Training Q&A - Disproportionate Muscle Growth

Q:What can I do about disproportionate muscle growth between the different sides of my body? For instance, my right pecs, biceps and shoulders are bigger than the left – it’s all out of balance.

A:Disproportionate muscle growth is actually quite a common problem. More often than not it’s a result of incorrect form. It’s usually the right side of the body that is the more developed ( probably because most people are right handed). Beginning bodybuilders can easily slip into the bad habit of allowing their stronger side to take a disproportionate amount of the weight when doing barbell and even machine exercises. The result, of course, is that the side doing the most amount of work gets the most development and , just like that, your body is out of proportion with itself. So, the first thing to do is to get someone else to analyze your form and tell you if you are allowing one side to do more than it’s fair share of the work. If so, then you need to work at correcting this discrepancy. Consciously make your weaker side do it’s load of the lift and suppress the urge to have the stronger side overcompensate. Try substituting dumbbell exercises which will force your weak side to take the full load. These things will hopefully prevent the problem from perpetuating itself in the future. But what can you do to correct the already existing problem?

To bring up your lagging sides, you need to incorporate unilateral movements into your routine. As a bodybuilder, of course, it’s out of the question that we’d consider bringing our over developed side down to be proportionate with the under developed side, so we don’t want to ignore that side. So we need to do a compound movement that will provide stimulation to both sides and then follow it up with a unilateral movement that targets the weak side. Do these exercises together as super sets. Here’s how a chest routine might look:

Bench press – 4 sets of 8-12 reps
super setted with
Unilateral dumbbell press - 4 sets of 8-12 reps

For shoulders do the following:

Press behind neck – 4 sets of 8-12 reps
super setted with
Unilateral dumbbell press – 4 sets of 8-12

And try this for biceps:

Barbell curls – 4 sets of 8-12 reps
super setted with
Unilateral seated concentration curls

The key with this program is going to have to be patience and concentration. It will take a little time to get used to the unilateral movements, especially the dumbbell press, so start with slightly lighter than usual weights until you are comfortable with the form.

Dane Fletcher is THE Training Authority – sure, he’s got all the industry recognized “certs”… but here is one chap you won’t see hanging that s**t on his den wall. Dane is more comfortable in the dirtiest hole in the wall gym, than your local polished “Fitness Corral”. Originally from London, he has trained in gyms all over the world and has picked up knowledge all along the way from some of the industry’s most recognized personas. Dane writes exclusively for GetAnabolics.com, a leading provider of Weightlifting supplements and alternatives to Anabolic Steroids. For more information, please visit http://www.getanabolics.com

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