Can I increase my squats load even with a muscle imbalance

blopmiyers
blopmiyers Posts: 195 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I noticed my left leg is bigger than my right, I feel it more in my left leg when squatting. Could I increase my squat load still? I wanted to do unilateral leg exercises but I had no idea where to incorporate them and what exercises to do, after research the main answer was pistol squats but I'm unable to do them. I do legs on Mondays only as of now.

Replies

  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Everybody has strength and size imbalances. If it's not causing terrible technique (possibly due to an injury on one side?) then I wouldn't sweat it.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    There are quite a few isolateral lower body movements:

    1-leg leg press (do both sides the same # of weight/reps/sets)
    1-leg bodyweight squats (not necessarily pistol)
    1-leg lightly weighted (as in dumbbells) squats
    Lunges
    Split-squats (regular and Bulgarian)
    1-leg Romanian deadlifts
    and more


    That said, like Dope mentioned - if it's just a little difference, then it might not be something to worry about.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Try adding in some of the 1-leg exercises listed above and perhaps doing legs more than once per week.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    without really knowing what i'm talking about, my first thought is sure you can increase weight. but you should pace the increase to whatever your weaker leg is able to do, not the strong one.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    The one concern in increasing weight is you might be naturally inclined to press too much with the dominant leg, continuing the imbalance. I might drop the weight and focus on the seal leg. Lighter weight might reduce the reflex to use dominant leg.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    Yes and it shootings like you need pistol squats in your life
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    If you have an imbalance it may be worth trying to get to the root cause of it before trying to increase the weight you lift as you will only worsen it and potentially cause irrepairable damage.

    In the meantime though; work on uni-lateral exercises and maintaining strength on your squat.
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