Very uneven growth, how to correct?

[stlm3]

Hey Everyone.

I was doing my measurements again before I really start lifting heavy again and I keep running to the problem that literally the whole left side of my body develops much slower than the right side of my body. and I mean everything, my left trap doesn't grow my left arm is 1" smaller than my right, and my left left is 1.5 inches smaller than my right.

When I lift I do a lot of single lift exercises so that I am not cheating. This has been a problem I have had for a couple years and I have never been able to find anything that works.
I have tried different routines to no avail, isolation exercises with super slow reps to high intensity but nothing has worked and its getting a little embarrassing.

Sorry for the short write up, I am in a hurry to get to class, but any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[J_hulk2010]

lol its weird i have a problem like this kinda sorta but not really

my right forearm is smaller than my left but stronger.
my left bicep is bigger than my right but its weaker lol
i mean its not noticable to other people unless your actually staring at me for a long period of time. but to me its very noticable

 

[stlm3]

Mine is pretty noticeable.
You can easily tell in the picture my left trap doesn't grow, left shoulder, forearm etc

 

[Newtonselite]

google (stubborn muscle hypertrophy)

 

[Doss]

I asked about this earlier, and the answer that I got was that it was a neural problem for me. I'm fairly sure I have the same issue, but maybe from different causes. I had a pretty wild car crash and tore up my left shouler/ quad and everything has slowed down on that side. I had some imbalance issues before though.

What worked for me was to do a set or two of high volume with pretty low weight on the weaker side before you get into your work sets for that muscle group. For example, if it's chest day jump on the pec dec and rep out 2 sets of 30 with real low weight to "perk-up" the nerves and get some blood in there. I think it helped a little. I'll be curious if others have some new tips - it's still a problem for me as well.

 

[ssbackwards]

its funny the side i got my first sleeve on, not dominant arm btw, is bigger then my other.

thought it had to do with swelling and blood flow from the tatt and it stretching muscle facia a little. but then i got my other sleeve, and that arms still the same lol so there went that theory

 

[nemo]

Try using dumbells exclusively for a few weeks. Make sure you get the same reps on each side,.. if one side is weaker, use rest/pause reps, or anything to even it out. Best of luck to you!!

 

[SweetLou321]

I asked about this earlier, and the answer that I got was that it was a neural problem for me. I'm fairly sure I have the same issue, but maybe from different causes. I had a pretty wild car crash and tore up my left shouler/ quad and everything has slowed down on that side. I had some imbalance issues before though.

What worked for me was to do a set or two of high volume with pretty low weight on the weaker side before you get into your work sets for that muscle group. For example, if it's chest day jump on the pec dec and rep out 2 sets of 30 with real low weight to "perk-up" the nerves and get some blood in there. I think it helped a little. I'll be curious if others have some new tips - it's still a problem for me as well.

I remember ur thread, you pretty much just asked ppl to tell you what you wanna hear haha

 

[SweetLou321]

I also use to have the same problem as the op. then I started powerlifting and learned how to preform lifts, I dont think i have an issue anymore.

 

[Doss]

I remember ur thread, you pretty much just asked ppl to tell you what you wanna hear haha

It's true haha I was actually pretty glad Zir Red replied, he seems to know what he's talking about.

 

[SweetLou321]

It's true haha I was actually pretty glad Zir Red replied, he seems to know what he's talking about.

Smart man, he deserves reps whenever possible.

 

[stlm3]

thanks for the tips, I will give some a try and see if anything helps.

I used 5x5 for a while and got great results strength and size but still had the growth issues. Then I took 7 months off from lifting so I am going to use 5x5 to get my base back and then once I do that for 2-3 months I am going to move to a different split for a little while.

Just is a pain in the ass looking all deformed when I see myself

 

[McCoy1989]

I saw this myself a while back. I've noticed that when I really place a lot of emphasis on form the problem seems to dissipate rather quickly. When I saw this with myself I closely examined how I perform all my exercises with the help of spotters and I found that my shoulder and elbow placement varies slightly from one arm to the other. Since I began concentrating on keeping each side perfectly lined up my strength and size has evened out significantly. I would think that having uneven joint placement loads your muscles differently resulting in uneven growth and/or strength.

 

[rsnake21]

Starting with my weak side first has helped me. Like doing alternating dumbbell curls start with your weak arm first and only do as many with your strong arm