Left arm vs Right arm

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imported_dknz

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Hey guys,

Curious as to how everyone else would attack my problem..
OK, basically a little bit of background information.. I played high level cricket for a number for several years, I was a bowler and bowled quite quick for my size. Now this setup growth in my right arm due to continued use etc. Bowling is basically 1 armed, left arm is only used for guidance. I stopped playing cricket and took up tennis. I play my entire game 1 handed, meaning my left arm gets no use. Now if you have ever watched professional tennis you can see the difference in their arms. Well I am the same, I have a big right arm and forearm yet a small left forearm and arm. My friend's used to call it the "tennis arm".

Now since I have been training, before I started I assumed if I hit both arms just as hard I would end up with my left arm growing faster than my right and hoping it would catch up.

But the opposite happened, my right arm is now 16" cold (after 7months of training and 1 HST cycle) and my left arm would be lucky to be 14" (I dread actually measuring it).

The problem now lies in the fact that I think it is negatively hindering my training because my right side is naturally taking all of the work away from my left when I do 2 armed activities. Thus my right arm has grown so quickly and my left arm has struggled. It is stopping me from being equal and pushing myself to heavier weights because my left arm can't handle it.

I was thinking I should attack this problem by doing my HST session, then my cardio. Then at this point, instead of heading home go back to the weight room and work my right forearm, bicep and tricep until they are all failure. So in other words, absolutely hammer it as hard as I can. Would that be sufficient? I also have dumbells at home that I am going to use to obliterate my arm with. That way I can catch up to strength in my right arm... and my training can become even again.

I can post pics if you're keen to see, it's VERY noticeable. My shoulders are ok though, not too bad but my left trap is a bit smaller than my right..

Any help would be awesome!

Cheers,
Byron.
 
That is extremely imbalanced. If it were me, I would cease training my right arm at all until the left equalized. Just do compounds for both arms like rows and presses, but don't do anything else for right arm, but for left arm, add shoulder iso's and arm iso's like Dumbell laterals, Dumbell curls, one-arm triceps extensions, etc. Hopefully it won't take too long, but be patient.
 
Yeah it's fairly bad..

I can concentration curl 20-24KG on a good day with my right arm but can barely manage 13KG with my left arm.. So you can imagine how it is affecting the rest of my training. Doing pulling lifts like deads or bent over BB rows are extremely wobbly on my left side.

I even have slightly more body fat on my left side than my right. So frustrating.

But yeah that was my plan, I am going to cease my right arm other than EZ bar preacher curls for maintenance, but with more weight on the left hand side. Already started with the following over the weekend:

Tricep: 1 arm tricep extension.
Bicep+Forearm: Hammer curls and concentration curls.
Shoulder: Front raises and rear delt raises.
Traps: 1 arm shrug with a dumbell.
 
Generally speaking, the best way to balance out muscles like this is to train them the same. Do compounds or iso's that work both sides at the same time (like barbell curls for iso). What happens is the weak arm will determine the weight that can be lifted, usually less than the bigger arm. This will put more stress on the weaker muscle to make it grow & not too much on the stronger muscle. This method will also keep the larger one from getting smaller. Do this until the weak side catches up.
Don't do anything "extra" (or hammer it) for the weak side as you run a BIG risk of over training it and therefore will have less/slower gains. It takes time, but it will balance out. I have given this advice for many years & it has always worked out in the end. Stick with straight bars / EZ curl bars & not dumbbells as the straight/EZ will allow you to have equal control & intensity.

I wouldn't cease to work the larger side. What will happen is it will get smaller. You will eventually catch up the weaker side to the now smaller stronger side. Next you'll start to train the stronger side. Muscle memory will kick in & it will get larger than the weaker. Now it will be out of balance again. Do as I mention above & the balance will come & stay balanced.

O
 
That is what I thought would happen Omega but because it is such a huge difference and not a minor difference I think my balance is so far out that my left arm is leaving 80% of the work up to my right arm and NOT catching up. Thus making my right arm so much stronger and bigger gains because it is taking on MORE weight than I intend it to.
 
