ab symmetry...

tai4ji2x

New Member
heh, sorry to bring up the symmetry issue again, but as i've been cutting (only now realizing just how slow my metabolism actually is - maintenance for me is definitely around 10x or 11x BW) i'm gradually seeing a faint hint of my underlying ab and oblique muscles. however, believe it or not, the right side of my abdominals are smaller than my left. my left oblique has been bigger ever since i first tried HST, but i didn't think it included my abs as well. first off, i'm having trouble isolating my right oblique. i've tried DB side bends and right-side-only crunches, but in the end i still feel DOMS primarily in my left abs and oblique. seems like the more i try, the more unbalanced it gets!
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I'm pretty sure that symmetry is completely based on genetics.

I'm also pretty sure that your abs are actually 1 big muscle with tendons over it, which divides it into the different sections.

And I'm POSITIVE that you can't make 1 part of a muscle bigger than another part of the same muscle. (like you can make your bicep bigger, but you can't make it "peak" any more than your genetics make it, no matter what exercises you do)
 
yeah, i'm confused about my abs myself, since i know they are one muscle. i can understand how my left oblique is larger than my right one, and thus that makes my "lower" abs appear "asymmetrical." but i can't understand how the very top of my abs are unbalanced between the left and right portion.
 
The upper 2 "sections" of my abs are very different in size. The left side is normal size but the right side is barely there.

My guess is that my genetics caused the tendons over the muscle to be unaligned or something :p

But really I have no idea.
 
You can see this in a lot of top pros. The only one I can think of right now who has perfectly symmetrical abs is Ahmed Haidar...
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Blade @ Feb. 28 2003,8:21)]You can see this in a lot of top pros. The only one I can think of right now who has perfectly symmetrical abs is Ahmed Haidar...
the assymetry you speak of in the pros - i'm assuming you're talking about abs that don't look like a perfectly aligned six-pack, which i know is a pretty normal occurance. but what would account for a size difference between left and right if the actual alignment is "perfect"? i assume the former lack of symmetry to be because of the tendons themselves being asymmetrically aligned, thus "dividing up" the abdominals into unequal sections? but if the latter is indeed a reality/possibility, is the cause the same?
 
whatever the case - i can never seem to individually induce DOMS in my right obliques. every time i try to do right-side-only oblique and ab exercises, my left side ends up being the sore one. going by this logic, i assumed that maybe it was because of the left side being in a stretched position and also acting as stabilizer. but then i tried to only to left-side-only, only to get DOMS once more only in the left side
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Dude! I'm exactly the same way. And I don't just mean my left oblique is bigger (which it is), the left half of my rectus abdominus is noticeably bigger and thicker. I think we're basically buggered, as there's no way to isolate one side of the darn thing.

-Calkid
 
If you really want DOMS on the right side, try injecting bleach.

Kidding. . .

Use a baseball bat.

No, still kidding.

I'd ask my wife (dancer) for some exercises for you, but she's in Germany working the CeBIT show. . . PM me in two weeks and ask again. She knows a dozen ways to make any part of the midsection sore, and she doesn't even need weights to do it. (She does great with HST, by the way.)
 
i actually dont think its all genetics as in no matter what you do you are definately stuck with uneven abs

i think its genetics to the point that it is neuralogical control of muscles and probably the result of some genetics physically in terms of the actualy muscle itself leading to uneven abs

but i think its mostly what you actually do and the form in which you train your abs which affects how it grows..

your traps are one piece of muscle too, yet you can have trap development where it sags instead of being straight... up the the neck. it is usually the result of bad form due to not using a full range of motion, which again is a result of bad neurological control of your muscles and sloppy form and lack of care about your workout...
 
You see this in other muscles, not just abs. The best example I can think of is the difference b/t Arnold's biceps. His right one peaks very high when flexed, and his left one is longer and flatter (still relatively high, but you can see the difference).
 
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