Muscle imbalance - One-leg and split leg exercises

Imposter

I have a muscle imbalance (since forever - not 'injury' related) on my whole right side. I obviously would like to build up the muscles to be somewhat even.

At the moment i've been doing deadlifts, squats and benching and have been making progress. Undoubtedly my form is probably a bit off but my right side is now the limiting factor with all of these lifts.

With the deadlift my grip on my right hand lets me down. My wrist strength is next to nothing on this hand as well. With the squat I tend to feel it more in the right hip/lower back area than anywhere else - when i'm starting to come back up in the squat but also the next day this area is usually the sorest. With the bench my right arm/shoulder causes the problem and my form goes to sh1t when they get tired.

So has anyone got some good exercises which force both sides to do the same work and eventually build both sides up to similar levels of strength and muscular development?

I'm thinking I need to do:
- dumbbell presses
- split squats
- one-leg squats
- calf raises
but any other ideas or suggestions are very welcome. Should i do these exercises alongside normal squats/deads/bench or instead of?

Perhaps a silly question but how important is form here? To have good form on the right side I would, initially at least, be putting no strain on the left side whatsoever. Is it ok to sacrifice a little on form (for the right side) or is that a bad idea? I guess the same goes for the big 3 lifts where form suffers in the later sets/reps predominantly on the right side.

aye

your right in saying you need to dumbell presses.
spilt squats, one-leg squats, single leg calf raise.
add in some dumbbell steps up and lunges also as this will work your hip flexor muscles too.
when doing the exercises work on the level that the weaker side works.
i.e. use a weight suitable for your right side, not your left side.

Should i do these exercises alongside normal squats/deads/bench or instead of?

simply put no. normal squat and bench are probably being compensated for by your stronger side, making your stronger side stronger.
deads, if its just your grip then yeh thats ok, buy some straps.

do a single arm dumbbell farmers walk for your grip, again select a weight suitable for your weaker side. to make it hard wrap a towel around the dumbbell handle.

Ouijaboard

I suffered from a similar problem for a while on my left side and it improved rapidly when I did almost all unilateral work concentrating on the weak side first.
Yes the stronger right side did suffer as in some exercises I could easily rep out more but i just kept doing unilateral work for about 2 1/2 months and when I got back to the standard squats/bench etc my strength was much better and I had alot more control over form etc so its definitely worth doing.

As aye said cut out almost all barbell work and for each bodypart substitute a dumbbell movement starting with weak side and when you move to strong side dont be tempted to push out an extra rep above your weaker side just cos you can. Keep form consistent, when the weaker side is struggling with a rep and you have to cheat a little to finish, dont count it as a 'rep' and rep it out easily on the strong side, only rep out on the strong side as many perfect form reps as you can do on the weaker side. That way the weaker side will catch up faster.

Some exercises will be obvious as in dumbbell bench etc but for other bodyparts not so obvious its difficult substituting for deadlifts but you could do Dumbbell One Arm Straight Leg Deadlifts. I found pistols difficult to master but very good for strengthening my weaker left leg due to a knee injury from years ago. As you said do split squats, lunges, step ups, single leg calf raises etc. Plenty of dumbbell wrist curls, static dumbbell holds, and even captain of crush grippers will help the weaker forearm.

The thing is you are either going to continue with barbell work but you will just get more and more frustrated as the stronger side gets stronger and you will eventually be forced to revert to unilateral work. With a bit of patience you will even up fairly rapidly, in some cases, i did single-arm dumbell benches for a while and now my 'weaker' side can rep out a couple more reps than the 'stronger' side so I overcompensated and will have to go back and even that out again

Edwardius

aye wrote: »

simply put no. normal squat and bench are probably being compensated for by your stronger side, making your stronger side stronger.

