Uneven chest help pls

[timeoutmode]

Hi guys,

I have been reading about uneven chest and I learned that the culprit is my left tricep. My left pec is bigger than my right and my left tri is weaker than my right. It didn't bother me at first but the longer I train the bigger the difference gets. If I pre exhaust my right tri before my chest workout, will that solve the problem? if not, shall I train my left tri for strenght? 4 - 6 reps? thanks guys.

timeoutmode,

[Meataxe]

Simple, when you train chest, seriously sit back and work out a way tp stop using your tris and delts.

[crazyfacials]

I know that feeling bro, left arm is smaller than the right one, but left lat is bigger than the right

[timeoutmode]

Simple, when you train chest, seriously sit back and work out a way tp stop using your tris and delts.

ive been trying to do that but it's not working. maybe i have a poor mind muscle connection.

[timeoutmode]

I know that feeling bro, left arm is smaller than the right one, but left lat is bigger than the right

have you fixed it? what are the methods you used?

[crazyfacials]

I know that feeling bro, left arm is smaller than the right one, but left lat is bigger than the right

have you fixed it? what are the methods you used?

nah I have not, got told by a trainer when doing arms if I am isolating them then I should always start with the smaller/weaker one and then do it with the dominate one...can't say it has helped it much

[Meataxe]

I know that feeling bro, left arm is smaller than the right one, but left lat is bigger than the right

have you fixed it? what are the methods you used?

nah I have not, got told by a trainer when doing arms if I am isolating them then I should always start with the smaller/weaker one and then do it with the dominate one...can't say it has helped it much

That's becasue the trainer was a dick!! Is yoiu start with the weaker one, all this is going to do is make you slack off on the stronge one. So this theroy is actually trying to make your stronger one weaker to even them up. If you think about it, ALWAYS work the stronger one first, this way the weaker you will have to pump out even harder to make it get the same number of reps as the stronger.

[Meataxe]

Simple, when you train chest, seriously sit back and work out a way tp stop using your tris and delts.

ive been trying to do that but it's not working. maybe i have a poor mind muscle connection.

I just cut and pasted this from my post in the compound only thread....

With chest, the top third of the movement only works the shoulders and tri's, takes the pressure off the chest, so if you're serious about working your chest, never lock-out, but stop two-thirds of the way up.

Even better if you would like a little more information is bringing the bar to your chest is only half way down. You're simply just going through the motions, and not thinking what and how the exercise wshould be done to benefit the chest to it's full capacity. Why do you stop at the chest? Because this is what everyone else does, or did when you first started? Why not go to your neck? I know this may sound weird, but if you try it out once, I pretty much ganentee you'll never do this 'to the chest' crap ever again.... Grab the bar, and please only use a small amount fo weight to begin with, as this is about to rock your world. Very slowly bring the bar down, taking a few seconds to reach the bottom. And when I see bottom, I mean your neck. Once you get to your neck, don't simply bounce the bar back up, like your used to. You will feel this crazy stretch through your chest. Hold this stretch and pause. Then very slowly, using only your chest, raise the bar opnce again, and only to about 3/4 up then repeat. Now, another thing that you must remember, and probably the most important you will ever learn is you must point your elbows up towards your head, not the floor. It's OK, everyone points there elbows to the floor, this enables you to lift more weight, and without even thinking, your lifting most of the weight with your shoulders and tri's. What you need to do, is take the shoulders and tri's out of it, and put everything onto the chest. You do this by pointing the elbows up, and also with the full stetch of bring the bar to the neck :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

[HarryB]

have you fixed it? what are the methods you used?

nah I have not, got told by a trainer when doing arms if I am isolating them then I should always start with the smaller/weaker one and then do it with the dominate one...can't say it has helped it much

That's becasue the trainer was a dick!! Is yoiu start with the weaker one, all this is going to do is make you slack off on the stronge one. So this theroy is actually trying to make your stronger one weaker to even them up. If you think about it, ALWAYS work the stronger one first, this way the weaker you will have to pump out even harder to make it get the same number of reps as the stronger.

AYE is this even real.....??? if you always start with the dominant then it always remains dominant.

Yeah for a while you hold back on your dominant side by starting with the weaker side but you find balance and then build from there.

[dmcb]

"Now, another thing that you must remember, and probably the most important you will ever learn is you must point your elbows up towards your head, not the floor"

Have you got an image of this? I just can't figure out how to do it

[PeterDolan]

To bring up a weaker side, why not do an extra set or 2 until the imbalance has been corrected?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

nah I have not, got told by a trainer when doing arms if I am isolating them then I should always start with the smaller/weaker one and then do it with the dominate one...can't say it has helped it much

That's becasue the trainer was a dick!! Is yoiu start with the weaker one, all this is going to do is make you slack off on the stronge one. So this theroy is actually trying to make your stronger one weaker to even them up. If you think about it, ALWAYS work the stronger one first, this way the weaker you will have to pump out even harder to make it get the same number of reps as the stronger.

AYE is this even real.....??? if you always start with the dominant then it always remains dominant.

