Hallo all!
My left pec is biger than the right one. I have been trainig for around two years and for pecs development i do mostly DB bench press (dont have a spoter for regular BB press)I wonder: could it be that because my left arm is weaker that my right arm, on press exersices my left pec is more involve than the the right pec? … any ideas/?
[quote]ricardo wrote:
Hallo all!
My left pec is biger than the right one. I have been trainig for around two years and for pecs development i do mostly DB bench press (dont have a spoter for regular BB press)I wonder: could it be that because my left arm is weaker that my right arm, on press exersices my left pec is more involve than the the right pec? … any ideas/?[/quote]
My first idea is that you haven’t trained very hard in those two years. Most beginners have imbalances between the right and left. This is usually corrected if they go ahead and put some quality time in the gym. If it has been two whole years and your left arm is still that unequally balanced to your right, I first question how serious you have been and how much progress you have made.
i can identify with your problem, i have the exact problem, but ive built them up to a point where knowone else can tell, but i still can. what i have found to work, is first off there are 4 aspects you have to address to correct the problem, or make it the least noticeable it can be. i have a question first off, is your right shoulder bigger than your left, well to correct this is start to build up your left delt in the front with front raises, but remember to squeeze real hard and dont let your trap take over the movement. from my experience, my delts were definetly not balanced and my right delt would take over and do the work for my right pec. secondly, if your left arm is smaller and weaker, you have to stop working your right tricep and concentrate on the left to bring it up to par. a good exercise to accomplish this is tricep pushdowns, but lean in and get your body over the bar. secondly, have the cord to the weight stack close to the left side of your face. the hand placement is key, keep your left hand close to the center to activate your left tricep, and put your right hand out farther to accentuate the activation of the right peck. next, you really have to put everything else off to work on the activiation of the right pic, flex and pump up like crazy to equal them out, work unilaterally and concentrate on the squeeze. one of the best ideas that help me was from christian thibaudeau, his article with new exercises for pecks. take the ankle cufflinks for the cable crossover machine and attach them to your wrist and do dumbell bench with them attatched to your wrists, but in our case we would do them one arm at a time. this exercise really hits the pecs, and you can really feel the pick working. another way to do this without using the cuflinks is to take the cross over handles that are not metal, but the cloth like ones with the strap the goes through the handle can move. you take the position like a cable cross over, but face your knuckles straight ahead and press, but you will feel the outward pul that will engage your peck. do these things to specialize on the peck and put everything else on maintenance. i took the time to even everything out and now i have a more complete physique. also once you have evened everything out you will grow symetrically. good luck and i can answer any questions that you have.
Thanks hardcoreukno 0359, i appreciate your help. Here in Holand is very late when you guys are begining the afternoon, so i can’t really folow the thread at your time, I went to bed.
… you right, my right shoulder is stronger than the left one. I am a right handed basketball player, now i just play fun pickup games and stret ball, its my cardio!!.
…I will folow your suggestions carfully. And again, thank you very much for your help.
R.
Prfessor X
Thanks for the reply. I am thinking about it, it might be.
R.
I agree with prof x on this one,in 3 months qhen i first started lifting i got my left arm caught up to my right.If you really have put the time in then you didnt train it right,use more weight in the left hand…it works
jmwintenn
thanks for the reply. Yes i didn’t work my left arm differently during all this time son now i can see more the inbalance in my pecs than my arms. I will put more weight in the left side.
thanks
[quote]ricardo wrote:
jmwintenn
thanks for the reply. Yes i didn’t work my left arm differently during all this time son now i can see more the inbalance in my pecs than my arms. I will put more weight in the left side.
thanks [/quote]
I wouldn’t do that at all. I would have you do unitlateral exercises like dumbbell presses until you learn how to balance the weight. Your body will even out on its own.
Watch for mechanical issues, rotator cuff problems, imbalances, etc.
I had this problem and got it fixed real fast when I addressed those issues. Is your flexibility symmetrical?
A good way to start: do the tests in Out of Kilters (Ian King), shoulder part.
Are you guys saying to add weight to the stronger side or the weaker side? I have this problem too. I can’t seem to fix it. It seems like the more I keep benching, the worse it gets. And I can bench almost double my weight. I don’t think if I just keep benching that it will work itself out.
