one bicep bigger than the other

[l9_66]

i recently started working my upper body on december the 18th of 2008,after a 20 b year lay off. i am 43 years old 5-7" and when i strted i weighed 248. i have since gained weight to a total of 265. i am begining to take good shape, with exception of one bicep being biger than the other. my question is. should it be something i need to be concerned about-or should i do extra on armed sets to help it along with the other? any help,or suggestions is greatly appreciated.
thanks before hand,
keith w

[LyingSac]

it might be nerve damage at the neck....

[ironwill2008]

You can do some unilateral work with dumbbells if you wish, but these things usually balance out after a while. Every beginner will have at least one area of imbalance. I wouldn't worry about it.

[rpaul11]

how much bigger are we talking?

[anti-bonk]

I wouldn't worry so much about it if you just started. Even professionals struggle to stay symmetrical. What you are talking about is not uncommon- I have heard it described as "lobster claw" (lobsters have one big claw and one little claw). Basically just do the same amount of reps with the same amount of weight for both arms. Even if you can lift more with one arm don't do it- only do as much as your weak arm can do until it "catches up". This is a generalization but should hold true.

[antonbrn]

it might be nerve damage at the neck....

I had nerve damage in my neck, and I couldn't even do pushups. To make a long story short, my left arm was about 1/2" smaller than my right. I measured them a few days ago and they are pretty much the same size now.
You might not have nerve damage, but I can tell you that I didn't do extra reps/sets for my left arm to build it up. I lifted as much as my left could handle for both arms and eventually the left caught up.
I hope this helps.

[ArchAngel'73]

At 5'7" and 265 lbs I strongly suggest you cut some bodyfat and then take measurements.

[aneas]

Would not worry about it at all. Its normal.

[kdza]

When you say "bigger" is that flexed? It could be that one bicep is simply shorter with a higher peak. I had that problem. I had to do different exercises to elongate on one side and enhance peak on the other.

[BrainSlayer]

cliffs: *Unilateral training(chest,back,arms,shoulder etc..),

*mental neural issues...stronger arm has better stronger brain muscle connection(brush teeth,open doors,Wipe A$$ with weaker hand etc..)

*doing more reps on smaller side will overtrain and wont grow or shrink more...

My right arm is bigger and stronger than my left. What should I do?


Question:
My right arm is bigger and stronger than my left. What should I do?

My left and right arms are not equal. The left measures about 40.5 cm and the right about 41.5 cm. The difference isn?t that noticeable, but I know it?s there and it?s really annoying to me just the same. My right arm even has a more noticeable vein than the left one. The left arm also seems a little bit stronger than the right; on the last two reps in any bicep exercise, the right arm can keep going but the left gives out. I train biceps with two exercises, one barbell, bilateral, and one with dumbbells, one arm at a time. I train the triceps always with two arms at a time. Is there anything I can do about this difference?

Answer:
Yes, this is almost always correctable. First of all, uneven development is natural; it?s actually more common to have one side more developed than it is to have both perfectly even. Having 100% even development (without intentionally training for balance) is about as common as being ambidextrous.

The best way to balance out uneven arm development is to use primarily dumbbells and unilateral (one arm at a time) movements.

Unilateral training can be done with dumbbells, one arm cable movements or unilateral machines like Hammer Strength iso-lateral equipment. You can even do unilateral training on most conventional machines by using one arm instead of two.

If you really want your bicep development to even out quickly, do a lot of dumbbell and unilateral training for your entire upper body, including chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps and even forearms.


For example:

BICEPS
One arm dumbbell preacher curls
Dumbbell concentration curls
One arm standing or seated dumbbell curls
Alternating dumbbell curls
One arm Cable curls

TRICEPS
One arm overhead tricep extension
One arm lying tricep extension
Alternating two dumbbell lying extensions
One arm cable pushdowns
Dumbbell Kickbacks

BACK
One arm dumbbell rows
One arm cable rows
One arm pulldowns
Hammer Strength isolateral row
Hammer strength isolateral pulldown

CHEST
One arm Dumbbell bench presses
One arm machine presses
One arm cable flyes
Hammer strength unilateral presses
Alternating dumbbell bench presses

SHOULDERS
One arm dumbbell press
Alternating dumbbell presses
One arm Lateral raises
One arm cable lateral raises
Hammer Strength Isolateral shoulder presses

You don?t have to do every exercise one arm at a time, either. Doing nothing but one arm dumbbell exercises can become quite time consuming. Just the practice of using dumbbells in general will improve the right to left balance because each arm has to work equally and independently. Alternating dumbbell exercises will work well too.

If you do the majority of your exercises with dumbbells or in a unilateral fashion, you'll be surprised how quickly your arms even out in size and strength.

Avoid machines for the most part until you?re satisfied with your muscle balance. On most bilateral machines (like a two hand seated chest press on a single pulley/cable machine), your dominant side will take over and do most of the work. Dumbbells force both sides to do equal work.