I agree with Mr O. Sticking to free weights and barbells will really help the situation. Avoid machines with fixed movement arms. You need to be balancing the weights.

It won't just be your arm that's smaller and weaker as your chest and back and shoulder muscles are heavily involved in moving your arms. Bench, rows, dips, chins and presses will all really help and you can focus your attention on your weaker left side to ensure it keeps up.
 
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(dknz @ Oct. 15 2006,23:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">..... so far out that my left arm is leaving 80% of the work up to my right arm and NOT catching up. Thus making my right arm so much stronger and bigger gains because it is taking on MORE weight than I intend it to. If you do as LOL &amp; I say, you will build up the weak side &amp; build all the supporting muscles as well as the required coordination to accomplish your goals. You'll be happy with the results I'm sure.

O</div>
This won't happen &amp; will balance out if you use the free weights (ie barbell &amp; EZ curl bar). As LOL mentioned, DON&quot;T use any machines that make you follow a fixed movement. If it has a fixed movement, then YES the right will take up the 80% load. Machines that allow free movement pattern, like a bar on a single cable is good too.

O
 
Normally I would agree with you guys and that is what I have done to bring my left and right into balance. My back was stronger on the right side when I started lifting this year, and by balancing when I lift and only working my right side as hard as my left, my left and right back muscles are much more balanced now, not perfectly equal yet though. What helped me most was dumbells, not barbells. I always did DB rows with my left first. If my left could only do 10 reps with a load, then I did 10 reps with the same load with my right, even if I could normally do more with my right. Eventually it helped.

In dknz's case I don't agree with your advice though. His imbalance is pretty extreme and he needs to focus on left arm hyerptrophy for awhile. True, by doing compounds as balanced as he possibly can he will make the left work harder and maintain the right. I don't think he will 'overtrain' the left by doing extra iso sets for it, that is bull! He got imbalanced by doing extra work with his right in the first place. By adding some extra sets to isolate the left upper body muscles, they will hypertrophy, while doing only compounds with both arms and trying to balance the left, the compounds will also hyeprtrophy the left, while only maintaining the right at best. He may even atrophy a little on the right side on a program like this, but it is only temporary until the left grows enough.

Once the left and right are abut equal strength and he can do 'balanced' compound upperbody lifts with each arm doing the same amount of exertion, he can go back to a normal program like you guys suggest.
 
I think you should use dumbells, continue working both arms, but use different weights for each arm! In this issue I disagree with O and Lol and agree with scientific muscle. I think that its tyhe fact that he started off with a stronger arm, which caused it to do take more of the load when he was doing bilateral exercises that caused the strong arm to hypertrophy further.

Lol this is kinda funny
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My opinion is similar to Mr. O's, but I would use soime dumbel work, only as O put it let the weaker arm determine the weight and then use both D/B's with the same weight.

I had a similar problem even to the point of chest, lat, trap and arm muscles being slightly different in size, all of these I corrected by doing mostly compounds but never going over what my weaker side could handle!

And...with patience and preserverance I am looking much better and the difference is hardly noticeable or basically gone.
 
So you guys reckon that if he does barbell lifts his left arm will stay the same and his right arm will blow up to 18 inches? Sheesh! That'll be a first then. There is just no way that is going to happen doing compounds with a bb. His left side will have to work harder to keep the bar balanced. By all means add in some extra work for the left side with dbs if need be, but I don't see the sense in allowing the right side to atrophy.  
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Use dbs, bbs, whatever, as long as the loading is balanced on both sides so that the weaker side is having to play catch-up things will eventually become more balanced.

I think it would be good to work on form and to avoid twisting your body to try to make the left arm get the job done. That sort of thing can lead to nasty muscle pulls. Just be patient.

Bear in mind that dknz didn't get an imbalance overnight and it isn't going to go away over night. It'll take time and effort but it will balance out but maybe not entirely. Remember, nobody is perfectly symmetrical. Even top pros like Tom Platz and Rich Gaspari had noticeably different arm sizes after years of consistent training.

