Left pectorial bigger than the right?

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hey all

 

the subject of this topic might sound kinda strange, but its actually true for me. The only excercise i do to build up my pecs are press ups, ive been doing them for sometime know, i always make sure that when i go down in a press up, i go up in a central position and not leaning to any one side.

 

Over time i have noticed that my left pec is considerably larger and more defined than the right. Is this because i am left handed, and so more effort is put on the left hand and thus leading to the left pec being more defined??

[Tombstone]

Greetings,

 

How old are you?

 

Everyones muscles are different and not the same size of each side. Teenagers have the biggest problems with this but it will eventually get better. Hope that helped.

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Greetings,

 

How old are you?

 

.

 

read my sig

[Jack]

Hey again ad, this problem is more common than you'd think. Your left side must be your dominant side and so has grown more. The classical solution when weightlifters get this problem would be to do Dumbell Bench Presses, with an equal weight dumbell for each hand. When your weaker pectoral gives up, stop working both, even if your stronger could crank out a few more reps. Doing this over a period of time allows your weaker side to catch up with your dominant side, thus creating a balanced physique.

 

I recommend that if you are concerned with this, you buy a cheap pair of dumbells and find a bench. The dumbells should be heavy so that you can only crank out 6-12 reps with them before failure.

 

Take care.

[Kenpo123]

I agree with Jack! I have always worked out primarily with Dumbells to achieve a better balance of strength. This is a common problem with weighlifters that workout primarily with Barbells especially on benchpress. It's too easy to favor your dominate side while lifting. Go into a gym sometime and watch how many times you see someone benchpressing a barbell and you notice one side coming up more than the other as they lift. This is what got me working out primarily with Dumbells a long time ago. In my home gym, I have a full range of dumbells I workout with. You still need Barbells for certain workouts so don't abandon them completely.

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hey thnx for the advice, and since it is the christmas sales, i shouldnt have problems buying some dumb bells for a good price

 

also when doing those dumb bell bench press ups you mentioned, wouldnt you just need the one, and lets say to the maximum you can do on the weaker side, and let that be the amount you do on the stronger one.

[Jack]

Perhaps you could, but I wouldn't recommend it since the pectorals are not entirely isolated from each other and share support muscles, working one with a dumbell may fatigue the other pec or support muscles a little.

[XjourneyX]

its strange i noticed just resently that my right pec is biger than my left. and some of my m8s hav the same problem. i dont really care though as most women hav 1 brest larger than the other. it just seems thats natural. no ones body is semetrical

[KickChick]

Actually ad, I have read somewhere that you can do "unilateral" exercises to "correct" what they call asymmetrical development of the pec muscle. Exercising the offending muscle and ignoring the "good side" is the most common approach and seems pretty obvious. But really that is not the best procedure to follow.

 

Try exercising your good side as you do normally but exercise the offending side with a totally different form of stress. For example, if you're used to doing sets of ten reps, continue that form of stress on your good side, but do explosive sets of 5 or 6 reps on the opposite "bad" side. Also, try to do reps with slow, continuous tension movements to the bad side. They say theoretically, that as the muscle cells respond to this new form of stress, you just may generate some new growth there. It may be that your muscle has already adapted to the level and type of stress you have been applying, and is in nethat there is a need of a new level and type of stimulation for that particular area.

 

You can also try electro stimulation to the lagging muscle. Your indvidual muscle cells each have their own level at which they're stimulated to contract. This "lagging" muscle may just need to be jump started. With a lagging muscle, it's important to get the maximum stimulation in order to force the unreached muscle fibers to contract. Sometimes this particular procedure will get that muscle to grow to the proportions of the opposite side.

 

You can also try deep fiber massage. This frees the individual fibers that comprise the muscle which sometimes stick together and so the muscle will assume its normal shape and size.

 

A little more serious in nature is when damage has occurred in the spine and has impinged or damaged anerve which services the offending muscle. You can go to a neurologist or chiropractor to find out whether your mismatched pecs stem from nerve damage or whether it may be nothing more than having an adjustment performed by a chiropractor. Highly unlikely at your age but many bodybuilders do have this option checked out.

 

And also as XjourneyX posted .... it may just be genetics. True about women's "pecs". It's natural to have one side slightly bigger than the other. It really isn't a problem except if you are competing as a bodybuilder. But if your dominant side is so noticeable that you can see it in the mirror then its a problem that can be corrected by modifying your workouts.

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hey thanx for the advice kick chick,

 

some of the methods that you mentioned seemed slightly more than what i expected and i never knew that it was such a wide problem. Though i will actually try to some excercises to buff the weaker muscle up, if that doesnt work i will do some those excercises you mentioned

 

cheers