posted Mon, 07/16/2012 - 08:04
1750
How to get your muscles symetric
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Heres my problem and i know I am not alone...my right delt is a lot bigger than my left and because of that my left pec is bigger than my right because my right shoulder is taking some of the load while I am bench pressing. Should I work my left shoulder harder than my right...or is it a loosing battle. no one elsr notices the diff but I can clearly see it.
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Sounds like you tore your shoulder up like me(but maybe not)..Best advice i got was from a NHL phy trainer I'm like family with. He told me to pinch my shoulder blades back as far as i could and reduce weight to strengen up. watch your form to..i always use a mirror. Alot of my problems are in my shoulder but it also effects my back to my neck on the side of my injury as well as my pec size and shape. After using his advice i feel more symetrical and strong in my injury..hope this help man!
My right delt was slightly bigger than my left for some time due to an old injury that left me with some muscle wasteage. I think I probably thought it was more pronounced than it really was.
Dumbells all the way mate, and if it isn't really noticeable don't fret about it.
I think it is mostly in your mind. Are your arms the same length? Although rare, hemihypertrophy is a condition where part of one side of the body or different sides of the body grow at different rates. My right arm is slightly longer than the other(1/4") and it is noticeable. This of course effects hypertrophy through training since the muscle belly is larger on my right arm.
Another cause could be improper form on the non dominate side during isolateral work, try masturbating with your non dominant hand--the technique turns sloppy right? On barbell exercises the dominate side can take over and this causes one shoulder to be in distraction and one shoulder to be in compression.
(http://jbjs.org/data/Journals/JBJS/189/1687fig1.jpeg )
Your rotator cuff will be crying because of this. Watch yourself in the mirror and make sure the path/angle you are creating is similar on both sides. I think dumbbell exercises wont help in this case, as your arms will still be progressing independently. Stick to the barbell but drop the weights until you see your weak side start catching up. Also try some mobility exercises, is one side more flexible/has higher range of motion than the other?
Last but not least genetic muscle, joint and bone attachments can effect symmetry significantly.
I have recently started jerking it with the left hand...I am pretty sure it had an impact;P
Thanks guys...great info!!
Think about doing an upper-body routine with nothing but dumbbells, it'll help smooth out your imbalances.
For chest: Do incline DB presses, flat DB presses, and/or decline DB presses. Work on some cable crossovers too, except be light with the weight so that you actually cross your wrists over each other and squeeze your pecs together each rep. Alternate which hand crosses each rep too!!......there's a proper way to do crossovers and I always see people doing them so wrong. You do NOT do push-ups with the cables, so to speak. You CROSS-OVER!!! LOL....
For shoulders: do overhead DB presses(sitting down) and focus on some bent-over rear laterals and side laterals.
No need to work either side harder than the other, that's just going to create MORE imbalances, which is NOT good.
Do you think the left side can grow the same size as the right or will it just get as strong?
Over time, it will even out. I am no super experienced vet like some of these guys, not by any means, but I have some experience in this area. When I first started lifting, I didn't pay enough attention to the right side of my body performing most of the effort during back training. My right hand/side of my body is dominant, and that came out big time in my chins, rows, etc until one day I looked in the mirror and saw a nice lat on my right side and a weak one on the left. Ha. I just started putting more of the "mind/muscle connection" into my training, and they're finally pretty symmetrical. Really, it didn't even take that long. Just a few short months. Like the guys are telling you, dumbbells will do you right! But keep your mind in it, as well. Make sure to feel out the full stretch/contraction with your weaker side. I used to force myself to lean a little to the left on my chins when I first started working toward fixing my lats. I wouldn't allow my right to pull more than it's share if my left started giving out. I would rather just call it a set. It worked, man.
Doing DB work will stimulate EQUAL amounts of growth on each side because obviously you will be using the same weight DB's...NOW while there will exist some imbalances(as you have stated), and this could and/or can be strength or size or maybe some connective tissue damage(ligaments, tendons, etc.) that is causing your assymetry(sp?)....by utilizing a DB routine, it'll help smooth out the irregularities. To put it short...the left side will greatly appreciate this kind of attack, strength and size wise. That's about it man, I honestly can't explain it any better than that. I have done this for a couple reasons and it works!!
Try doing some incline dumbbell presses with same weight dumbbells and do that for a few weeks and keep working out till the other arm is same strength as other. No sense in going up in weight when your weak arm can't lift it. So your right will maintain its strength while the other is catching up.
I know because I broke my elbow couple years ago so my left arm was weaker and it took almost 1 and half years to get it back to strength. Dumbbell presses helped alot