Hi Guys,
I'm having problems due to a past shoulder injury and a broken ulna causing very one sided-ness to body.
Shoulder, arm, and left hand side of back are all much less developed than the right half, causing awkwardness and holding me back.
Does anyone have any methods to balance out the differences?
Cheers,
Tom
One sided-ness
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Joesportstalk
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Train just as though you have a balanced physique.
There is a phenomenon known as "sympathetic development". What happens is that strengthening one arm only will also yield increase in strength of the arm that is not being trained.
So if you train with a flat bench (conventional bench) you will be both training the strong side and the weak side until they ultimately catch up with each other.
Work to be sure that your form is 100% correct. You will be training much lighter than you might think is needed, but do each rep carefully and for the full range of motion.
Years back I was trying a very heavy bench for me (435 lbs.). I had previously gotten 425 lbs. But with the heavy bench I tore right pec. The entire side of body from right wrist to hip turned black and blue. The doctor put me on anti-coagulants to avoid embolisms. I was told that I would never bench again.
It took 6 months before I had range of motion with right arm. It took a full year before I could do a single push up. Eventually I was able to bench with 135 lbs for sets of 10 reps. I added 10 pounds per month to be sure not to re-injure the pec. It felt very light, but I figured that if I add 10 pounds a month in 10 years I'd have a 1,335 pound bench (a joke).
In any event 3 years later I was benching 335 for sets of 10, and doing triples with 365 (I gave up maxing out with single reps.)
So training equally will equal out your development. Be patient. It could take as long as 2 years.
There is a phenomenon known as "sympathetic development". What happens is that strengthening one arm only will also yield increase in strength of the arm that is not being trained.
So if you train with a flat bench (conventional bench) you will be both training the strong side and the weak side until they ultimately catch up with each other.
Work to be sure that your form is 100% correct. You will be training much lighter than you might think is needed, but do each rep carefully and for the full range of motion.
Years back I was trying a very heavy bench for me (435 lbs.). I had previously gotten 425 lbs. But with the heavy bench I tore right pec. The entire side of body from right wrist to hip turned black and blue. The doctor put me on anti-coagulants to avoid embolisms. I was told that I would never bench again.
It took 6 months before I had range of motion with right arm. It took a full year before I could do a single push up. Eventually I was able to bench with 135 lbs for sets of 10 reps. I added 10 pounds per month to be sure not to re-injure the pec. It felt very light, but I figured that if I add 10 pounds a month in 10 years I'd have a 1,335 pound bench (a joke).
In any event 3 years later I was benching 335 for sets of 10, and doing triples with 365 (I gave up maxing out with single reps.)
So training equally will equal out your development. Be patient. It could take as long as 2 years.