Fixing poor body symmetry?

Pisskid

I need advice from some of you body building gurus.

So, I work at a warehouse and the job itself can be fairly physical at times. I know for a fact that I tend to favor my right arm, whether it be when using the pallet jack, pulling a cart, or lifting. As a result, my right bicep is noticibly (at least to me) more musicular than my left. In a weird way of compensating for this, my left pec seems to be getting slightly bigger than right. Also the muscles in my lower left back seem to be more defined.

Would it be okay to buy a dumbbell and start doing bicep and tricep curls with only my left arm to correct this, or would that be ill advised?

DynamiteKid

One would suggest you'd be better off working out your whole body to a similar standard, otherwise you're going to be struggling to keep the left one at the EXACT same point.

Menthol

don't EVER purposedly exercise only one part of your body.

I've seen chicks who only work out one side or another because they think their breasts are noticably uneven who wind up with horrific posture problems.

stixs4321

You can work one side of your body if you have strength imbalances between the two(ie: 3 sets for the left side and 1 for the right if your left side is weak as hell). Also if your left side is weaker than your right you work it out first, then proceed to do the exact same amount of reps with the right. Except this is all strength related which you could suffer from if you use one side of your body more than the other all the time.

It sounds like your left pec "getting bigger" is posture realated from your left upper back becoming weak and your left shoulder thus slumping forward. Do you twist much to the right when lifting and setting things down?

I suggest you workout your whole body and the imbalances will fix themselves or you'll become bigger and no one will even notice unless one bicep doesn't even have a peak.

Shogun

Wait is it ok to work out one side of the body at a time? For instance when I do hammer curls and I move up in weight sometimes I'll do my right arm first and then my left arm and so on. Is that ok or am I destroying my spine without knowing it?

trixtah

I'm going with dynamitekid on this one. I used to have uneven forearms, biceps, and pecs because of sports but I kept lifting, holding both sides of my body to the same standard and the weaker left eventually caught up--to a degree...

EggyToast

Your dominant muscles will likely remain dominant, but yes, it's best to work out your body evenly, using the weaker muscle as the restriction. In other words, if your left arm can only do 10 reps with a dumbbell but your right could do 15 or 20, don't do the extra -- stop when the weaker arm/part gets appropriately tired/worked.

This allows your dominant arm to retain its strength, while allowing the weaker arm to catch up. It also encourages good posture and positive muscle growth in general, as you typically work out multiple muscles at a time without realizing it.

Think of it this way, if it doesn't make sense. Take a muscular person and a non-muscular person. Have the muscular person work out at 50% capacity and the non-muscular person work out at 80%, and as they work out they gradually reduce that %. While the muscular person will retain their strength, they will very likely not add much ability. The weaker person, though, will grow muscle and "catch up," although will likely only become "equal" to the stronger, not surpass. Or another way to think about it, if you take two people who can lift 100 lbs, one easily and another just barely, and have them both ONLY work out via lifting that 100lbs, it will become easier eventually for the weaker person, but the stronger won't really gain any strength from that training.

As for Shogun's concern, the general concern with working out one part over another is when you neglect some portion of your body to focus on another. In other words, if you work out the left side w/o the right, it's likely that your back or stomach will compensate for the differences in working out, leading to posture problems. However, if you do your left, then right, the only posture problems you may encounter revolve around your posture while doing the work (slouching, straining, etc.). Not due to long-term muscle buildup.

LondonBridge

Here is what works for me. When you're moving weights/dumbells between the bench and their resting place be sure to move them with your left arm and not your right.

Pisskid

Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I'm just worried that as I work out the rest of my body, the differences between both sides will become even more pronounced.

I think the uneveness comes from the fact that I always lift with my right arm. To keep my body upright and stable, the left side of my back has to compensate.

When its not very busy at work, I try doing everything with my left hand, that I usually do with my right. But its really hard since not only am I right handed, but my left side is just really weak compared to my right.

I like EggyToast's suggestion of excercising only to the limitations of my weaker side. Hopefully things will even out eventually.

Cool. Thanks guys.