Chest Workout

The Na

Hi all,

Been back in the gym for the past 3 months after a long lay off. Looking to bulk up so have been purely focussing on weight training. Train 4/5 times a week during my lunch break, upper body and lower body, day on day off. The chest area is proving and always has proved problematic for me, specifically the right side.

The left side of the chest is bigger and always more sore and stiff than the right after a work out. An area at the middle top of the right chest just doesn't seem to be able to build any muscle, it's flat compare to the left side. I do flat, incline & decline bench presses along with barbell flys and push ups. I'm really conscious of it and it's more obvious when I wear a tight top/t-shirt. It looks like there is a hole on the right side and just looks weird!

I've asked people about it and they have said it could be due to a muscle deficiency in that particular area and that the left and right side of the body is different but this is a very noticeable difference. Also I don't understand why the left side is always more sore/stiff after a work out than the right side, given that I'm right handed and stronger on this side. I would have thought the right side would be bigger?

It's really annoying to me and making me more self conscious and I really want to sort it out before I bulk up any further and the difference becomes even greater.

All feedback and comments are welcome.

Cheers

Gauss

The Na wrote: »

Hi all,

Been back in the gym for the past 3 months after a long lay off. Looking to bulk up so have been purely focussing on weight training. Train 4/5 times a week during my lunch break, upper body and lower body, day on day off. The chest area is proving and always has proved problematic for me, specifically the right side.

The left side of the chest is bigger and always more sore and stiff than the right after a work out. An area at the middle top of the right chest just doesn't seem to be able to build any muscle, it's flat compare to the left side. I do flat, incline & decline bench presses along with barbell flys and push ups. I'm really conscious of it and it's more obvious when I wear a tight top/t-shirt. It looks like there is a hole on the right side and just looks weird!

I've asked people about it and they have said it could be due to a muscle deficiency in that particular area and that the left and right side of the body is different but this is a very noticeable difference. Also I don't understand why the left side is always more sore/stiff after a work out than the right side, given that I'm right handed and stronger on this side. I would have thought the right side would be bigger?

It's really annoying to me and making me more self conscious and I really want to sort it out before I bulk up any further and the difference becomes even greater.

All feedback and comments are welcome.

Cheers

Hi, try replacing barbell bench pressing with dumb bell presses instead, it should become obvious if one side is weaker.

The Na

Gauss wrote: »

Hi, try replacing barbell bench pressing with dumb bell presses instead, it should become obvious if one side is weaker.

Thanks but how is that going to correct the right side?

another question

The Na wrote: »

Hi all,

Been back in the gym for the past 3 months after a long lay off. Looking to bulk up so have been purely focussing on weight training. Train 4/5 times a week during my lunch break, upper body and lower body, day on day off. The chest area is proving and always has proved problematic for me, specifically the right side.

The left side of the chest is bigger and always more sore and stiff than the right after a work out. An area at the middle top of the right chest just doesn't seem to be able to build any muscle, it's flat compare to the left side. I do flat, incline & decline bench presses along with barbell flys and push ups. I'm really conscious of it and it's more obvious when I wear a tight top/t-shirt. It looks like there is a hole on the right side and just looks weird!

I've asked people about it and they have said it could be due to a muscle deficiency in that particular area and that the left and right side of the body is different but this is a very noticeable difference. Also I don't understand why the left side is always more sore/stiff after a work out than the right side, given that I'm right handed and stronger on this side. I would have thought the right side would be bigger?

It's really annoying to me and making me more self conscious and I really want to sort it out before I bulk up any further and the difference becomes even greater.

All feedback and comments are welcome.

Cheers

This is very interesting, particularly the fact the you presume your right side should be stronger as your right - handed. I have always wondered about this myself. I am right-handed but hands down my 'left side' is way stronger than my right. From anything to bicep curls, overhead tricep extensions, lateral raises, shoulder press, I have so much more power on my left side. But back to your problem, I can't come up with a reason for the problem but a possible solution would be to focus for maybe 2 weeks on training the right side of the chest only with a heavy weight and continue your usual routine with lighter weights and see if the right side plays catch up. Something like after your usual set of free weights chest press with a lighter weight, then do the same set again on the right side with a heavy weight. Same with flys, lying flat on the bench, stabilise your left side with a grip on the bench or something else at body level so your neck and spine are stabilised and then do the fly with the right arm only. Also sitting vertically on the bench, back supported, try the 'pec dec' on the right side only, elbow in line with the chest and 'hand to elbow' towards the ceiling and bring the elbow in so that its infront of your chest and retract back out to the side again, the pec is the region I think your talking about so that might be a good one, and the fact that you should be sitting will take the pressure off the other muscles so that you can focus specifically on that.

Burkatron

The Na wrote: »

Thanks but how is that going to correct the right side?

You'll be forced to work both sides evenly. If there's an imbalance it will show up with dumbbells rather then a fixed bar! More work= more stimulation = muscle growth....hopefully in the right places (diet & other factores will come into play ofcourse.) You can always talk to a competent trainer to try to develop a plan that will help target this area.