To Whoever Knows About Weight Training...

[lifesnotfair]

Hi there.

I started lifting weights and working out my whole body just days ago. I like it. I notice that for some excercises, my right side is stronger than my left. Like chest excersises, which I do mostly with dumbells instead of the olimpic bar... but I still manage to push the weight up.

However, one muscle that seems to be WAY weaker on the left side, is my biceps. Not that I'm very strong, but let me tell you about today:

I did, standing up biceps curls. I did 40lbs, then 50lbs, then the last with 50 too to preserve good form. (could only do about 7 reps on that 3rd set).

Then I did the preacher. I started with 40lbs, continued with that, and finished with that too. I suck at this.

Here's the problem. Those two excercises are with both hands on a bar, right? Well, I wanted to do hammer curls with dumbells. I picked up 15lbs just to see what I could do. My right bicep felt like I wasn't even excercising it, yet my left was struggling! .. I did 10 reps, but with my left I had to swing myself a bit, ya know. I picked up 20lbs, and again, right side was very easy, left side was so poor, I couldn't do all the reps, and they all were badly performed. Just to see if I could do the 25lbs on my right, I tried it, and could do 10 reps, maybe losing a bit of form towards the end... so, 25lbs on my right is about the same as 15 on my left for this excercise. This is too much.

I started thinking "maybe it's just THIS excercise.. lets try something else that works out biceps sepparately"... so I attempted "concentration curls"... this one is hard for me, and I was getting tired. I picked up the 15lbs dumbell and did some reps with my right. Was hard. Tried with my left... did like 2 reps and my arm felt sooooooo weak, I just had to stop. I then did some cardio work (30 mins) because I didn't wake up early enough today to do them in the morning, but after that, I said to myself my bicep workout sucked and needed at least one more excercise, so I went to this one machine where you lay your arms completely straight in front of you, and you just pull towards your face... the handle is one for both hands, so I lad less problems. I ended pulling 70lbs for at least 6-7 reps.

I don't know what to do. I was considering not using dumbells at all, seeing how unbalanced my arms are.. if I continue doing, say, standing barbell curls, preacher, and this last machine I described... well, I wouldn't be doing hammer which I like and I've heard works the part of the bicep closer to where it meets the forearm.... but, will my left side ever catch up? Or would I be doing more force with my right side all the time? Hence working more my right, and the left side staying weak.... ?

Sorry for typing too much!

[Blackheart]

I had the same problem when i started out my friend.Even now my left side is stronger than my right side!!!! And i believe that this happens to all! Other in a larger degree, others in a smaller degree! Do not let this be a nightmare, because if you let it it may destroy your plans...I was doing the same mistake.I was impatient and that lead me to some serious injuries for a newbie (before 3 years)The only thing that i can surely advice you (and basically it depends on what you want) is doing compound movements as heavy as possible and not too many exercises for each bodypart. Work as hard as you can and plan a sensible workout for your age, body and experience. The result from hard work is only to get stronger and that of course takes time.And now that you are at the begining never ever forget to work your grip.Never.One day you will be thanking yourself with the results for training hard...Work hard and stay consistent and you will get it.We all lose sometimes our path but the secret is to keep thinking, keeping yourself in track.

Edited August 1, 2006 by Blackheart

[lifesnotfair]

Coincidentially, I was just reading your log. :-)

Thanks for the advise. Is 3-4 excercise per muscle too much? I always do 3 sets, no more than 10 reps and try to not do less than 8.

[Scott Styles]

Be patient and for the most part it will even out over time. There will always be some imbalance.

Depending on what your goals are, you may want to evaluate your full weight training program in the context of advice from some experienced lifters. If you can find someone good in your area for guidance, you will do much, much better with the weights.

[BAM676]

Scott has it right, be patient. From my understanding and experience, everyone has some dominance from one side of the body to the other. My right leg is much stronger than my left.

Some of my suggestions: If you have just started working out I would suggest a majority of your lifting to come from barbell work, (ie. bench, incline bench, squat, deadlift, good morning, cleans, bi-curl, tri-extension, bent over rows). This will help you to build a "base" to start with. You will be working the major muscle bellies gaining some size and strength in the muscle themselves as well was preparing the ligaments and tendons for the strain and growth of isolation lifts that you can add with dumbbells. Try barbell work for about a month and them start adding in some dumbbell work. Also as a tip if you are trying to gain size and mass try for heavy lifts 3 sets (after warm-up) for 4-6 reps with 1-2 mintues for rest. For strength and calorie burn try medium weight for 8-12 reps with 1 minute or less for rest.

