That is why generic advice so often makes it worse.
Where it comes from
Something is short. Tight does not mean strong, it means short. The front of the chest and the front of the hip are the usual culprits, and a desk makes both of them worse.
Something has stopped working. The muscles that should hold a position have quietly handed the job to something else.
How the work goes
We watch you move. A posture and movement check shows how you squat, hinge, press and rotate, and where one side is doing more than the other.
We build from what we saw, then look again. The plan changes as the pattern does. A correction that worked three months ago is not automatically still the right one.
Your trainer
I am Brad Glaser. NASM Master Trainer and NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist, training clients since 2005 and running this Irvine studio since 2008.
Every session is 1-on-1 in a completely private studio. Just you and your trainer. No crowds, no one watching.
What most advice gets wrong
"Pull your shoulders back." You can hold that for about four seconds. Nothing has changed about what is short and what is not working.
"Arch your back." That is the right cue for one lower-back fault and exactly the wrong cue for the other. Which one you have is a thing to look at, not guess.
The company a caving knee keeps
The screen names the muscles, not just the fault. Short and busy: adductor complex, the short head of the biceps femoris, TFL, lateral gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis. That pattern is associated with IT band tendonitis.
Long and quiet on the other side: medial hamstring, medial gastrocnemius, gluteus medius and maximus, and the VMO above the inner knee. If you have a condition, get cleared by your own doctor first.
Flat feet and knees rotating outward
Feet that flatten or turn outward under load usually mean tight calves. The muscles along your shin, the anterior and posterior tibialis, have gone weak. Both halves get work.
Knees that rotate outward are the mirror image. The IT band is tight, the glutes may be tight with it, and the abductors are often weak. That pattern is associated with lateral or medial knee pain.
Why a knot does not settle
A small tight spot runs a cycle. Tissue stress, inflammation, spasm, then stuck tissue, then your brain recruits the muscles around it differently. The imbalance that follows feeds the stress again.
Breaking it takes an order. On a low back that arches, lengthen the hip flexor complex, erector spinae and latissimus dorsi, then wake the gluteus maximus, hamstrings and intrinsic core stabilizers. Then load it, or the cycle resets.
Questions
How do you know I have an imbalance?
We look. A posture and movement check in your first session shows what moves, what does not, and where one side is working harder.
Will stretching fix it?
Not on its own, and not everywhere. Stretching a muscle that is already long and quiet usually makes the imbalance worse.
How long does it take?
It depends on how long the pattern has been there and how often you train. We recheck as we go rather than promising a date. Individual results vary.
Do I need to be fit to start?
No. Starting from where you are is the point.
Is the first session really free?
Yes. One hour, no credit card, no obligation. You leave with a plan.
Book your free session
Private studio at 17165 Von Karman Ave, Suite 103, Irvine, CA 92614. Monday to Friday, 6 AM to 8 PM.
Call (949) 574-4755 or book online and Brad will call you within 1 business day.
