Left/Right Dominant

[Actual God]

I'm another skinny boy trying to add strength, look and feel better, and hopefully gain some weight. I've been happy with my results after 3 months of consistent working out and less consistent dieting.

But my left arm is still retardo compared to my right. I've been doing a lot of dumbbell work with both arms, and I always fatigue on the left before the right.

What are some good ways to catch up? Am I wrong to be hesitant to work out just the left side?

[SmileyEH]

Your right is going to be stronger than your left probably forever, that's just the way our bodies are made. Doing dumbell work will bring them closer together, but if your left arm is failing one rep before your right you really have nothing to worry about.

[death_blooms]

I have the complete opposite problem and I am right handed. My left arm is significantly better shaped and larger than my right, also much stronger. I'll never be able to figure it out.

[kassdog]

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I have the complete opposite problem and I am right handed. My left arm is significantly better shaped and larger than my right, also much stronger. I'll never be able to figure it out.

[/ QUOTE ]

same here, i made a post about it a couple of weeks ago and people suggested that the right will eventually catch up.

[Blarg]

Starting your sets with your left hand at least makes it a tiny bit more likely your left arm will get the best work-out and attention you can muster.

You can probably make your left arm a lot more coordinated over time, but it won't be quick, and it's very unlikely you'll get it to be as all-around capable as your right.

If you want to work the left side more but don't want to have your left side wind up bigger than your right, or leave your right lagging behind, try working on things that test your neuromuscular coordination. That will help build the connections that will enable you to be more conscious of the presence and movement of that arm, and that can eventually translate to strength.

The grease-the-groove method is a way of doing this that actually focuses on strength. You do something every hour with this protocol, something heavy, but as little as two or three times. It's not a work-out; it's a practice. You are really focusing on developing your skill, and that translates to strength. Because you do it fresh, you don't build bad patterns and failure as a possibility into your neural connections the way you do when doing sloppy reps. Because you only do a few reps, it's very hard to build up soreness over the course of a day or even a few days. Because you lift heavy, you are forced to concentrate and pay extra attention to your form. The end result is extremely quick increases in strength as your mind and body get more familiar with each other, and you pick up strength not through having more muscle to push or pull with, but through learning to make the most of what you have. There is enough volume built up over a week to equal some good work-outs, but it is spread so widely and in such short sets that you can do this five days a week easily, and virtually never experience soreness.

You can also do the same sort of thing with efforts at general coordination. Say you are someone who wants to learn how to swing a nunchaku with your left arm or roll a coin across your knuckles with your left hand. At 6 p.m. in the evening, or whenever you come home, do it for a minute or two. Then do it every hour until bedtime. Keep it up every day that you are able to be home at night or find a way to get that practice in, and you will find your skills increasing quickly. Surprisingly, because you are only doing this when fresh and at full concentration, you may make quicker progress doing things this way than you would just practicing for long periods of time, in the usual way we tend to practice things. Again, a big part of this is that you are doing this only briefly, while at full concentration, so you are giving yourself the chance to build up neuromuscular efficiency and coordination, not sloppiness.

[Thremp]

You could have different insertion points and your muscles will always look different.

[TxRedMan]

it takes a long time to correct this.