[quote]Force 10 wrote:
Are you guys saying to add weight to the stronger side or the weaker side? I have this problem too. I can’t seem to fix it. It seems like the more I keep benching, the worse it gets. And I can bench almost double my weight. I don’t think if I just keep benching that it will work itself out.[/quote]
Stop doing the barbell bench press. Start doing dumbbell presses.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Force 10 wrote:
Are you guys saying to add weight to the stronger side or the weaker side? I have this problem too. I can’t seem to fix it. It seems like the more I keep benching, the worse it gets. And I can bench almost double my weight. I don’t think if I just keep benching that it will work itself out.
Stop doing the barbell bench press. Start doing dumbbell presses.[/quote]
O.K. Should I also use the same weight in each hand, or should I use more or less weight on the weaker side?
[quote]Force 10 wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Force 10 wrote:
Are you guys saying to add weight to the stronger side or the weaker side? I have this problem too. I can’t seem to fix it. It seems like the more I keep benching, the worse it gets. And I can bench almost double my weight. I don’t think if I just keep benching that it will work itself out.
Stop doing the barbell bench press. Start doing dumbbell presses.
O.K. Should I also use the same weight in each hand, or should I use more or less weight on the weaker side?
[/quote]
I would use the same weight in each hand, gradually increasing the weight for both hands at the same rate. Your body will even itself out. I don’t agree with anyone that recommends you do more weight with the lagging side. Your problem comes from one side relying on the other too much during a movement. It will catch up when it can’t rely on the other any longer.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Force 10 wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Force 10 wrote:
Are you guys saying to add weight to the stronger side or the weaker side? I have this problem too. I can’t seem to fix it. It seems like the more I keep benching, the worse it gets. And I can bench almost double my weight. I don’t think if I just keep benching that it will work itself out.
Stop doing the barbell bench press. Start doing dumbbell presses.
O.K. Should I also use the same weight in each hand, or should I use more or less weight on the weaker side?
I would use the same weight in each hand, gradually increasing the weight for both hands at the same rate. Your body will even itself out. I don’t agree with anyone that recommends you do more weight with the lagging side. Your problem comes from one side relying on the other too much during a movement. It will catch up when it can’t rely on the other any longer.[/quote]
O.K. thanks Professor X. I’ll try that out in my next chest workout. I’ll see if I can make any progress on my weaker side in the next month or so. If I do the flat dumbbell presses, is there a need to do decline or incline too? I read somewhere that you can either do a flat or the other two and get about the same results. In other words, would it be alright to do decline and incline and eliminate flat? Or would it be better to just stick with flat?
[quote]Force 10 wrote:
If I do the flat dumbbell presses, is there a need to do decline or incline too?
[/quote]
Yes. There is no reason to think of this as “one or the other”. Most trainers incorporate incline work. The only one that is not necessarily needed is decline. Decline works the same muscles as the flat bench but also incorporates the lats and serratus more. Some people use the decline if they feel their shoulders are worked too much during flat bench. I personally think those who claim this have issues with their overall form.
I have been doing just unilateral work with my upper body (well, 90% of the time)…now, if the invalance is there after two years it might be that i haven’t put much in to it(what a waste!)…on the other hand i have been thinking that hardly do any direct arm work, i go for the big ones and if i have the time i do arms at the end. Could it be this the reazon of some arm invalance after all this time?, and one pec getin biger for that specific invalance?..Abou putting more weight in one side, well lately i try to do end a set with more reps in the weaker side…In any case, thanks to all of you guys fo the ideas and suggestions.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Force 10 wrote:
If I do the flat dumbbell presses, is there a need to do decline or incline too?
Yes. There is no reason to think of this as “one or the other”. Most trainers incorporate incline work. The only one that is not necessarily needed is decline. Decline works the same muscles as the flat bench but also incorporates the lats and serratus more. Some people use the decline if they feel their shoulders are worked too much during flat bench. I personally think those who claim this have issues with their overall form.[/quote]
I agree that lack of experience or simply not working hard enough may explain the muscle imbalance this individual is experiencing. Having said that, I believe it goes beyond training inexperience. It’s a well known fact that everyone generally has one stronger side (i.e. stonger left arm, right leg), even Arnold’s left arm was slightly bigger than this right. Notice how he poses he left arm an almost all his pics. I think other factors come into play here, possibly lack of blood flow on one side of this persons pec or the inability to activate muscle fibers on one side. Just my 2 cents here.
I tried that and found your body to find the most efficient way to lift the weight, and if it uses different muscle groups to even the strength out, IE the arm imbalance also