Is this actually the case though? Lets say I'm pressing/benching a bar with an even grip, if my left side is extremely weak and my right is extremely strong and I push on the bar (which, incidentally happens to be heavier than I can push with my left and lighter than with the right) then surely I'll have a lobsided press, as in the right will go up and the left will stay exactly where it is. If I do the same in the squat, I'll fall over and hurt myself. In order for the bar to be pushed upward and remain parallel to the ground, the same force must be applied to either end, thereby working both sides equally.
An example of this is when I was in the gym with a mate and he was benching (having done minimal strength work before). When he was approaching his limit, the bar started to move quickly on one side and stayed still on the other so he needed to be spotted.
A smith might be different but in terms of barbells, I've difficulty in seeing how a see-saw could balance with a fat kid on one side and a skinny one on another! Feel free to argue though!

aye

Dead Ed wrote: »

If I do the same in the squat, I'll fall over and hurt myself.

exactly why he should build the strength up on his right side unilaterally.

Dead Ed wrote: »

In order for the bar to be pushed upward and remain parallel to the ground, the same force must be applied to either end, thereby working both sides equally.

of course, to keep the bar parellel to the floor that must be the case, but if there is a weakness, and he goes heavy he runs the risk of not managing this.
it really depends on how prominent the weakness is.

Dead Ed wrote: »

An example of this is when I was in the gym with a mate and he was benching (having done minimal strength work before). When he was approaching his limit, the bar started to move quickly on one side and stayed still on the other so he needed to be spotted.

so his stronger side compensated on the lift, he stronger side got a lift out while the weaker side didnt.
am i picking that up right?

Dead Ed wrote: »

A smith might be different but in terms of barbells, I've difficulty in seeing how a see-saw could balance with a fat kid on one side and a skinny one on another! Feel free to argue though!

not sure what you mean here, surely the weight would be the same on either end of the barbell?
i must be reading it wrong :rolleyes:, could you explain?

Imposter

Thanks to everyone so far!

When benching I notice the lopsidedness towards the top of the lift (on later reps/sets) - so the right side needs to push while the left is fully extended. This makes it even harder as there's then extra weight on the right side.

In squatting the bar stays level all the time but the extra force (or maybe that should be extra effort) needed from the right hip is the killer. Lopsidedness has never happened there yet, thankfully

Ouijaboard

I'd be of the opinion that as long as the weaker side has some strenght, i.e. not completely 'dead' or has no stablization resulting in a lobsided press, then when you are benching/squatting etc when you are approach those final reps the weaker side will mostly be used for balance and some stablization while the stronger side takes most of the final push.

It may look like and even bench press but it may not be. The weaker side will be recruiting everything from the abs to the neck and the joints to balance the bar while the stronger is focusing on the just the target muscles.

One of the first things to master when using free weights for the first time is an ability to balance the weight, the weaker side will work up to accomplishing this but its those final couple of reps that are really hitting the stronger side.

Its difficult question to answer because many are of the opinion that muscle/size and strenght imbalances will work themselves out over time even with barbells when you learn to focus more on not neglecting the weaker side. It largely depends on how much weaker one side is compared to the other.

I personally found from benching that my right front shoulder and right tricep put on much more size and gained too much in strength compared to the left side until I rectified the problem with unilateral work.

Edwardius

aye wrote: »

of course, to keep the bar parellel to the floor that must be the case, but if there is a weakness, and he goes heavy he runs the risk of not managing this.
it really depends on how prominent the weakness is.

Yes but if he's using a weight at which he can exercise proper form (as is what should be the case), then the bar will be parallel to the floor ensuring equal work done by both sides.

aye wrote: »

so his stronger side compensated on the lift, he stronger side got a lift out while the weaker side didnt.
am i picking that up right?

I had to pull it off him. He couldn't move it with his weak arm! The reason I mentioned that was because this was a guy who hadn't trained with barbells before so he would be a good reference point for someone with a muscular imbalance.

aye wrote: »

not sure what you mean here, surely the weight would be the same on either end of the barbell?
i must be reading it wrong :rolleyes:, could you explain?

