Is your workout balanced?

By Erin Mellinger, Owner; Axio Fitness

When starting an exercise routine, one thing you should be mindful of is that it is balanced. When I say balanced, I’m not necessarily talking about including balance exercises, although that is very important to do. What I mean is be sure to include all movements and all muscle groups and be sure not to do more of one movement and less of another.

For example, your workout should include both a pushing exercise and a pulling exercise. If you do pushups and a bench press, you’ve done two pushing movements. Ideally, you should include just as many pulling exercises in your workout. So, after your pushups you can do a band row, and after your bench press you can do a lat pulldown. When you are just starting out on an exercise routine, two pressing and two pulling exercises is a great start to a balanced upper body routine.

Be sure to take the same approach with your lower body and core workouts as well. Even though deadlifts and step-ups are both lower body exercises, one puts more emphasis on the back of the legs while the other works the front of the legs more. Be mindful of the lower body during your workouts, ensuring you work the front and back of the legs equally.

Many experienced exercisers focus on certain movements each day. But for the average population, doing one to two exercises of each movement a few days a week is enough to see the health benefits of a balanced resistance training routine.

Overtraining one muscle group or one movement can lead to injuries, joint pain, poor posture and more. Even though our clients may not realize it, we ensure every workout is balanced in its movements and muscle groups, leading to optimal health.

Axio Fitness is located within Main Street Physical Therapy at 3900 Medina Road in Fairlawn. In addition to Fairlawn, Axio also has six studios in the Youngstown area. For more information, visit AxioFitness.com or call 234-236-4296.