Yeah for a while you hold back on your dominant side by starting with the weaker side but you find balance and then build from there.

yeah i was thinking that too... if one side is smaller and weaker then obviously its workload capacity is going to be less than the bigger side (unless the difference in size is from genetic trait rather than imbalance). that's why as he says, he's working hard and the bigger he gets the more obvious the imbalance becomes so if he doesn't do anything different, how can he expect different results?

if you train the dominant side to burnout then manage to do the same weight/form/reps on the other side then good on you (but unlikely as size has of muscle is relative to strength). if you can't manage that then working hard as you can on the weak side first then simply matching that performance (weight/reps/form) on the dominant side is a very logical way to go about it.

done this for a while with biceps to help the left one catch up to the right. by the time the left caught up though my right was definitely not as strong as meataxe pointed out but that came back real fast, just glad the imbalance is out of the way now.

the important thing to remember is to train your weak side hard enough (obviously with the best form possible!) to spur new growth in that area..... then again, all of the above is applicable only to unilateral movements and chest training is generally all bilateral right? or has anyone had success with things like one arm db press etc?

start out by :

* getting someone to double check your form, all the way through to the final reps of the final set. might find out that as time passes, the bar goes slightly wonky or elbows/shoulder position is compromised on one side making the other do more of the work.

* work with dumbells as well as barbells.

* as meataxe says, train your chest - eliminate triceps by avoiding lockout and perhaps that guillotine press he has recommended is just what the doctor ordered.

[timeoutmode]

have you fixed it? what are the methods you used?

nah I have not, got told by a trainer when doing arms if I am isolating them then I should always start with the smaller/weaker one and then do it with the dominate one...can't say it has helped it much

That's becasue the trainer was a dick!! Is yoiu start with the weaker one, all this is going to do is make you slack off on the stronge one. So this theroy is actually trying to make your stronger one weaker to even them up. If you think about it, ALWAYS work the stronger one first, this way the weaker you will have to pump out even harder to make it get the same number of reps as the stronger.

back on my question meat axe. im really interested on what you have to say on it. if i pre exhaust my right tri which is the stronger one, will it force my right pec to work harder because my right tri has been pre exhausted?

and i also read your post about 2/3 rom for chest exercises. i tried it last sunday. its too early to say its effective but at the moment i can only feel the soreness on my right pec. my tri and delt are not sore which is great.

[timeoutmode]

To bring up a weaker side, why not do an extra set or 2 until the imbalance has been corrected?

it wasnt working for me, i even tried using just dumbbells.

[timeoutmode]

That's becasue the trainer was a dick!! Is yoiu start with the weaker one, all this is going to do is make you slack off on the stronge one. So this theroy is actually trying to make your stronger one weaker to even them up. If you think about it, ALWAYS work the stronger one first, this way the weaker you will have to pump out even harder to make it get the same number of reps as the stronger.

AYE is this even real.....??? if you always start with the dominant then it always remains dominant.

Yeah for a while you hold back on your dominant side by starting with the weaker side but you find balance and then build from there.

yeah i was thinking that too... if one side is smaller and weaker then obviously its workload capacity is going to be less than the bigger side (unless the difference in size is from genetic trait rather than imbalance). that's why as he says, he's working hard and the bigger he gets the more obvious the imbalance becomes so if he doesn't do anything different, how can he expect different results?

if you train the dominant side to burnout then manage to do the same weight/form/reps on the other side then good on you (but unlikely as size has of muscle is relative to strength). if you can't manage that then working hard as you can on the weak side first then simply matching that performance (weight/reps/form) on the dominant side is a very logical way to go about it.

done this for a while with biceps to help the left one catch up to the right. by the time the left caught up though my right was definitely not as strong as meataxe pointed out but that came back real fast, just glad the imbalance is out of the way now.

the important thing to remember is to train your weak side hard enough (obviously with the best form possible!) to spur new growth in that area..... then again, all of the above is applicable only to unilateral movements and chest training is generally all bilateral right? or has anyone had success with things like one arm db press etc?

start out by :

* getting someone to double check your form, all the way through to the final reps of the final set. might find out that as time passes, the bar goes slightly wonky or elbows/shoulder position is compromised on one side making the other do more of the work.

* work with dumbells as well as barbells.

* as meataxe says, train your chest - eliminate triceps by avoiding lockout and perhaps that guillotine press he has recommended is just what the doctor ordered.

thanks mate, i tried using just dumbbells and it wasnt working. when i workout i feel that both pec are getting exhausted equally but i still have this imbalance.. one question, if i want to make my left tri stronger, would it be smart to train it differently? like hit it with lower rep range? thanks

[Meataxe]

"Now, another thing that you must remember, and probably the most important you will ever learn is you must point your elbows up towards your head, not the floor"

Have you got an image of this? I just can't figure out how to do it

LOL, OK, I'll give you a visual picture of this ....Imagine when you're at some silly relatives wedding late at night and you're doing the 'Chicken Dance', with your elbows UP at the top of the movement, as high as they can possibly go ....same thing :grin:

[Meataxe]

OK, a little more explaining with the weaker bodypart situation. Lets say your left is weaker in the situation. If you train your left first and get 10 reps out, then you do your right, how many reps are you going to do to even it out? You're going to stop at 10, becasue you don't want to make the right work harder and grow more, so you pussy out and stop at 10, hence you're making both sides even out by default as you making the right weaker and weaker until they even out. is this what you want? Hell NO, you want them to both be the same as the right.

If you train the right first, and get say 14 reps out, then do you the weaker being the left, will you stop at 10? No fucking way. It's going to make you bust your fucking nuts until you eventually get 14 out of the left. Making you train the left 10 times harder compared to if you did the left first, because you know you have to get 14 out to even this shit up. Yes, at first it might not be the best form posible for the last few reps, but you're doing them, pushing the left beyond it limits.

This way, eventually, you are evening them out, by making the left, the weaker, bigger and stronger, not in comparison, by making the stronger weaker