Balancing Muscle Size (Bodybuilding)

[arthunter888]

I'm just getting into body-building (mainly for bigger arms). I have noticed that my muscles are dis-proportionate in a couple ways.

1) My entire upper left side is slightly more bulky than my right (biceps, back, shoulders). This is because I've been playing tennis for many years and am left-handed, so my left side is used much more than my right.

2) Other upper body muscles like my chest, shoulders, neck are relatively more bulky and make my middle-arms (biceps/triceps) look small.

I currently workout once or twice a week, doing only bicep and tricep isolation exercises. With isolations, I try to address the above-problems to balance my muscles by focusing more on the right side of my body (#1), and focusing more on middle-arms than the other muscles (#2).

The problem is I want to start adding compounds because I read these are better for muscle size gain, like bench press and chin-ups, but these use all the muscles that are already bigger than my middle-arms, AND uses the left and right side of my body, thus not helping to balance problems #1 and #2. As if the muscles that I want to keep the same will continue growing WITH the muscles that I want to grow, thus not achieving balance.

Is this a misunderstanding of how muscle gain works? Is the truth that weaker muscles will grow at a faster rate than stronger muscles, thus "catching up" on their own, or am I right in thinking that relatively bigger muscles will grow at the same rate as relatively smaller muscles, thus requiring more focus on smaller ones to balance? How would you suggest I achieve both types of balance?

 

[aanallein]

I don't think you should be overly concerned. As long as you, as you said, do compound lifts and thigns that hit both sides simultaneously, you'll even out. A lot of people worry about this and a lot of it cannot be helped. My left and right sides are slightly different but that's probably only noticeable to myself. Other people don't see it the same way you do.

 

[doesntmatter]

Some people say that the smaller (assumedly weaker) muscle will catch up as you train. The logic is that if you use enough free weights and compound exercises (anything that won't allow the stronger arm to take over and help) they'll even out naturally.

I however, think that each person is a bit different. I think that after a few years of lifting and perfecting technique, if one side is obviously weaker, then action needs to be taken to catch it up. I'm about to start throwing in a set of negatives for anything I can for my left side. I've got a noticeable difference in strength/size goin on that I'd like to see if I can fix.

 

[p-mo]

Try and use dumbells rather than barbells for the compounds and that should stop one side overcompensating (like for bench, rows, shoulder presses).

 

[liquicl]

Agreed with the poster above, use free weights as much as possible so your stronger side doesn't overcompensate, and there's no harm throwing in an extra set for just your weak side at the end of each workout to really strain those muscles. As for pullups try tossing a towel over one side of the bar and gripping it with your dominant hand, pull up with your weaker hand as best as possible and only use the dominant hand pulling down on the towel just enough to get the pull up, essentially you should be at a 70/30 or 60/40 split putting more of the strain on your weaker side. Oh and it's not that compound lifts add muscle quicker than isolation, it's that compound lifts are spread across multiple, and often larger muscles (pectorals, deltoids, quads), you'll get the best results eating clean, mixing up your routine, and doing compound and isolation exercises together.

 

[8L4YN3]

I don't think you should be overly concerned. As long as you, as you said, do compound lifts and thigns that hit both sides simultaneously, you'll even out. A lot of people worry about this and a lot of it cannot be helped. My left and right sides are slightly different but that's probably only noticeable to myself. Other people don't see it the same way you do.

I've come to notice aanallein knows his shit. This is 100% correct. There isnt too many people in the world with 100% symmetric bodies.

Also definantly just hit up the compound exercises, dont even bother isolating muscles. Compound lifts cause the body to release much more growth hormone.

Part of me wants to tell you to start doing squats, deadlifts(and the other compounds) for the core, back, leg strength, not to mention the huge growth hormone response which will assist the rest of your body in growing.

But i know you probably dont want to do that... But yeah, compound lifts with some assistance(isolation) exercises here and there are your friend.

 

[aanallein]

haha thanks man. If there is anything I do know about it is definitely weight training. :D

 

[arthunter888]

Okay, so it seems a left/right imbalance isn't much of an issue. However, I'm still left with the issue of compounds.

Part of me wants to add them because the extra hormone release would be more conducive to muscle gain. However, the other part asserts that I am fine with pretty much every part of my body, and don't want extra mass except mid-arms, and maybe back (near the spine for better posture).

If I could adopt a routine that uses inner-back for the compounds, and mid-arms for isolation, I guess this would be ideal. I'm thinking chin-ups or pull-ups for the compound, and curls/skull-crushers for isolation.

^Is this a good combo for bulking just the mid-arms and inner back?

What type of grip should be used for the chin/pull-ups in order to target inner back (near spine) instead of outer back?

thanks all, great info.

 

[p-mo]

Chins will never hit lower middle back. Deads is what u need.

 

[ranunky]

Do nothing but compounds. They'll naturally increase whole body coordination and not allow either side to get bigger than the other. If you do dumbells now your better coordination in your left side might allow your left to get a better workout than your right possibly increasing dissymmetry. Do all compound movements and your weak side will catch up quicker.