Muscle Symmetry

kclaar11

I used to go to the gym almost every day, and then, for about four months, I quit going. I recently started strength training again and have noticed a pretty visible difference between my right arm and left arm. Now, I am right-handed so I expected to be slightly larger in my right arm, but it seems to be almost a drastic difference between my right bicep and left bicep. Will this balance itself out, or is there something I should be doing to even them out? I do try to do the same weight and reps on both sides.

psuLemon

From my experience it seems to work itself out and is rather natural.

JB035

Nice to know it works it's self out. I still do single arm movements though, just help with overall balance and coordination.

ninerbuff

Depends. The peak on my left bicep is much higher than my right. But my right triceps is definitely "meatier" than my left. And I've been training for years. Ultimately in circumference though, they are about the same.


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BodyByYouChicago

I have to disagree with some of the replies above. I don't think it'll work itself out. If it started in the first place, and you aren't doing something directly to fix it, why would it fix itself?

Definitely try isolateral exercises for your bicep. Do a few more sets, maybe more reps with the weaker side. These are why these machines were created, so we can focus on an area that is lacking compared to its counterpart.

I hope this helps!

MikoHanzo

Try to incorporate more dual-wielded dumbbell exercises in your workouts to make the load the same throughout the movement. Machines are notorious for enabling one arm to do more work than the other (especially at heavy weights).

About your dominant arm appearing smaller than the non-dominant arm.. Through the years, your D arm has become more efficient at moving than your ND arm. So even when lifting the same weights for the same reps, the ND arm may actually be responding to the stimuli more than your D arm. Then again, this is bro science that I just read somewhere. Take it with a grain of NaCl.

GiddyupTim

I have to challenge those who say it won't work itself out.
We all use our dominant arm more than twice as often as we use our off arm, and our dominant side tends to be much more coordinated.
So, it seems to me that, if our bodies did not naturally match the effort when we did bilateral exercises we would all end up looking like those funny crabs that have one HUGE claw and one wimpy one.
But we don't.
So instead, I am going to guess that if you have one side that is appreciably smaller and weaker, over time it is going to get worked to failure faster and more often -- ie harder -- and that greater stress will produce greater gains, until the two sides are roughly equal.
Obviously, they are never going to be perfectly even, as has been shown. Even soccer players who run many, many miles, one foot/leg at a time, can have as much as a 30 percent difference in strength from one leg to the other!

andrewq6100

There is definitely more strength in one of my arms opposed to my other but that is due to an injury but i'd have to say if your trying to be symmetrical and aesthetic there are ways you can sculpt to build more mass / cuts in an area that is say lacking. For example my left quad is more defined than my right so occasionally I'll throw a few extra lunges on my right leg for a few weeks and the difference if you track it can be noticeable. Bodybuilders do this often because in a show if you are not proportioned or symmetrical you will lose. You just got to target your weak points, hit it from different angles, shock the muscle.