right side is dominate

[wildtacos]

oh my god starting to hate my life.. the right side of my body is stronger. First the arms... triceps AND biceps... then the chest.. there is a noticeable diffrence... i show my right arm woo kinda big the left not as much same with chest... but not as noticeable and does anyone have any advice?

[n2importz]

Im havin the same exact problem with my right arm being weaker which is my dominant hand...any advice there would also be appreciated....thanks

[Big Arm Big Pay]

its definitly the same for everyone it dont bother me really but u can do a set at the end of the workout only for the one side of the body for example if your right pec stronger do single dumbell press with left arm.

[wildtacos]

thanks makes me feel better im not the only one

[Dook_net]

you can get this from exclusive barbell use(not always but some people). try doing dumbells a bit more for chest/back (chainsaws)/ and arms. for back and arms just start with your weak side first and count the reps you do but do no more than that with your strong side.do more dumbbell presses for chest. For legs, lunges and unilateral leg press work well. should help bring them closer within 4-5 months.

some people also recomend doing a bit more work on your weak side than your strong (like more reps). although i find the above method works fine for me.

[wildtacos]

that will cut my process =( seeing you can't lift as much weight on dumbbells as you can on barbells but i guess i should sigh

[Defiant1]

You must put your right side in a calm, submissive state...

[wildtacos]

it's hard to do that when I'm working out i get real serious and angry and i don't think about that stuff all i think about this weight has to go from point a to point b

[Dook_net]

that will cut my process =( seeing you can't lift as much weight on dumbbells as you can on barbells but i guess i should sigh

you can't do the same weight both sides? thats some neglect man =P .Ussualy its just people can't do as many reps on their weak side. i wouldn't be worried about slowing progress if that was my case.

[wildtacos]

ha ha it was probably the neglect that got me this way in the first place too

[Dook_net]

it's hard to do that when I'm working out i get real serious and angry and i don't think about that stuff all i think about this weight has to go from point a to point b

you should be focusing on the contractions and not just trying "to get from point A to point B". i'm all for getting pumped up for a heavy set but you gotta know how to lift first.

[wildtacos]

yeah i have a friend to guide me who is a professional bodybuilder that is when you let the weights go down slowly right? my friend says that part is more important than lifting it

[Dook_net]

letting the weights down slowly is about focusing on the negative portion of the excercise (shouldn't just let it drop). its also good because it helps with form.

its just your prevous comment made me think of reckless lifting. its always important to lift safe and right over show boating. 1 slip up and you could suffer the consequences for a very long time. besides you get faster gains with proper technique.

[Al Swearengen]

You must put your right side in a calm, submissive state...

lol

or you could do what i did and have shoulder surgery on the right side. then come back in a couple months and complain that your left side is dominant.

[EatSomeIron]

you can't do the same weight both sides? thats some neglect man =P .Ussualy its just people can't do as many reps on their weak side. i wouldn't be worried about slowing progress if that was my case.

I don't know how you took that from what he said. What he meant is, dumbell bench press (or any exercize) ususally totals less weight than barbell.
I can do 70lb dumbells, for 140 total, or barbell 195. He thinks his progress will be slower if he uses dumbells, because he will do less total weight.

[Dook_net]

I don't know how you took that from what he said. What he meant is, dumbell bench press (or any exercize) ususally totals less weight than barbell.
I can do 70lb dumbells, for 140 total, or barbell 195. He thinks his progress will be slower if he uses dumbells, because he will do less total weight.

I took that from what he said cause it was a response to a post i made about only doing as much as your weak side can do. which would slow progress cause you would have to wait for your weak side to catch up while your strong side could be further progressing.

[jaytek80]

When I started lifting in September my right arm was 2" bigger than my left. Looked some kind of funny. I also had a massive strength difference. After just simply working out things started to balance. My right side is still dominant and stronger, but that 2" gap is down to under half an inch and I'm more than fine with that. I used mostly free weights and dumbbells.

I believe you can move more weight with a barbell than dumbbells because I use more stabilizing muscles to control a dumbbell. Barbells just simply wobble less.

[n2importz]

When I started lifting in September my right arm was 2" bigger than my left. Looked some kind of funny. I also had a massive strength difference. After just simply working out things started to balance. My right side is still dominant and stronger, but that 2" gap is down to under half an inch and I'm more than fine with that. I used mostly free weights and dumbbells.

I believe you can move more weight with a barbell than dumbbells because I use more stabilizing muscles to control a dumbbell. Barbells just simply wobble less.

Agree'd

[mroth86]

work with dumbbells instead of barbell

[mroth86]

When I started lifting in September my right arm was 2" bigger than my left. Looked some kind of funny. I also had a massive strength difference. After just simply working out things started to balance. My right side is still dominant and stronger, but that 2" gap is down to under half an inch and I'm more than fine with that. I used mostly free weights and dumbbells.

I believe you can move more weight with a barbell than dumbbells because I use more stabilizing muscles to control a dumbbell. Barbells just simply wobble less.

Yep, since it's a bar, you can overcompensate with one arm if it's stronger than the other. With a dumbbell though, if your left arm isn't strong enough, it doesn't matter how strong your right arm is because you aren't going to be able to lift it (or if you can, just not as well), but with barbell you can use more power in your stronger arm to accomplish it, but not with dumbbells

[SyderBomb]

oh my god starting to hate my life.. the right side of my body is stronger. First the arms... triceps AND biceps... then the chest.. there is a noticeable diffrence... i show my right arm woo kinda big the left not as much same with chest... but not as noticeable and does anyone have any advice?

I started to notice the same thing with my right arm and I came across this article


"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!"

[davidahlstroem]

I have exactly the same problem as wildtacos, even worse I would say. My whole left side of my body is weaker than my right and looks smaller. That includes my biceps triceps, back, chest and even legs. The only place I see some balance is my abs. I have trained for like 3 years.
Just wanted to say thanks to Syderbomb (and author of the article ofc) for giving me a full reply on this problem. Often people just give me stupid and sometimes obvious advices like "You should train harder" and "Train only left side" and so on.

Anyway, thanks again. I'm definitely gonna try and follow the examples.

[KevMcGreat]

Dumbbells instead of barbell with a heavier weight on the weaker side