Common Weak Links in Females

You are only as strong as your weakest link.

Common weak areas experienced by many individuals are most typically related to sports that heavily use certain parts of the body and muscle actions (think freestyle for the shoulders and cycling for the legs). It can also be experienced due to poorly designed resistance training programs, which frequently train muscles that you want to grow or can see in mirrors, while completely ignoring other muscles. There can also be anatomical explanations for weak links, such as scoliosis, limb length differences and breast tissue mass, which pulls the shoulders forward. The final common cause of weak links in the body pertain to postures involved in work settings, especially experienced by those people who sit at desks and use computers all day.

In my career, which has spanned over 30 years and has written over 50,000 programs for females, I have seen a number of common weak links that are typically seen in females more than in male populations.

Weak Link #1: Foot and Ankle

Starting from the ground and moving upwards, the most common weak link (by far) I see in females is at the foot and ankle. There is often a condition called hallux valgus, where the great toe faces inwards, with or without bunions. Related to this, is crowded toes and forefoot, an inability of the arch muscles to preserve arch formation in movement, such that the foot flattens under load, and ankle muscles to control inversion and eversion of the foot (pronation and supination), especially seen when performing one leg exercises. These issues require great toe flexion exercises, short foot drills and specific ankle stability movements to correct.

Weak Link #2: Hips

The second common weak link in females is seen at the hips, especially the muscles that control thigh/pelvic position. These are the adductors and the abductors of the thigh. The way that this is identified is by performing a single leg squat and watching for pelvic positioning during the downward and upward phase of the movement. If the hips shift to the side or open up, so that you lean over, this is a strong sign that the thigh and pelvic muscles require specific strengthening exercises.

Weak Link #3: Core

As we pass the hips and move towards the trunk, the weak core musculature is typically the lateral core, and not the front abdominals. A weakness in the lateral core will often result in excessive rotation during certain movements. The lateral core includes the internal and external obliques and the quadratus lumborum. These often require single limb upper body exercises and specific abdominal movements that target the side core to bring them up to a better ratio when compared to the front abdominals.

Weak Link #4: Shoulder Stabilizers

In the upper body, by far and away the most common weak link has to do with the muscles around the shoulder blades that control the rhythm between the shoulder blades and the arms. More often than not, a females’ shoulder blades will tilt forward and elevate during all arm movements, rather than smoothly retracting and upward and downwardly rotating to position the arm in place during exercise. Overtime, this results in having excessive tightness and growth in the upper trapezius muscles. This issue is never resolved unless the serratus anterior and lower trapezius muscles are strengthened in conjunction with teaching the neuromuscular patterning of correct scapula positioning with targeted drills.

Weak Link #5: Grip and Hand Strength

The final area of weakness experienced by many females has to do with grip strength and hand strength. You will notice the excessive use of straps required by many females when lifting in the gym, as this is typically an area of pure omission rather than economics, work-based postures, anatomy or sport. Many females just do not prioritize hand and grip training, and this is why you'll see it as such a point of emphasis in our Foundation Programs.

In summary, the phrase “you are only as strong as your weakest link” is one of the most useful statements to apply to program design. All too commonly, failure to progress in the gym and hitting plateaus is often related to the brain putting the brakes on our progress because it detects what's known as an energy leak via weak links. By devoting a phase of training specifically targeting the weak areas of the body, you will see a significant improvement in your goal-specific programs and results later in the year because all of the energy leaks have been plugged up and no longer provide the source of inhibition and plateaus. 

The most common areas of weakness that would benefit from specific exercises in the Foundational Programs are the foot and ankle muscles, the hip stabilizers, the side core, the shoulder stabilizers that create upward and downward rotation of the scapula, and the hand and wrist muscles. After an 8 to 12 week dedicated and targeted program for these areas, you will see marked improvement in all the other lifts in the body, because the brain has now removed the brakes that were put in place that were hindering your progress.

Reference:

La Scala Teixeira CV, Evangelista AL, Novaes JS, Da Silva Grigoletto ME, Behm DG. "You're Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link": A Current Opinion about the Concepts and Characteristics of Functional Training. Front Physiol. 2017 Aug 30;8:643. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00643. PMID: 28912728; PMCID: PMC5582309.