Bodybuilding Forums

What is the best way to balance out an asymmetry I have in my chest strength?
I notice it most with the barbell bench press. Left side weaker than right.
Not sure if it my left side triceps or pecs that need extra focus.
When getting close to failure the weakness is exaggerated / obvious.

With the barbell touching my chest I can raise it a couple of inches and keep the bar fairly flat but further lifting through the range of movement to the top is very one-sided.

Do you think focusing on dumbbell bench presses and only using a weight/rep that my weaker side can handle will be the best way to correct it.
Or do you think the failure is due to weak triceps / delts, as I extend the bar further up and use those muscles more than my pecs.

I might have to investigate it myself by doing a series of one arm comparative (left/right) exercises to isolate the weaknesses – such as one arm dumbbell presses, one arm tricep extensions/pushdowns e.t.c.

Many thanks

Richard

Pressing using dumbells and stoping the set once the weaker arm is failing is the way to go, if not going to failure with the good arm ther will b little r no strength gains in it and the bad side shud catch up.Alot of the time working with bb or machines leads to 1 side putting in more effort and most people dont notice till thers a considerable amount of difference in the force 1 side is producing compared to the other.hope this helps

Thanks cudd2287. Yes, I agree entirely with your ideas. I will have to drop my max weight as I slowly increase stabilizing strength during the dumbbell presses over the next month or so. But definitely will be a step in the right direction

I am having to do it now with my forearms as my right is considerably stronger and 3/4 inch bigger than my left due to a couple of reasons 1 im a joiner so my right arm is getting worked a lot and 2 wen wrist curling i always used a bb, tonight i used db and my left give out well b4 my right and on my last set i used a droped set just to trash it sum more