These are suggestions from some of my experieneces. What has worked for me my not work for you and you may have to alter some numbers or lifts depending on your goals or abilities, or even access to equipment.

Stay safe and good luck,

[BAM676]

Almost forgot a bit of rehap information incase you ever need to give one side of the body a rest. It is believed that if an injury prohibits you from working your left arm for example, work you right arm and there is a 30% carry-over in strength from the right side to the left side. Meaning if you gain 10 pounds in a curl with your right arm the left arm should gain a 3 pound strength. The body will adapt by keeping the unusable appendage strong enough to be useful when it is healed. Hope that makes sense.

[lifesnotfair]

Thanks a bunch guys!

About the carryover: wow, I had no idea. But it's good to know.

About the barbell: why? Damn, then I've been working my pecs in the wrong way, because I do flat dumbells, inclinced dumbells, flyes with dumbells... I kinda like them better than the olimpic bar. But I'm gonna use barbell for most things then. Thanks all for the advise.

[Scott Styles]

Far more important than barbell vs. dumbell is getting an experienced lifter to work with you. It's worth the effort, even if you have to travel. Good luck.

[ObsceneJester]

Personally I really wouldn't do just curls to get your left side up... Use dumbells for rows, guaranteed to help with that bicep problem. I'm also guessing if your left bicep is weaker then your right so is the left lat.. try it and see

[menace3000]

Muscle imbalances are not uncommon....you can go about it different ways. One way to even out the biceps is to do more volume with the left hand and to use weight that works the muscle with good form. You can slow down the movements so that the muscle does the brunt of the work. I say 5-10 sets of 8 reps will work well. Pick a 10-15 rep max to do the volume work with. Dont do too many exercises as it's only a small muscle

I agree that you should center your workouts around the biggest of compound exercises focusing on barbells...

You should definitely include the following exercises regularly in your workouts. Some are only needed to be done every few weeks(ME deadlift)....others like ME Upper Body movements should probably be done every 5-10 days.

variations of:

Deadlifts

Squats

Military Presses/Push Presses/Jerks

Dips

Chin Ups/Pull Ups

Bench Press

Step Ups

Lunges

Goodmornings

Bent Over Rows

how you split these up is entirely up to you. depending on how well you recover and which movements have better synergy for you.

I like to have 2-3 days where I center around Squats 2/3 weeks, 3rd week doing deadlift, and Military Presses with bench, chin ups or BORs, and dips.

Edited August 2, 2006 by menace3000

[royceman]

Hi there.

I started lifting weights and working out my whole body just days ago. I like it. I notice that for some excercises, my right side is stronger than my left. Like chest excersises, which I do mostly with dumbells instead of the olimpic bar... but I still manage to push the weight up.

However, one muscle that seems to be WAY weaker on the left side, is my biceps. Not that I'm very strong, but let me tell you about today:

I did, standing up biceps curls. I did 40lbs, then 50lbs, then the last with 50 too to preserve good form. (could only do about 7 reps on that 3rd set).

Then I did the preacher. I started with 40lbs, continued with that, and finished with that too. I suck at this.

Here's the problem. Those two excercises are with both hands on a bar, right? Well, I wanted to do hammer curls with dumbells. I picked up 15lbs just to see what I could do. My right bicep felt like I wasn't even excercising it, yet my left was struggling! .. I did 10 reps, but with my left I had to swing myself a bit, ya know. I picked up 20lbs, and again, right side was very easy, left side was so poor, I couldn't do all the reps, and they all were badly performed. Just to see if I could do the 25lbs on my right, I tried it, and could do 10 reps, maybe losing a bit of form towards the end... so, 25lbs on my right is about the same as 15 on my left for this excercise. This is too much.

I started thinking "maybe it's just THIS excercise.. lets try something else that works out biceps sepparately"... so I attempted "concentration curls"... this one is hard for me, and I was getting tired. I picked up the 15lbs dumbell and did some reps with my right. Was hard. Tried with my left... did like 2 reps and my arm felt sooooooo weak, I just had to stop. I then did some cardio work (30 mins) because I didn't wake up early enough today to do them in the morning, but after that, I said to myself my bicep workout sucked and needed at least one more excercise, so I went to this one machine where you lay your arms completely straight in front of you, and you just pull towards your face... the handle is one for both hands, so I lad less problems. I ended pulling 70lbs for at least 6-7 reps.

