Uneven development

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aown61
aown61 Posts: 62 Member
a weird one guys. I feel like 1 side of my body is developing more than the other, especially my chest. Does anyone else have this problem and is there anything I can do to sort it out? I'm currently doing the stronglifts program so everything I'm doing is free weights

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  • _Bropollo_
    _Bropollo_ Posts: 168 Member
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    It is possible. If you aren't activating one set of muscles as much as the other, that is likely the cause, and will continue to get more lopsided as one muscle surpasses the other. I was on Stronglifts for awhile myself, and it was a great program, but a bit too rigid for too long. Might be beneficial to pause the program for a couple weeks and switch to dumbbell equivalent exercises (for chest, dumbbell chest press as an example) where the muscles are required to work individually, then mix the barbell movements back in. It should help even out the imbalances.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I'm crooked- I have weakness that have reveled themselves to me as I've gotten stronger and essentially been strong enough to compensate for weakness- so the weakness just got weaker.
    I'm now going to PT/Chiro 2x a week to fix it.

    bring awareness to it- keep working on the things- and if it's REALLY bad- go see someone.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,160 Member
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    Due to a bad left knee and right shoulder I am warped too. With my pain managed for the first time in 40 years by diet I can see my muscles are becoming more balanced the the deformities from Ankylosing Spondylitis over the last forty years are not going away. Getting down from 250+ to just under 200 is a huge help to move more and therefore build more balance.

    I dragged my left leg for years so it was mainly bone and fat at one point. Between deep massage and chiropractic care muscle bundles are being broken up and developing some. I plan to just keep moving (walking) and see how I progress. I am on the tractor bush hogging and using the box blade and clearing ground and digging using our backhoe so it is not like I am a couch potato.
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
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    Or it could be just that you are more dominant with one side of your body than the other?

    You might want to think about programming something like these as assessories to your main strength program...
  • aown61
    aown61 Posts: 62 Member
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    _Bropollo_ wrote: »
    It is possible. If you aren't activating one set of muscles as much as the other, that is likely the cause, and will continue to get more lopsided as one muscle surpasses the other. I was on Stronglifts for awhile myself, and it was a great program, but a bit too rigid for too long. Might be beneficial to pause the program for a couple weeks and switch to dumbbell equivalent exercises (for chest, dumbbell chest press as an example) where the muscles are required to work individually, then mix the barbell movements back in. It should help even out the imbalances.

    I suppose switching barbell press to a dumbbell press could help here then, I think it stems to when I used to row, I would always take the same seat in the boat which meant I always used one side of my body!
  • RedWolf09
    RedWolf09 Posts: 90 Member
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    Work out the weaker side more than the other. You'll see that it will begin to catch up.

    It also helps to measure both sides so you can see the progress.
  • RedWolf09
    RedWolf09 Posts: 90 Member
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    When my left shoulder was weaker than my right I would add extra reps to it. The weaker side will hurt a lot, but that's the point.
  • Travistarrant426
    Travistarrant426 Posts: 11 Member
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    I had this with my shoulder and I stopped doing machine excersizes altogether for a long period of time because I realised my right shoulder would work harder than my left. Dumbells fixed the problem but it was gradual.
  • harryfrankham1
    harryfrankham1 Posts: 34 Member
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    Concentrate on your teqnique, if your shifting heavy weight more than likely your teqnique is not correct, which will result in uneven muscle proportions, drop the weight, drop the ego, and your weak areas will catch up, dont take on advise where people are telling you to train your one side more than the other, just concentrate on your form, have patience and your symmetry will balance out
  • mikestobbs1
    mikestobbs1 Posts: 297 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    I'm crooked- I have weakness that have reveled themselves to me as I've gotten stronger and essentially been strong enough to compensate for weakness- so the weakness just got weaker.
    I'm now going to PT/Chiro 2x a week to fix it.

    bring awareness to it- keep working on the things- and if it's REALLY bad- go see someone.

    This. I had the same issue, now in physio for shoulder impingement. Root cause the problem, it's not always as straight forward as you think.