left arm strength

loismustdie

i would have fairly good upper body strength or at least i always thought i did. i go to the gym, do situps, carry heavy things in work and a baby who weighs just over a stone. i do poledancing and always seem to have problems in moves where i rely on my left arm. when i was younger i was double jointed in the back of my elbows and thumbs but broke my arm twice when i was very young and now when i need to trust my left arm to support myself i can't trust it, it doesn't feel sturdy
i was wondering if anyone had any similar problem they had to overcome, any ideas? i have tried using it wore and using it more. i heard about these little things that you open in and out in your hand anyone heard of this or know what it's called?

davyjose

loismustdie wrote:

i go to the gym, do situps, carry heavy things in work and a baby who weighs just over a stone.

Chances are, your doing most of the work with your stronger arm. A lot of this work is subliminal, unlike when at a gym, you do exercises that have a balance between both sides of your body, so your naturally going to have a set way of doing it. If you want to improve at the poledancing, I would suggest incorporating a weights routine into your workout.

rubadub

As mentioned your normal arm i.e. right handed- right arm- will be stronger due to it working more day to day. This is common for all people, I used dumbbells and worked my left side more and didnt work the right- I did this until both arms were the same strength in all exercises. You can determine your strength by the number of repetitions you can do of lifting a weight. e.g. I could do 8 repetitions of 20kg with by right arm, but only 6 with the left, so I worked the left more until it was equal on both sides.

i heard about these little things that you open in and out in your hand anyone heard of this or know what it's called?

The ones in stores here are pretty useless, too weak, you can buy proper strong ones that might be of some use but weights or bodyweight exercises are a better start. I have seen heavy duty ones in lifesytle sports that might suit a woman, but you are better getting weights. Dont bother with pink dumbells! may as well just get family size tins of beans.

If you do not want to buy stuff or train then simply move tasks to the left side. Hold the baby & shopping in the left hand. Not only will it get stronger the right arm will no longer be "training", so will get a little weaker- then they even up. Once your arms are evenly balanced you will prefer to use them both- i.e. at the moment you know the left is weak so use the right instead- catch 22 it will never get strong and the right only gets stronger in comparison. You could also do pushups and conciously push more with the left arm- use the right more as balance- you can do pushups at an angle against the wall or stairs if you find them touch- you could just work the left hand alone with a high enough angle