I don't know what to do. I was considering not using dumbells at all, seeing how unbalanced my arms are.. if I continue doing, say, standing barbell curls, preacher, and this last machine I described... well, I wouldn't be doing hammer which I like and I've heard works the part of the bicep closer to where it meets the forearm.... but, will my left side ever catch up? Or would I be doing more force with my right side all the time? Hence working more my right, and the left side staying weak.... ?

Sorry for typing too much!

I do kettlebells for my regular workouts and since I generally lift with one hand at a time my imbalances stuck out like a sore thumb...........LOL

I found a simple solution that seemed to work for me, match the weight and reps to your weaker side, for example dumbell military press. grab your dumbells at whatever weight you using and start lifting when your weak side gives out you are done with the set.

When both sides are working hard you have ironed out most of your imbalances.

And yes if you lift only barbells you will magnify the imbalances (or at least it was that way for me ).

It is a big ego killer to match your workouts to your weak side, BUT when they are both strong and you barbell bench, curl or whatever your # will go up very nicely

[lifesnotfair]

It surely will be ego-killing to use the weight my left bicep can handle. =( ... But I will try it for at least a couple of workouts.

menace3000: I need to get a bit stronger before I do some of that. For example, I have troubles doing dips, they're kinda hard for me. Doing sets of them? Forget about it! =P .. I'm a bit heavy right now (195 or so).. and chinups? I can't do them. But I'm getting better, eventually I will be able to do them, and I'll include them on my routine. (I wanted to include dips, but when I saw how hard it was to do one, I decided to use instead a machine where the movement is nearly the same, only pushing two handles down, and oneself tied with a seatbelt so one doesn't raise above instead of pushing the weight down. I think I'll be doing dips soon though, I really like doing triceps, probably my fav. muscle to work out.

By the way... biceps and triceps, should I not do 4 excercises because they're small? Because I liked the idea of doing 4 different excercises (3 sets each)..

[acorn]

It surely will be ego-killing to use the weight my left bicep can handle. =( ... But I will try it for at least a couple of workouts.

menace3000: I need to get a bit stronger before I do some of that. For example, I have troubles doing dips, they're kinda hard for me. Doing sets of them? Forget about it! =P .. I'm a bit heavy right now (195 or so).. and chinups? I can't do them. But I'm getting better, eventually I will be able to do them, and I'll include them on my routine. (I wanted to include dips, but when I saw how hard it was to do one, I decided to use instead a machine where the movement is nearly the same, only pushing two handles down, and oneself tied with a seatbelt so one doesn't raise above instead of pushing the weight down. I think I'll be doing dips soon though, I really like doing triceps, probably my fav. muscle to work out.

By the way... biceps and triceps, should I not do 4 excercises because they're small? Because I liked the idea of doing 4 different excercises (3 sets each)..

Hard is good it leads to improvement. Also if you are training at a gym, alot of them have machines that can give a bit of assistance on chins and dips until you can do full ones. On the subject of how many exercises to do everyone has an opinion me included. I think that 4 exercises with 3 sets of 10 each exercise is alot for each bodypart especially for a beginner or anyone who is not trying to get totally shredded for a bodybuilding contest. I personally try to do no more than 3 sets total per bodypart an often 2 sets total per workout. For me I get plenty of improvement with 1heavy set per exercise, but I'm sure milage will vary. Just remember that adequite recovery is just as important as adequite training.

- Aaron

[lifesnotfair]

How much recovery? I was thinking of sundays off, and that's it. =P ... I mean, I'm not doing my MAX effort attempts or anything.. I try to do at least 8 reps on the 3rd set (sometimes 6 or 7), and trying to keep the form of the movements right, which also keeps me from adding too much weight to anything.

You seem to gain very fast =P

[acorn]

How much recovery? I was thinking of sundays off, and that's it. =P ... I mean, I'm not doing my MAX effort attempts or anything.. I try to do at least 8 reps on the 3rd set (sometimes 6 or 7), and trying to keep the form of the movements right, which also keeps me from adding too much weight to anything.

