What Is Strength Balance and Why Is It Important?

Training isn’t just about lifting heavier weight or grinding through reps. The athletes who stay healthy and perform the best all share one thing in common: they’re balanced.

The roots of this idea go back to one of the most influential strength coaches in history—Charles Poliquin. Over his career working with more than 800 Olympic athletes, he tracked strength ratios, injury patterns, and performance data from nearly every sport imaginable. What he found changed the industry:

Strength imbalances—front to back, left to right, and top to bottom—were major predictors of injury and stalled progress.

He built the Structural Balance System, a method to identify weak links before they became problems. Nearly two decades later, the concept has evolved and is now used in physical therapy clinics, high-performance gyms, and modern training facilities around the world.

At Strength Affect, we refined this idea into a practical system we call Strength Balance—a straightforward approach to help clients train hard, stay pain-free, and progress without setbacks.

What Strength Balance Actually Means

Strength balance looks at how different muscle groups and patterns relate to one another:

• Front vs. Back: chest ↔︎ back, quads ↔︎ hamstrings
• Side vs. Side: right leg ↔︎ left leg, right arm ↔︎ left arm
• Top vs. Bottom: upper body ↔︎ lower body
• Movement Patterns: push ↔︎ pull, squat ↔︎ hinge, internal ↔︎ external rotation

When one area is much stronger than its counterpart, compensation shows up—often as poor technique, slowed progress, or nagging pain that “comes out of nowhere.”
Balanced strength keeps joints aligned, distributes force evenly, and improves power output in every lift.

Where Strength Balance Fits Into the Strength Affect System

We use a simple training pyramid that guides long-term development:

1. Recovery & Capacity (base) – sleep, stress, nutrition, and overall conditioning
2. Mobility & Stability – joint positions, ranges, and control
3. Strength Balance – the relationship between muscle groups and sides of the body
4. Skill (top) – mastering movements, loading strategies, and athletic qualities.

Strength balance sits on the third level because it only works when the foundation below it is solid. But once you have that foundation, fixing imbalances becomes one of the most powerful ways to improve performance and stay injury-free.

Why Strength Balance Matters

Strength balance affects everything that matters in long-term training:

• Lower injury risk – weak links take stress they aren’t built for
• Better technique – balanced strength supports cleaner movement
• More efficient force production – balanced athletes hit higher outputs
• Fewer plateaus – the body stops being held back by one lagging area
• More consistent training – fewer flare-ups, fewer setbacks

Most people aren’t limited by effort—they’re limited by imbalances they’ve never addressed.

How Poliquin’s Structural Balance System Started It All

Poliquin looked for relationship patterns between lifts. Some classic examples:

• Chin-up strength heavily lagging behind close-grip bench → shoulder problems were likely
• Front squat significantly weaker than back squat → knee and postural issues appeared
• Weak external rotators → dangerous pressing mechanics

The ratios have evolved, but the principle remains:
Find the weak link, correct it, then load the system.

How Strength Affect Applies Strength Balance Today

‍We use a simple training pyramid that guides long-term development:

1. Recovery & Capacity (base) – sleep, stress, nutrition, and overall conditioning
2. Mobility & Stability – joint positions, ranges, and control
3. Strength Balance – the relationship between muscle groups and sides of the body
4. Skill (top) – mastering movements, loading strategies, and athletic qualities

We take the core philosophy and use modern tools, better data, and a predictable process.

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1. Assess With VALD Force Decks

We use VALD force plates to measure right-to-left leg force production, rate of force development, braking vs. propulsive asymmetry, and overall force strategy.

This gives us clear, objective data on:

• How evenly you produce force
• Which leg or side dominates
• Whether the imbalance is strength, stability, or power-related
• How it compares to healthy norms

This makes the evaluation far more accurate than visual screening alone.

2. Build Programs With Unilateral Strength Work

Your program is designed to actively correct asymmetries.

We use unilateral variations like:

• Split squats
• Step-downs
• Single-leg RDLs
• One-arm presses/rows
• Anti-rotation and rotational core work

The goal is simple:
Bring the weaker side up without letting the stronger side take over.

3. Track

We retest with the VALD system and adjust programming to close the gap.

4. Progress

As imbalances improve, we transition you into heavier bilateral lifts, higher training volumes, and performance-focused phases.

Simple Ways to Check Your Own Strength Balance

These quick checks don’t replace a professional assessment, but they’re useful for spotting issues:

• Compare split squat strength left vs right
• Try equal reps on a single-arm row and single-arm press
• Compare pushing reps (push-ups) to pulling reps (rows)
• Test shoulder rotation side to side (internal vs external)

The 85% Antagonist Rule

A simple guideline:

Your antagonist muscles or opposing movement patterns should be within about 85% of each other.
(For example: your pulling strength should be at least ~85% of your pressing strength.)

Big gaps usually mean compensation, stalled progress, and higher injury risk.

The Bottom Line

Strength balance isn’t just a training concept—it’s the backbone of long-term progress. When your body is balanced, you move better, lift more, and stay healthier. When it’s not, something eventually breaks down.

If you want a clear picture of your own balance and a plan to fix it, the Strength Affect Assessment is the fastest, most reliable starting point.

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