I think I'm uneven!

lisaepell

I've been on MFP for a while and I thought you guys might be a good resource for this. I have a very heavy (and adorable) 2 year old daughter (somewhere around 35 lbs now). She's always been on the heavy side and I always carry her on my left side. I'm a righty, by the way. Anyway, I'm a few weeks into SL 5x5 and I've noticed, particularly on the bench press, that my left arm is much stronger than my right. When I flex, it's pretty obvious too (I'm at work, so I can't post pics, but trust me, one bicep is definitely bigger). Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do? I am enjoying 5x5, but I'm concerned that as the lifts get heavier, I might be off balance. I've tried carrying her on my other side and always wind up switching back. I should note that I am carrying her less and less, but unless I can figure out how to even out, I feel like my arms will continue to be uneven and it may impede my 5x5 progress too!

TIA for your help!

jemhh

Completely normal and to be expected at this point in your lifting career.

Continue to follow the program as written.

ijsantos2005

Keep the bar parallel with the floor when you lift and you'll be fine.

tulips_and_tea

I am exactly the same: right handed but carry most things in my left arm so it is stronger than my right. No size difference, though.

Not sure how it would work with your lifting program but I lift almost exclusively with dumbbells so as to try to even things out. It takes time so just keep at it.

stanmann571

After you get to a reasonable point, switch to dumbbell presses for a while. You'll need to drop the weight 10-25% from half of what you had been doing.

Example 225 lb barbell press

Half is 110, Probably want to start around 75-90 with dumbbells... or maybe even less, because dumbbell form is different from Bar form.

Possibly combine with a deload and go down to 50s.

lisaepell

Thank you for the input, these are all very helpful!!

Sunna_W

I "carried" my daughter around for quite some time - I think until she was at least double that weight. We were really close. I started carrying her in the front rather than on my hip and that worked pretty well for me. I can't remember which age / weight she was, though.

SonyaCele

everyone is uneven, add some dumbbells or single arm stuff

canadianlbs

i do as much of my plate-wrangling as i can manage with my non-dominant hand, too. on the principle that my right arm got stronger than the left without me doing any thing special with it, long before i even thought of the gym. so taking plates off pegs and putting them onto bars and then taking them off and putting them back on the pegs . . . it's 'free' gain on the equalization project.

you could try doing your ohp military style too . . . that's with your heels touching instead of your feet braced hip width apart. i'm just in the hypothetical stage with that one, but i always have had an imbalance between left and right, and for no reason recently i decided that since i'm back at square one with the press anyway, might as well make it strict while i still don't know any better and i have nothing to lose.

i was jsut being kind of perverse, but one of the pleasant surprises with it is that pressing that way is giving me a lot less room for my left arm to 'cheat'. i guess it's because with a narrow footprint, you just can't accommodate very much swivel or tip.

KANGOOJUMPS

we all are!