You seem to gain very fast =P

As far as how much recovery is enough only you can really determine that. There are so many factors to be considered such as: fitness level, goals, training intensity level, genetics, etc.. Since you are still relatively new to the lifting I commend you for taking the time to try to get your form right and for asking questions. However at some point depending on your goals you will probably have to adjust the intensity level or percieved effort level per set higher. At that point you may have to either adjust the workouts for doing less in each workout or having longer recovery in between workouts. My recommendation at this point would be to pick up a book or 2 on weight training. With the initial structured workouts and in most cases decent background info you will get from a book you will save yourself months of trial and error, possible overtraining or even the dreaded injuries. I did fairly consistent heavy structured training from the age 12-24 and seen and done quite a few different training techniques and things but I still get training books when I find one that tickles my fancy, if nothing else to try to understand someone elses training ideas and see if there is something I can use. And lastly as far as me gaining fast there are a few reasons for that. One is I figured out after many years of lifting exactly what works for me the best to rapidly gain strength and thats what I'm doing now. Another reason is called muscle memory, I was alot stronger than I am now when I quit lifting 8 years ago, and the theory is that once you get to a certain level even if you stop you can to an extent quickly get back much of what you had and have since lost. At least thats the theory. I don't know how much that is in effect here but I am getting gains consistent with what I have got with this training method in the past. Lastly with my goals strength is most important so I am giving my body all the time it wants to fully recover and grow following intense workouts. When you train you are breaking down your muscles so that your body can build them back up stronger. Hopefully I didn't get too far off point there, sometimes I tend to ramble. Anyway stick with it gains will come, as long as your lifts are improving and you are not sore or feeling flat all the time your probably not overtraining.

- Aaron

[acorn]

Sorry double post.

Edited August 3, 2006 by acorn

[menace3000]

Try doing negatives for chin ups or dips until you get strong enough to do full reps....

Generally there's no need to do many exercises for any muscle...that idea is one of the retarded theories perpetuated by bodybuilding mags where guys juice and have the privilege of doing endless volume for even the smallest of muscles. There are situations where you can include several exercises when you're working on muscle imbalances or are including extra accessory work for a specific reason.

[bender]

When I started, I had a similar problem with my left arm, especially with curls. I didn’t know better at the time, but was reading Muscle and Fitness and there was an article about doing a few extra sets with the left arm only when you’re done. The left arm caught up by the end of the summer and I’ve never noticed a difference since… Except for heavy curls. My right is still stronger and I always end up doing an extra rep with the right arm. Dang… maybe it’s time to start doing a few more sets with the left only.

[lifesnotfair]

I'm gonna try doing a couple more sets with left only.

[Lacknotch]

I'd say starting out I wouldn't concentrate too much on curls anyway.

I'd do heavy compound movements. Heavy rows and pullups/pulldowns will hit your biceps pretty well. On the other side of the coin heavy bench press and shoulder presses hit your triceps pretty well. This should help even things out a bit, especially if you can use a barbell instead of dumbbells.

I can recommend some programs if you'd like. One good one right off the top of my head would be to look into Mark Rippetoe's book Starting Strength. Good stuff, I've been following his routine after taking an 8 month respite from weight training because of some shoulder issues.

[t-wehner]

yep, you are going to have some imbalace. don't worry about it really, just continue to train. just think about how much you use your dominant side throughout the day, and how you differ to using the strong hand when it comes to lifting heavey suitcases, chairs, etc. now you don't really notice any imbalance till you start lifting, and that is because you now have, not just heavey objects, or chores to do, you have measurable objects, and goals ( ie dumbells with weight numbers stamped on them, and a wish to be balanced and strong) you are now able to see the imbalance now, and are able to measure the difference.

it will diminish with training, and being balanced in your lifting till it catches up. but don't hold back and undertrain your strong side just so the left can catch up. just lift, and enjoy it. do barbells for a little while, and do dumbells for a while, mix it up and keep it fresh is very important. just work towards getting stronger, and let being strong be your gaol, and everything will fall in to place.

i broke my left hand bad in december, had to train right handed only for about 6 months, and now that it is healed, it just doesn't work all that well any more, but i am stronger now, then i was then, and i will continue to grow, and the balance is coming back to my body naturally, not cause i want it too, or am training for it. i'm just training to be strong, and the rest just falls into place.

keep at the game, and take care and good lifting

[rying]

3 or 4 exercises for biceps and the triceps? Forget it!

There is absolutely no need for you to be doing more than one exercise per bodypart or any type of complicated high-volume routine at your level. Seek out good, basic training advice (not always easy to find), and stay away from the "Blast your Arms" articles in the muscle mags or bodybuilding.com

For your biceps imbalance, I'd stick with only the barbell curls. In your training, focus on just making progress on a small number of effective exercises. As you get stronger the imbalance will fade away. And you will not get stronger or have any type of focus if you're doing 8 different exercises for ams (you probably don't even need that many for your whole body--at least until you decide you're ready to enter a bodybuilding contest!).

