Bodybuilding question - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

Rockc · 01-10-2002, 06:54 AM

I am a 43 year old male. My left shoulder and arm are a lot weaker than my right. Now, granted, my right side is my dominant side. When doing bench(dumbells)my right arm will barely make it when I hit my 10, however, the left side will not. Should I try to do a little more on the left side to try to make it as strong as the right? I have been lifting for a year and there is still a discrepency. So, just lifting has not made it stronger. Thanks, Rock

Naxis · 01-11-2002, 10:04 AM

If you have been lifting with dumbells for a year and there is still that much discrepency, maybe your form is a little off. I'm not saying that's it, but it's a possibility. If you are confident of your form, you might want to go ahead and work a little harder on that one arm every couple of workouts until they are more equal.

Naxis

theCryptographer · 01-11-2002, 02:14 PM

With regards to L arm being weaker than R: If you have a gym with overhead mirrors, use them to check your form. Alternately, have your training partner or a spotter watch you carefully to be sure your form is uniform.

Also, keep in mind that a great deal of bodybuilding is psychological. Other things you might do include: Machine bench (support would be a little off doing it with DBs, but you could do that too) one-arm-at-a-time-with-different poundages. You could do (for example):

1) L arm: 80 lbs, 12 reps
2) R arm: 120lbs, 12 reps
3) L arm: 100lbs, 12 reps
4) R arm: 100lbs, 12 reps
5) L arm: 120lbs, 12 reps
6) R arm: 80 lbs, 12 reps

Which is simply ascending sets for one arm and descending for the other. Perhaps your left arm simply doesn't like being compared to your right arm

Just an idea...

-Scott

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-Scott