Oh, not meaning to offend anyone by any of this. I respect all your opinions. 
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<div>
(scientific muscle @ Oct. 16 2006,01:14)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I don't think he will 'overtrain' the left by doing extra iso sets for it, that is bull!</div>
Well this is not really &quot;bull&quot; as you say, extra sets are the vary thing that causes over training. So many young lifters always feel &quot;more is better&quot;. I see it in the gym everyday. They are always adding more of this &amp; that. Most will agree that getting rid of some sets &amp; focusing on form &amp; intensity will result in better gains, especially if they were over training &amp; didn't realize it. Sure he can use DB's if he like, its just that using BB's will guaranty he won't do more work than he can handle. He needs to watch himself that he does not get caught in the &quot;more sets is better trap&quot;.

O
 
Sorry, Omegaman, I should have clarified my statement.
I think extra work for the left arm will be ok on HST without overtraining, because the volume is low anyway.

Here is what I suggest...
Both arms...Chinups, DB Bench Press, DB Military Press.
Both arms isolated, same weight, same reps..DB Rows.
Left arm only...Dumbell laterals, Dumbell curls, Dumbell tricep press.

If each exercise is only one or two sets, I don't think there wil be any overtraining.

Of course too much training and volume can lead to over-training, but to a certain extent MORE IS BETTER, when it comes to work output. And I suggest higher work output for the left arm to induce a higher rate of hypertrophy. A few isolations added for left only will add to the hypertrophy response, not take away from it. I am only talking about a total of 7 exercises for left upper body, and only 4 exercises for right upper body. Nowhere near over-training levels as long as sets are kept low.

Everyone has posted good advice though, I am just strongly opinionated
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towards the idea of forcing the left to do more work, until it catches up, since forcing his right arm to do more work is what got him where he is in the first place.
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<div>
(scientific muscle @ Oct. 16 2006,23:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think extra work for the left arm will be ok on HST without overtraining, because the volume is low anyway.

...

Of course too much training and volume can lead to over-training, but to a certain extent MORE IS BETTER, when it comes to work output.  And I suggest higher work output for the left arm to induce a higher rate of hypertrophy.  A few isolations added for left only will add to the hypertrophy response, not take away from it.  I am only talking about a total of 7 exercises for left upper body, and only 4 exercises for right upper body.  Nowhere near over-training levels as long as sets are kept low.

Everyone has posted good advice though, I am just strongly opinionated  
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towards the idea of forcing the left to do more work, until it catches up, since forcing his right arm to do more work is what got him where he is in the first place.
cool.gif
</div>
I don't think the volume is particularly low with HST per se, it's just that it's spread out over the week instead of piled on in one session so there could easily be a case for doing too much for the weaker side in order to attempt to force it to grow faster.

We are already attempting with HST to optimise potential growth by increasing frequency over a traditional once or twice a week set-up. Once a growth stimulus has been triggered any extra work is just wasted energy.

As his left side has been worked less up until now (that's why it's weaker) it will no doubt require less work and load to stimulate a hypertrophic response. So doing more work for the weaker side could very well be counterproductive at this stage, or, at the very least, wasted calories that could be used for growth.

If dknz's right side grew through years of low-intensity type activities then lifting weights is sure to bring things back into balance, but it will just take time. Consistent training and patience will be the order of the day, me thinks.
 
<div>
(Lol @ Oct. 16 2006,19:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(scientific muscle @ Oct. 16 2006,23:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think extra work for the left arm will be ok on HST without overtraining, because the volume is low anyway.

...

Of course too much training and volume can lead to over-training, but to a certain extent MORE IS BETTER, when it comes to work output.  And I suggest higher work output for the left arm to induce a higher rate of hypertrophy.  A few isolations added for left only will add to the hypertrophy response, not take away from it.  I am only talking about a total of 7 exercises for left upper body, and only 4 exercises for right upper body.  Nowhere near over-training levels as long as sets are kept low.

Everyone has posted good advice though, I am just strongly opinionated  
laugh.gif
towards the idea of forcing the left to do more work, until it catches up, since forcing his right arm to do more work is what got him where he is in the first place.
cool.gif
</div>
I don't think the volume is particularly low with HST per se, it's just that it's spread out over the week instead of piled on in one session so there could easily be a case for doing too much for the weaker side in order to attempt to force it to grow faster.