A word of caution: The most common reaction people have to unbalanced development is to do extra sets for the lagging side. This is NOT a good idea because you may end up overtraining the smaller side. This could have the opposite effect: the overworked arm could stop growing or even get smaller!

It?s much wiser to simply work harder on the same number of sets you would normally do. Increase the intensity, not the volume.

Right and left side imbalance is not just a muscle development issue; it?s a neurological issue. When you?re right handed, its only natural that your mind to muscle connection is stronger on the right side. The late bodybuilding trainer Vince Gironda recommended using your weaker side in daily life to do things like open doors, lift objects, turn on faucets, and everything else you can think of. He said that if you worked on becoming ambidextrous, your muscle development would quickly even out.

There?s also a mental aspect: If you train with increased mental concentration and focus on the weaker side, this will tend to improve the neural connection between your brain and weak side, which will increase the strength of muscle contraction and eventually balance out your development.

If you have a difficult time with this mental focus concept, simply slow down your exercises, hold the contracted position and squeeze. Get your mind into the muscle. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote about this frequently in his autobiographical and training books.

Give these techniques an honest trial, then drop me another note in a few months. I won?t be the least bit surprised if you?ve achieved 100% even development? or your weak side has actually become your strong side!

[masel99]

I'm left handed and from the age of 16-26 I was an avid bowler and bowled at least 10-20 games a day. My left arm has always been bigger and fuller. Strength wise they are about the same or real close. My left is just fuller. I been trying to bring up my right by doing extra sets at the end of my wo on just the rh. Also I train my whole upper body once a week but I've started fitting in my right arm twice a week to see if it helps at all. I only started this about a month ago so I can't say if it has helped at all yet.

[JOHN GARGANI]

you guys are in an enormously generous mood here today! LOL.....

this opening post is very shaky: first of all, statistics aside, a guy that took a 20 year layoff and has just started lifting is worrying about one arm being bigger than the other???

that alone......

but at my height, the guy starts out at 248 and goes up to 265??

what is this all about......unless he is a freak of nature or was a top competing bodybuilder back in his days, what can this kind of weight gain mean???


a confusing, and perplexing post at best....

OP: if you are out there, could you get back on your thread and fill in a lot of these gaps for us?

thanks....

[ArchAngel'73]

At 5'7" and 265 lbs I strongly suggest you cut some bodyfat and then take measurements.

you guys are in an enormously generous mood here today! LOL.....

I was being polite.

[oldsuperman]

I've been training off an on since collage. I have been training regularly since 2002! Still... my right nut is bigger then my left nut, and no matter how much I work on it,.. IT STAYS THE SAME? What can I do to? I'M at a loss as how to fix it!!! You guys are my only hope.....

[Baldiewonkanobi]

In touch with his "inner nut".

[oldsuperman]

In touch with his "inner nut".

I love my nuts!




(what's left of em)

[MT_Pawkits]

Sounds like puberty was hard on you, but you pulled through!



Now answer John's question, that puzzled me as well.

[oldsuperman]

Sounds like puberty was hard on you, but you pulled through!

Now answer John's question, that puzzled me as well.

My point is several things. Even in well developed body, "PERFECT SYMETURY" is rare if not totally absent. Yet with YEARS of training and consistency, you can come close, IF THE GENETIC GODS WERE GRACIOUS TO YOU!!!

BTW, I "pulled" through puberty like most boys.

[Baldiewonkanobi]

Hey Supe...I just noticed in your avitar pic that you have those abs that draw in the eyes of the judges. Not those boring symetrical abs but those neat folded criss cross abs. Not symetrical but COOL looking. A plus in my book.

Baldie

[JOHN GARGANI]

Hey Supe...I just noticed in your avitar pic that you have those abs that draw in the eyes of the judges. Not those boring symetrical abs but those neat folded criss cross abs. Not symetrical but COOL looking. A plus in my book.

Baldie

at our age I don't know if we are going to have boring symmetrical anything! LOL.....

we might as well have fun, as I don't think this OP is going to come back to this thread....

[mikieson]

Look at the pros...Even every single one of them have different size arms. Its just the way it is..Nothing to worry about.

[LyingSac]

I've been training off an on since collage. I have been training regularly since 2002! Still... my right nut is bigger then my left nut, and no matter how much I work on it,.. IT STAYS THE SAME? What can I do to? I'M at a loss as how to fix it!!! You guys are my only hope.....

when did you do your collage?

[anti-bonk]

I've been training off an on since collage. I have been training regularly since 2002! Still... my right nut is bigger then my left nut, and no matter how much I work on it,.. IT STAYS THE SAME? What can I do to? I'M at a loss as how to fix it!!! You guys are my only hope.....

http://menshealth.about.com/od/cosme...cular_impl.htm

Your welcome.




.

[LyingSac]

at our age I don't know if we are going to have boring symmetrical anything! LOL.....

we might as well have fun, as I don't think this OP is going to come back to this thread....

lol........yep even my swing-swing is crooked