I have 17" arms at 195 bw and have rarely included any type of curl (or any isolation triceps exercise) in my training whatsoever. Chins and dips did the trick though.

Chins are the premier biceps exercise. WU on the pulldown and then do some negative chins. If you can, do static holds in the top position followed by a slow negative and work on increasing the hold times. Soon you will be able to do sets of low reps or singles and can progress from there. This will make your biceps strong. If you want, add some barbell curls for moderate sets & reps (5 x 5, for example) to increase the workload and build some more mass.

[Teemu I]

3 or 4 exercises for biceps and the triceps? Forget it!

There is absolutely no need for you to be doing more than one exercise per bodypart or any type of complicated high-volume routine at your level. Seek out good, basic training advice (not always easy to find), and stay away from the "Blast your Arms" articles in the muscle mags or bodybuilding.com

For your biceps imbalance, I'd stick with only the barbell curls. In your training, focus on just making progress on a small number of effective exercises. As you get stronger the imbalance will fade away. And you will not get stronger or have any type of focus if you're doing 8 different exercises for ams (you probably don't even need that many for your whole body--at least until you decide you're ready to enter a bodybuilding contest!).

I have 17" arms at 195 bw and have rarely included any type of curl (or any isolation triceps exercise) in my training whatsoever. Chins and dips did the trick though.

Chins are the premier biceps exercise. WU on the pulldown and then do some negative chins. If you can, do static holds in the top position followed by a slow negative and work on increasing the hold times. Soon you will be able to do sets of low reps or singles and can progress from there. This will make your biceps strong. If you want, add some barbell curls for moderate sets & reps (5 x 5, for example) to increase the workload and build some more mass.

I agree all the way. Stick with the basic compound movements. You'll get out of the gym faster and you'll get stronger.

[lifesnotfair]

Ok this is getting interesting. But it goes against EVERYTHING I had ever heard, or seen, for that matter. I see everyone doing a crapload of excercises for each muscle.

This is what I did yesterday, for example. It took me about 1 hour total, maybe 1:10.

Bench press, 3 sets.

Inclined bench press, 3 sets.

Declined bench press, 3 sets.

Flyes with dumbells (on flat bench), 3 sets.

Tricep pulldown with the inverted "V" bar, 3 sets.

Tricep pulldown with another bar, and holding it with palms facing up, 3 sets.

A machine that simulates the "dips" movement, and holds you onto the seat with a seatbelt, 3 sets.

Is that too much? Sets are usually of 10, 8, 8 reps, or 10, 10, 8 or sometimes I fail at 6 or 7 in the last one.

So, you can imagine I'm a bit shocked when someone tells me I only need ONE excercise per body part. That's like, 15 minutes at the gym then? =P

I will include the chins in my biceps routine, I will use the machine where one places the knees in a pad, and it has weight to help one raise. I guess I'll use some weight currently, and eventually I'll try using less and less till I can get my chin up without any weight lifting me up. I'm also gonna continue doing the dip-like-machine, I finished with about 170lbs yesterday. I figure when I can do some reps with at least 200lbs I might be able to do sets of real dips without any assistance. This should take maybe a couple of weeks, I know I'm closer to doing dips than to doing chins.

BTW, when you guys refer to chins, you mean with palms facing towards ME, and at about shoulder level spread? Or the ones done with palms facing forward, and arms open like 3 feet apart? I think I'm not THAT far from doing them the first way I just described, so maybe with the help of the machine I'll be doing at least a chin or two before this month ends.

BTW (again), don't chins work the back too? Actually, I thought they were PRIMARILY back, and then biceps.... damn, I got it all wrong.

[Teemu I]

Those kind of routines you refer to are for bodybuilding. Strength training is different. What you see everybody do is misleading because majority of the people that go the gym are either bodybuilding or simply just don't know what they are doing. That kind of training is largely influence of muscle magazines.

Basically, if strength is what you are after (?), do deadlifts, squats and benches and you might want to add chinups for your upper body's pulling muscles. Do three sets of five three times per week. Do all these exercises within same workout, but alternate squats and deadlifts so that it's deadlift every other time and squats at every other time. That's it. If you go heavy with these exercises (let some powerlifter or a decent coach guide you at first to ensure that you do them properly) you'll get stronger and you will also pack some meat as a "side product".

That is all you need to do in the beginning if you are after strength.