It's probably an odd analogy so fair enough! You could think of it in this way:
I have a barbell which (as is customary) is weighted equally on both sides. When I take an even grip on it the only way I can push it to lockout is if I perform equal work with each side. If the force required by each arm to push the bar upward is X Newtons and I can only muster X-1 with the left and X with the right, the whole thing is going to resemble a seesaw with a fat kid on one end! The right side rises first, then the left side requires an even larger force to move it upwards (owing to that fact that the barbell is at an angle now and some of the downward force component due to the right side of the bar is transferred to the the left, making it even more difficult to push. think of two people carrying something heavy. one guy lifts his end higher and then weight appears heavier to the other guy), so with that reasoning, the strong side does not compensate for the weak side, rather the opposite!

Sorry for the hijack but this has been bugging me for a while, and it might be beneficial to the OP to have this cleared up

aye

Dead Ed wrote: »

Yes but if he's using a weight at which he can exercise proper form (as is what should be the case), then the bar will be parallel to the floor ensuring equal work done by both sides.



I had to pull it off him. He couldn't move it with his weak arm! The reason I mentioned that was because this was a guy who hadn't trained with barbells before so he would be a good reference point for someone with a muscular imbalance.



It's probably an odd analogy so fair enough! You could think of it in this way:
I have a barbell which (as is customary) is weighted equally on both sides. When I take an even grip on it the only way I can push it to lockout is if I perform equal work with each side. If the force required by each arm to push the bar upward is X Newtons and I can only muster X-1 with the left and X with the right, the whole thing is going to resemble a seesaw with a fat kid on one end! The right side rises first, then the left side requires an even larger force to move it upwards (owing to that fact that the barbell is at an angle now and some of the downward force component due to the right side of the bar is transferred to the the left, making it even more difficult to push. think of two people carrying something heavy. one guy lifts his end higher and then weight appears heavier to the other guy), so with that reasoning, the strong side does not compensate for the weak side, rather the opposite!

Sorry for the hijack but this has been bugging me for a while, and it might be beneficial to the OP to have this cleared up

with the squat, you would find that because his quad muscle isnt strong enough to raise the bar while keeping in parallel, the hips, abductors and adductors work harder at keeping the bar stabilised and taking some effort from his quad.
so the primary target muscle doesnt get the activation it is looking for, similar to what cougar1 said.

some people might disagree with this, so i'll try find out for sure.

as regards the bench, i've seen this happen in the gym. i notice that when the bar isn't parallel to the floor, and the stronger side is raised, the weaker side now pushes, but the person lifts and rotates their shoulder off the bench to get the bar up.
now this is only what i've seen and i'm not saying everyone does it, but becuase you are training a muscle imbalance with a bilateral method, (barbells), you are leaving it open to compensation from other muscles and a continuation of imbalance in that particular muscle, i.e. chest in this case.


but i think if a muscle balance exists unilateral (dumbbell) exercises better and safer way to correct it, rather than continuing with the bilateral (barbell) method.

Edwardius

aye wrote: »

with the squat, you would find that because his quad muscle isnt strong enough to raise the bar while keeping in parallel, the hips, abductors and adductors work harder at keeping the bar stabilised and taking some effort from his quad.
so the primary target muscle doesnt get the activation it is looking for, similar to what cougar1 said.

some people might disagree with this, so i'll try find out for sure.

as regards the bench, i've seen this happen in the gym. i notice that when the bar isn't parallel to the floor, and the stronger side is raised, the weaker side now pushes, but the person lifts and rotates their shoulder off the bench to get the bar up.
now this is only what i've seen and i'm not saying everyone does it, but becuase you are training a muscle imbalance with a bilateral method, (barbells), you are leaving it open to compensation from other muscles and a continuation of imbalance in that particular muscle, i.e. chest in this case.


but i think if a muscle balance exists unilateral (dumbbell) exercises better and safer way to correct it, rather than continuing with the bilateral (barbell) method.

