Fitness Test Yourself for Muscle Imbalances

The Overhead Squat Test

Jun 19, 2009 Nora Mayers

Fitness testing for muscle imbalance is a necessary ingredient of any successful exercise program. You can't improve fitness without knowing what needs to be improved.

A thorough fitness examination is best performed by a physician, physical therapist or fitness coach, but the overhead squat test is a quick and easy muscle imbalance assessment that you can perform at home.

Take the Par-Q Before You do the Squat

Before you start the overhead squat test, it is important to ask yourself questions about your current level of health. Personal fitness coaches call this a PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire). A Par-Q form can be found from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.

Read the form carefully, answer all questions honestly, and do not proceed if you have any reason to believe that the instructions in this article might negatively impact your health. The overhead squat test requires you to squat with hands overhead; this could cause a lack of balance and could also aggravate knee problems.

The Overhead Squat Test

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, keeping your pelvis as neutral as possible. Pretend that your pelvis is a bucket of water. If you lean too far forward, the water will spill out the front of the bucket. If you lean too far backward, water will spill out the back of the bucket. By standing with your “bucket” in neutral, you will be in proper alignment.
2. Raise your hands straight over your head with your arms directly at either side of your head.
3. Squat down as far as is comfortable, being very careful that your knees don't extend beyond your toes.
4. Stay in the squat position for a few seconds as your friends or family members assess you.
5. Repeat the test 5 times total for the most accurate assessment.

Assessing the Squat Test

Here is where your friends and family get to shine. As you squat down, ask them to assess the following from a side position:

1. Feet look very flat on the floor and turn outward. This indicates tightness in the muscles of the lower leg (including calf and the tendons that attach to the foot on the outside of the lower leg), upper inner thigh, and hamstrings (back of the upper part of the leg). Weak buttocks are also probable.
2. ­Knock Knees. Weak buttocks muscles, tight hip flexors (the muscles that lift the bent leg towards the chest when you are in a seated position) and tight hip and inner leg muscles.
3. Excessive Arch in the Back. Tight hip flexors and tightness in the large fan-shaped muscle in the back (latissimus dorsi).

What to Do With Your Results

This simplified version of the squat test gives you a basic idea of where your muscles may be imbalanced. Having more thorough tests performed by your personal fitness coach is highly recommended. Not only can these health and wellness professionals more thoroughly diagnose the problems, but they will be able to advise you on the best remedies. If finances are a problem, your local YMCA can provide fitness trainers at a lower price with a “Y” membership.

The copyright of the article Fitness Test Yourself for Muscle Imbalances in Fitness is owned by Nora Mayers. Permission to republish Fitness Test Yourself for Muscle Imbalances in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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