Question and intro from new member

[Titania]

Hello everyone.

I've been reading this forum for a short while with great interest and have just joined up. I'm 5' 6", 68Kgs, fairly lean (don't know my bodyfat percentage) into fitness and strength training and work out mostly at home. I have been training on and off for around ten years and am currently living with my boyfriend in Melbourne, Australia.
One question somebody may be able to shed some light on is regarding strength vs size. My left bicep is currently 14" but is not as strong as my right one which is about 13 3/4". I realise that two people with the same muscle size can be vastly different in strength but I would not expect this in left / right bodyparts in the one individual.
I'm working on a new website at present and will have some pics to share once it is online.

[Hibiscus09]

Welcome! My left side was weaker than my right at first -- I just did isolated exercises and worked on the left side a little more. :)

[usuknutter]

You must be right handed, I think all right handed people tend to have more strength on that side of the body, I notice mine big time when I'm doing shoulder raises, my other problem is that my left leg is also 1/4 inch longer then my right side which throws me off balance with a lot of exercise and makes my right side work harder especially when using the E-Z bars etc. I'm not sure what the solution is if there is any.

Just thought I would share that info with you all.

Lisa

[usuknutter]

" I just did isolated exercises and worked on the left side a little more."

Wouldn't this make her left biceps even bigger then her right? I have always read not to work just one muscle, always to work them as a pair, if you work your right biceps you have to work your left.

Is this true or false, can any body give an suggestions.

Lisa

[sillygirl]

Well, if she's anything like me, she'll need to isolate her left side. I'm also right handed and have been playing "catch-up" with my left side.

I usually do a few exercises using both left & right. But let's say you're doing cable upright rows using a straight bar. If my right arm is stronger than my left, it's going to obviously compensate for my left arms weaknesses, therefore never giving my left arm a real chance to get stronger or as strong. That's why it's important to also do a few exercises using ONLY my left arm, so it can "catch-up".

You can still work them as a pair, but doing some isolation exercises isn't going to make the weaker muscle HUGE compared to the other. It takes quite a bit to gain muscle, her left arm isn't going to bulge like Pop Eye over night. ;)

[Hibiscus09]

That's what I did also sillygirl. :) I worked both sides but did a little more on the left side to help it catch up.

[usuknutter]

Thanks Sillygirl,

I was always afraid to work just one arm, but now i'm going to work on my left arm a little more.

Again thanks for the info.

Lisa

[Titania]

Originally posted by usuknutter
" I just did isolated exercises and worked on the left side a little more."

Wouldn't this make her left biceps even bigger then her right?......
Well, that's pretty much what I thought. It might take a long time to create a significant size imbalance but I still would have thought that the weaker side would be the smaller side.
I am right handed but my legs are the same. My left quad is a little bigger than the right. Perhaps there is something going on with the efficiency of recruiting muscle fibres. Maybe my right side is just more efficient.
A friend of mine who is a phys ed teacher and personal trainer explained to me some time ago about muscle fibre recruitment in different people and said that this is why two people who have similar proportions and development can be vastly different in strength. Seems to make sense but, as I mentioned, I wouldn't expect this to vary from left to right in one person. Maybe it does.

[Laurie]

I have had to play "catch up" with my left as well. Being strongly right handed does that. For years, pushing myself off couches and chairs with my right (when not sawing jewelry) created a very well developed right "tri cep", for example. A long term "Tri cep" isolation exercise for over 30 years when you weighed between 240 to 260lbs.

Right now, I am 190 and try to remember to push up with my left more often (grins)

So I make it a point now to get a couple of extra reps out of my left with some exercises. Pushing it abit more with others. This seems to help get the strength more equal. I do have an old rotator cuff tear (old trauma..not from lifting) in my left shoulder that was a hinderance. However, doing the endurance 90 degree "pour the can" (supraspinatus) exercise has helped alot to lessen the former weakness. Up to 3 sets of 25 reps with a 5lb dbl now.

Have returned to doing single dbl shoulder presses with a 10lb... palm facing my head. The angle seems to help the shoulder as well. No more overt soreness or impingement.

[Titania]

Originally posted by Laurie
....For years, pushing myself off couches and chairs with my right (when not sawing jewelry) created a very well developed right "tri cep", for example. A long term "Tri cep" isolation exercise for over 30 years when you weighed between 240 to 260lbs.

Right now, I am 190 and try to remember to push up with my left more often (grins).....
That's a long time to be doing isolation on the same muscle :eek:
Maybe my left quad is more developed from driving a car with a very heavy clutch for 14 years ;)

Here's a couple of pics taken with my webcam. They're not great but they're all I have at present.

[Titania]

and:

[sabreman]

Wow, you look great! All that work has paid off. If only I could say the same...