I see where you're coming from now. But I'm going to be a bit of an ass and suggest that if you have to lift your shoulders off of the bench during the movement then you are compromising form. If your adductors and abductors take control in the squat, you're also likely to be compromising form. The solution? Reduce the weight to a point where you can complete the movement without any form glitches. With this being the case the weak side should catch up and you get the benefit of practicing the movement. I'm not saying the bilateral way is in any superior but It seems that (according to how I understand it, which doesn't always qualify as useful advice) if strict form is observed in these movements then muscle strength imbalances can be corrected using barbell exercises based on the physics involved. Although I do understand that the unilateral method will probably be easier to implement in the absence of a coach.

Edit: I did a search on strengthmill and this came up:

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=608&highlight=imbalance

aye

Dead Ed wrote: »

I see where you're coming from now. But I'm going to be a bit of an ass and suggest that if you have to lift your shoulders off of the bench during the movement then you are compromising form. If your adductors and abductors take control in the squat, you're also likely to be compromising form.

Agreed. Hence the point of making sure the weight is set for the weaker side.

Dead Ed wrote: »

The solution? Reduce the weight to a point where you can complete the movement without any form glitches. With this being the case the weak side should catch up and you get the benefit of practicing the movement.

Yep as said above.

Dead Ed wrote: »

I'm not saying the bilateral way is in any superior but It seems that (according to how I understand it, which doesn't always qualify as useful advice) if strict form is observed in these movements then muscle strength imbalances can be corrected using barbell exercises based on the physics involved. Although I do understand that the unilateral method will probably be easier to implement in the absence of a coach.

Yep IF strict form is observed.

Dead Ed wrote: »

Edit: I did a search on strengthmill and this came up:

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=608&highlight=imbalance

nice find.
An interesting quote from rippetoe here is

It is seldom useful to use dumbbells for this, since it is HIGHLY unlikely that you will operate the dumbbells more symmetrically that you will the barbell, thus actually perpetuating the asymmetry

Ouijaboard

I'm not one to go against the 'legendary' Rippetoe, but that response seems to be aimed at 'newbies', if you've got a bit of training under your belt and you've still got imbalances then dumbbell work is great for sorting the issue out...

I echo what Ed said about form, its the most important issue in sorting the problem out, strict form is essential even when using dumbbells, no point doing 5 good dumbbell curls and 3 cheat curls then switching to the strong arm and doing 8 perfect curls, the imbalance will just get worse.

DM-BM

The thing is Cougar1, what does " a bit of training under your belt" mean.

Bad form for a long time is still bad form, lenght of time training does not dictate quality of form.

Transform

Stop using a barbell for most exercises

Find out from a coach what muscles are tight, weak and what ones need rolling.

Start doing the rehab work and only single leg work for the legs until the difference is not noticable.

Ouijaboard

DM-BM wrote: »

The thing is Cougar1, what does " a bit of training under your belt" mean.

Bad form for a long time is still bad form, lenght of time training does not dictate quality of form.

Absolutely DM-BM on length of time training does not dictate quality of form, I totally agree, I'm not saying that after the magic 3 months or 6 months of training then form is suddenly perfected. All I was trying to get across is that a beginner trainer is largly a complete weak point throughout his whole body, no point thinking about isolating anything until he/she learns the motion of the basic movements and attempts to gain some balance/form in each exercise.


Eventually one of two things is going to happen with barbell work, one is that the weaker side 'catches up' with the stronger side and they even out, this is usually the case where the imbalance is not so dramatic to begin with. The 2nd is where the imbalance is more dramatic and the strong side compensates all the time; as the weight being pushed increases, the mass/strength gains and/or injuries to joints on one side will start to rear their ugly head. If you perceive an imbalance I believe its better to take direct action rather than let it try and sort itself out.

There are obviously no hard and fast rules to it tho, everybody is different. If I had knee surgery and one quad atrophied over a few months I wouldnt jump back into squats as soon as I was back training again, it would be a slow process of single leg extensions, lunges etc until I felt both quads were back working within the same weight/rep range again.