Weak arm bigger than strong arm?

Trine

I'm confused...I'm right handed, but my left arm seems to be getting noticeably larger than my stronger right arm...since somebody mentioned it to me recently it's begun to bug me.

I'd understand if it was my stronger arm that was bigger, that'd make sense and I could compensate, but I don't understand how my weaker arm is getting bigger.

On barbell curls I don't notice any bias towards one side. On bicep/hammer curls my left arm always fails before my right...my right arm is definitely stronger. But maybe that's the problem, my left arm is being pushed past it's limit more than my right???

Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but when doing concentration curls my left arm can do many more reps than my right...my right arm just seems to completely jam half way up a rep. Maybe I have bad form on that one. Or maybe I just have something wrong with my right arm!

I've been lifting for about 16 months now, if that makes a difference either. I'd like to think I'm past my noob gains and that it's not related to that!

Anybody have any ideas what might be going on?

Thanks.

Captain Chaos

I have this too. I have much better definition on my left arm even though it's weaker than my right. If I can to do 10 rep to fail with my right my left fails at 8 but I have better muscle growth on my left for some reason and gets bigger much faster than my right. I have even begun doing less sets with my left to try and balance them but that's not working.

Trine

Thanks Captain Chaos, better said than my rambling post

My guess is that the fact my weak arm is failing at the end of the penultimate/last set while my strong arm is failing only at the very rep or two, means that my weak arm is getting worked more.

I'm guessing (again) that a solution might be to lift slightly heavier on the strong arm so that I'm failing at about the same stage. Doesn't seem logical, but strength doesn't necessarily mean size.

Would love to get a pro's opinion on it.

Should mention that I do all my dumbbell stuff one arm at a time.

Burkatron

I haven't read your post, this is not helpful at all but I can't help myself!!

Parsley

Trine wrote: »

I'm confused...I'm right handed, but my left arm seems to be getting noticeably larger than my stronger right arm...since somebody mentioned it to me recently it's begun to bug me.

I'd understand if it was my stronger arm that was bigger, that'd make sense and I could compensate, but I don't understand how my weaker arm is getting bigger.

On barbell curls I don't notice any bias towards one side. On bicep/hammer curls my left arm always fails before my right...my right arm is definitely stronger. But maybe that's the problem, my left arm is being pushed past it's limit more than my right???

Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but when doing concentration curls my left arm can do many more reps than my right...my right arm just seems to completely jam half way up a rep. Maybe I have bad form on that one. Or maybe I just have something wrong with my right arm!

I've been lifting for about 16 months now, if that makes a difference either. I'd like to think I'm past my noob gains and that it's not related to that!

Anybody have any ideas what might be going on?

Thanks.

your balance and stability in your right arm probably makes it stronger, and uses more muscles thus getting through more reps. Your left arm might just be relying on isolated muscle contractions - e.g. just focussing on the bicep and making it grow faster than the right - which may be using your shoulder cuff/other arm movers to help out.

just a guess...