Anyone reccomend any exercises?

hannahncakes
hannahncakes Posts: 97
edited September 23 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,
the left side of my body is quite a lot weaker than the right which makes anything when I have to support myself on the left leg nearly impossible. Are there any specific exercises anyone knows of that would help me strengthen one side of my body?

Also I'm wanting to improve my arms & get rid of my bingo wings but I don't want to get guns, as it were, I just want them to get smaller not all obviously muscley. Is this possible?

Many thanks to anyone who can help!

Replies

  • PaulaAvery
    PaulaAvery Posts: 28 Member
    am no expert at all - but for strengthening one side how about Pilates or yoga?
  • backinthenines
    backinthenines Posts: 1,083 Member
    I can't see how anyone would be able to make an informed recommendation without knowing what the actual CAUSE of the weakness is?

    Also what do you mean by "left side"? Your left leg? Your left arm? Your left shoulder? The whole of your left body?

    Structural imbalances are not just 'there' they have developed for a reason. For example my right hip still has a slight weakness after an injury.

    My recommendation is that you see a physio who assesses you to see exactly WHICH muscles aren't responding and firing as they should. He can then give you remidial exercises to do.
  • hannahncakes
    hannahncakes Posts: 97
    There is no particular reason just under-developed muscles. I've seen physios before but they haven't helped me much. It's not a problem that effects my life just makes it difficult to exercise as I wobble & fall over! hehe. It's mostly my leg but my left arm is quite weak too
  • CelticWarrior
    CelticWarrior Posts: 117
    There is no particular reason just under-developed muscles. I've seen physios before but they haven't helped me much. It's not a problem that effects my life just makes it difficult to exercise as I wobble & fall over! hehe. It's mostly my leg but my left arm is quite weak too


    If it was me in this position I would do something like step ups but work my weaker side 2 times harder, this way at some point they will balance off. Pretty much same with my arms ,maybe some 1 arm curls double the workout on the weaker side for few weeks see how that goes. Now Im no expert ,but I wouldn't go paying someone to tell me pretty much same thing I can find for free somewhere. So this is my suggestion, and good luck.
  • wenders123
    wenders123 Posts: 338 Member
    Hi Hannah,

    I saw an article about bingo wings where they recommended using weights (light), or you could use small water bottles (full), or food cans (like baked beans). You reach up and then drop your arm down behind your shoulder. 12 reps - 3 times (each side). I've just started doing them myself ......
  • iolande
    iolande Posts: 9 Member
    Hi. I'm a bit lopsided as well - I play tennis and my right arm has more definition then the left.. lol.

    A fitness instructor told me that the best way to even out muscles is to work with dumbells and do the same with the left and right sides of your body (including all the squats for your legs) apparently that stops you from using your strongest side to carry your weak side
  • backinthenines
    backinthenines Posts: 1,083 Member
    If it was me in this position I would do something like step ups but work my weaker side 2 times harder, this way at some point they will balance off. Pretty much same with my arms ,maybe some 1 arm curls double the workout on the weaker side for few weeks see how that goes. Now Im no expert ,but I wouldn't go paying someone to tell me pretty much same thing I can find for free somewhere. So this is my suggestion, and good luck.

    hmmm... an imbalance is there for a reason. For example a marginal leg length difference that has gone undiagnosed, or more flexibility in one joint over the other etc.

    By simply overloading the weaker side without knowing what caused the weakness you're just leaving yourself more vulnerable to injury.

    I give you an example... My left shoulder is weaker than my right. In endurance swimming it causes problems because it leads me to overreach across the midline on that arm. Just starting to do single arm drills would cause complete carnage in that shoulder!!! So what needed to be done was to identify the cause of the weakness (hypermobile shoulder joint) and indentify the most appropriate remedial strengthening exercise for it, in my case dumbell work targetting the rotatorcuff.

    IMHO random uninformed one sided weight training is not the answer.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    There is no particular reason just under-developed muscles. I've seen physios before but they haven't helped me much. It's not a problem that effects my life just makes it difficult to exercise as I wobble & fall over! hehe. It's mostly my leg but my left arm is quite weak too

    Have you had any kind of neurological / orthoapedic / ENT assessment? There could be multiple reasons for this including an inner ear problem if you have trouble maintaining balance as well.

    Most people tend to be weaker on the left side as the majority of the population are right hand / side dominant. Therefore you simply do more on a day to day basis with your right side making it stronger and consequently the left side proportionally weaker. If you are left handed / sided then the opposite is true. Working with split stack weight machines or isolation exercise specifically targetting the left side can be useful although getting perfect symmetry between both sides is nigh or impossible.

    However, the kind of imbalance that you are suggesting seems a little more than that. It could simply be the language you are using but it suggests something more than the run of the mill differences. I agree with Backinthenines that this is more indicative of a deeper issue.
  • CelticWarrior
    CelticWarrior Posts: 117
    If it was me in this position I would do something like step ups but work my weaker side 2 times harder, this way at some point they will balance off. Pretty much same with my arms ,maybe some 1 arm curls double the workout on the weaker side for few weeks see how that goes. Now Im no expert ,but I wouldn't go paying someone to tell me pretty much same thing I can find for free somewhere. So this is my suggestion, and good luck.

    hmmm... an imbalance is there for a reason. For example a marginal leg length difference that has gone undiagnosed, or more flexibility in one joint over the other etc.

    By simply overloading the weaker side without knowing what caused the weakness you're just leaving yourself more vulnerable to injury.

    I give you an example... My left shoulder is weaker than my right. In endurance swimming it causes problems because it leads me to overreach across the midline on that arm. Just starting to do single arm drills would cause complete carnage in that shoulder!!! So what needed to be done was to identify the cause of the weakness (hypermobile shoulder joint) and indentify the most appropriate remedial strengthening exercise for it, in my case dumbell work targetting the rotatorcuff.

    IMHO random uninformed one sided weight training is not the answer.

    you could be right, but as I said Im no expert and I was just suggesting my opinion based off what she said.

    My right side of my body was also stronger then my left side due to being used more as Im right handed. I simply corrected my problem by working my left side a littler harder than my right side till it felt about right to me inside my body.
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