We are already attempting with HST to optimise potential growth by increasing frequency over a traditional once or twice a week set-up. Once a growth stimulus has been triggered any extra work is just wasted energy.

As his left side has been worked less up until now (that's why it's weaker) it will no doubt require less work and load to stimulate a hypertrophic response. So doing more work for the weaker side could very well be counterproductive at this stage, or, at the very least, wasted calories that could be used for growth.

If dknz's right side grew through years of low-intensity type activities then lifting weights is sure to bring things back into balance, but it will just take time. Consistent training and patience will be the order of the day, me thinks.</div>
You could be right, but from my experience and research, doing extra work for a bodypart, beyond the minimal, but not to the point of overtraining induces greater rates of hypertrophy. I still think doing compounds for both arms, but iso's for only left arm will hypertrophy the left arm faster. Just my informed opinion, could be right or wrong.

Here is an example. In college I damaged my knee and had surgery on my right meniscus. My leg was immobilized and my thigh shriveled to a stick. My doctor recommended weight-training and stretching to get my muscles back. For both legs I did normal walking, and compound leg presses with both legs. For my shriveled, weak right leg I did static holds on the leg extension machine with as much weight as possible and held it until a slow negative rep, I started with the most pathetic loads and quickly moved up in strength (muscle memory). After a couple of months my right leg was actually a little bigger than my left!!! I then started normal training for both legs for awhile, and then quit lifting for years until now! I have experience with the left/right body imbalances, and my opinion stands. I could be wrong though, maybe my right leg grew so fast because it was so extremely deconditioned, and the extra iso work had nothing to do with it. I don't know, I am finished, I will shut up in this thread now.
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Sci: I always value your input. Not trying to say whose right or wrong. It's good to discuss things. After all, where else can you talk about this stuff and get a listening ear?!

Amount of volume that is appropriate in a given situation is down to many factors, one of which being the individual doing the work. So it'll be down to dknz to experiment with some of the info provided here. I think there are plenty of good ideas.

Incidentally, I trained a guy this year who had a much weaker left side than his right. Initially his bench was all over the place but I helped him work on his form and after about three cycles he was pretty much matched in size and strength left to right and his overall strength had gone up too. Maybe if he had done extra work he would have gotten there sooner? I don't know. The important thing for dknz to know is that he did get there and it actually didn't take that long (although admittedly his imbalance was less extreme).
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Yeah, either way D/B or B/B, let your weaker arm decide the load and perform the exercise.

Do not go overborad if you do one arm only exercises, but IMO this may speed up the catching up some...
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My left arm is smaller and weaker than my right.  I've corrected this somewhat by loading and unloading all of my plates in every workout using my left hand only.  No special workouts, no extra work...I use the same weight in both hands when using dumbells for arm work, but mostly use a barbell for arm work.  The smaller weaker side get's it's extra work just from doing all the loading and unloading.  It's not perfectly symmetrical yet - but gradually improving...now, no-one notices it but me.
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Hey guys,

Thanks for all the valuable advice. Will definately take it on board.

I have been doing the same thing of late vagrant.. Using my left arm to load and unload my plates.

Bad news though, I have broken a toe and fractured two more. So I am going to try and do as much as possible in the gym. I should still be able to squat (not sure yet).. SLDLs could be out of the question, leg press and calf raises are definately out. So it may give me more time to work on my upper body. I have been doing chins and the only isolation excercise I have in my routine is EZ Bar Preacher Curls for biceps. I was doing it like that due to the same load on either arm. Sometimes I have 2.5KG more on the left arm.

Lately I have been doing a couple of concetration curl sets only with my left arm. And a couple of extra sets of tricep pulldowns to work my left tri a bit more.

So for the bicep, 2 extra sets, and same for the tricep, 2 extra sets on top of my HST program. This way I am getting the little bit extra work output on my left **HOPEFULLY** staying within limits so I am not over-training it.

Cheers,
Byron.
 
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