I'm lopsided!

cpiton

Yesterday, I had a deep tissue massage at my chiropractor's office. (Yee-ouch! And also, ahhhh...) My chiropractor and the massage therapist both suggested I do some dumbbell work with my left arm because, due to an old injury, my right is overcompensating so much my right shoulder is higher than my left. (I'm lopsided!)

What would be the best way to incorporate this into my routine? Currently, I'm working through a deload (per chiropractor's orders) and finishing week 10 of SL today. My lifts are:
Squat: 155
Bench: 80
Row: 95
OHP: 65
DL: 185

Any suggestions on exercises, reps, sets, weight, timing of DB work? I've been lifting consistently for 14 months now and have worked with dumbbells in the past.
All suggestions welcome. Thanks

jstout365

What was the type of injury? Also, did they say you need to work on shoulder, back, or something more specific than your left side?

DaniH826

Make sure for OHP and bench press, that you press evenly (as much as possible). My left side had to do some catching up too, and still does. I never go up higher in weight than my left side can lift as solidly as my right.

cpiton

What was the type of injury? Also, did they say you need to work on shoulder, back, or something more specific than your left side?

Thanks for replying.

The injury has been pretty gradual--over the last 6 months. No idea what happened. Started in my left trapezius and worked its way into my neck, jaw, and my back teeth! I thought I had a cavity.
They suggested I strengthen my pectoral as well as my deltoid, trapezius and latissimus dorsi. She found a big knot in my levator scapulae (sp?). When she hit that sucker, I felt it in my kneecaps.

cpiton

Make sure for OHP and bench press, that you press evenly (as much as possible). My left side had to do some catching up too, and still does. I never go up higher in weight than my left side can lift as solidly as my right.

Good advice, thanks. Since the deload, I'm only at 80lb on my bench, so I'm still holding the bar evenly, but I will definitely have to concentrate on that as I move up in weight. When I was at 95lb, I could really tell.

I'm also trying to use my left arm more to carry in groceries and I put my purse on my left now. Talk about awkward.

What do you think about incorporating a day of dumbbell training into my schedule? Or maybe put in a finisher that works these areas? I'm not sure how to handle this without messing with my SL workout.

jstout365

For pectoral muscles: One arm flys, one arm dumbbell press (if you do it on an exercise ball you can also engage more of your core for balance and stability)

For lats: One arm lat pull downs are great.

Delts: Delt raises to the front and side:

Trap: One arm cable upright row (can be done with dumbbells also), one arm band pull aparts (hold the right hand still when you pull the left arm back)

You may want to run anything you do by them to make sure they are appropriate with your injuries.

As far as when to do these, you could do the lat, delt and trap exercises on B days and the pectoral lifts on A days to go with the muscle groups you are already targeting, allowing adequate recovery times. You don't have to go nuts on the extra work, 3 sets of 8 would be more than enough.

DaniH826

I think you should try it and then evaluate. You can pre-analyze it all you want, but unless you actually do it, there's no telling.

Alternately, you could use a heavy dumbbell and do extra reps on bench presses and overheads and rows, and just do them with one arm, on the days that you do those anyway (fatigue permitting). Which means you would do, say, a 5x5 set of OHP, then grab a dumbbell and do 5x5 extra sets with the lighter weight on that one side. That's just a suggestion. I'm sure there are several solutions, and you just have to find one that works for you.

The key is obviously going to be to keep it heavy enough to challenge your left side while keeping it light enough so that your right side isn't trained any extra until things are mostly balance. Everyone tends to be one side dominant, and the best you can aim for is to make it a close approximation. You're probably never going to be completely balanced, but at least now that you're aware of the problem, you can begin to address it. It's going to be something you'll be working on with an eye on the long term that you'll just have to stick with and be conscious of.

For example, when I remove or add weight, I make a conscious effort to use the clamps with my left hand too, since my natural tendency is to just grab everything with my right hand, but that side is plenty strong already, comparatively speaking.

It just takes mindfulness and specific effort, really. Meaning even in daily chores, engage your weaker arm more often when you remember to, and not just during strength training; and just keep at it, because the lopsidedness didn't happen while training; it happened doing regular stuff, so that's where it ought to be addressed and corrected as well.

Could just be tension related, especially if it travels all the way to your jaw. I get that a lot, especially with working on computers and whatnot, plus I tend to just tackle everything with gusto (grrrrr! LOL). Of course that makes me tense up and I get all sorts of knots everywhere. Tennis balls work great to relieve those. Just stick one between your shoulder and the wall while standing up, and roll around for tight spots; then when you find one, roll around on it until it dissolves. It'll hurt amazingly good (will make you wanna cry during, and then sigh with relief afterwards).

cpiton

Thank you both for your great suggestions! :flowerforyou:
You know, I used to use a tennis ball on my glute when it knotted up, it didn't occur to me to use it on my back and shoulder. Good idea.

I work out at home, so no cables, but I can definitely modify the exercises to work with DBs. I'm going to add in a couple extra exercises at the end of my workouts and also do a couple extra bench and OHP sets with only my left arm and see if it helps.
I'll also try to be more mindful of putting my left side to use in daily activities. I'm such a "get it done now" person, I tend to move without thinking.

Thanks, again