One muscle is bigger than the other…How do i fix?

Over the years I have met a lot of people in various gyms. Every now and again I would meet some one that would complain about one arm, leg or chest muscle being bigger than the other. In general neither both sides of the human body are equal, and any differences that you see are usually only spotted by yourself. But in regards to working out, muscles that are bigger than the other may sometimes be noticeable by the masses. This isn’t really a huge problem, but it does make you feel like a bit of a human freak of nature . It made the guys I met feel like that, and myself. But mine started to occur as a result from a shoulder injury. The obvious reasons for this occurrence would be from performing inconsistent repetitions in your exercises… and/or with UNEVEN weights! . The solution to that problem is simple… learn how to count! (Dummy)

But It can also happen for a number of VALID reasons to:

• Genetic
• Reduced circulation or innervation’s (which is basically the amount of nerves going to the muscle) to your smaller muscles
• Previous injuries

For me it was always injury that caused most of this imbalance. To fix it, I would deflate in size, correct and then inflate again. But after a while I found that, that was not the best way to go about solving the problem (What can I say, I was young )

If you have suffered like myself or if you look like the guy in the picture , then the following (detailed) techniques will help you to even out those lagging body parts once and for all!

“One and Two and One” Reps

This is a dumbbell technique that increases the training volume for the smaller muscle groups. For this technique, you’ll use the same dumbbells in both hands.

Start with one rep with the smaller arm. For example, if you’re doing curls, do one dumbbell curl with your left arm. Now do a single rep with BOTH arms (right and left) at the same time. Immediately do another rep with the smaller arm again.

Your smaller body part will end up getting 50% more work than the larger side.

“One and Two and One” Sets

This approach is very similar to the rep technique above. But this time, you will do one set of an exercise for just that single side, rest, then do a set that works both sides. Then you’ll go back and do a set with just the smaller side again. This will also increase the “smaller-side” workload by about 50%.

This approach also utilizes dumbbells rather than barbells in order to allow for single-limb movements.

This “staggered set” approach is more effective for leg exercises than the “staggered rep” technique explained above, simply because it’s tough to find an exercise that you can do the “rep” technique effectively with. For legs, you will follow the exact same routine, doing a single-leg set, then a double-leg set, and then a single leg set.

Uneven Weights (The cause can be the solution!)

To do this technique, hold a dumbbell that is somewhat heavier in the hand of your weaker side. This can be a 5 to 10 pound or more difference, depending on the exercise. Do your set as you normally would, but stop completely when your weak side can’t continue.

This technique increases the resistance on the weaker side, helping to bring it up to the level of the stronger side. Stopping the exercise when the weak side is fatigued ensures that the strong side does not get stimulated as much. This allows the weaker side to more easily catch up.

Use Dumbbells For All of Your Exercises

Dumbbells force each side of the body to take full responsibility for their part in the movement. When using machines or barbells, the strong side can have a tendency to take over the movement and assist the weak side, limiting its development.

Simply switching to completely dumbbell-based training for a period of time can help bring up the lagging part quickly without even having to use these special techniques.

Targeted Negatives

Finish each body part workout with a single set of negative training for the weak side limb. For example, if your left bicep is weaker, when you’ve finished your regular bicep workout, do one set of negative-only training for the left bicep.

One of my favourite ways to do negative training for biceps is using the Preacher Bench. The bench allows you to stabilize your upper arm more effectively than if you are standing.

Sit on the bench and hold a heavy dumbbell in one hand (the weight should be just a little higher than your 1 rep max). Now use your other arm to help with the “up” phase of the movement.

Once you’re at the top, start to lower the weight down. Fight gravity all the way down – don’t just try and slow the weight down…actively try and lift it up while gravity is forcing it down. This is the most effective way to execute negative training.

Have your free hand ready to slow the dumbbell to keep it from slamming your arm down if you lose strength.

This technique will help to build strength in the target muscle, helping to address the innervation issues that may be causing the lagging development.

Targeted High-Rep Training

Start each body part workout with one light, high-rep set for the weak side muscle. For example, for a smaller or weaker right triceps, start each tricep workout with one set of high-rep single-arm pushdowns. High-rep in this case means 50+ reps.

This very high rep set will help to increase circulation to the target muscle, improving its ability to gain mass. This increase in circulation means more available blood, which means more nutrients get to the muscle, which means more muscle growth!

If you’ve got a lesser-developed muscle on one side of your body, give these training techniques a try. They can help you rapidly even out differences between your two sides. Then you will feel like less of a human freak of nature .

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8 Ways to build great forearms (eliminate chicken limbs)

This is the muscle group I am most passionate about building. I don’t think there are as many chicken-limbed (arms) guys as there are chicken-legged guys, but I do know they exist in numbers.

The forearms and wrists are some of the hardest muscle groups to build muscle on. When I first started working out, it took me months before I started to see any real muscle gain results in my forearms. Unless the rest of your body is well developed or you show your body off often, wearing t-shirts without having strong forearms will lead people to believe that you are part of the (I really do have muscles…can’t you tell) club.

Your grip strength is extremely important and useful in so many ways.  The stronger your grip, the more weight and heavier weight you can lift and the longer you can keep the position. In a good portion of the more heavy pulling exercises, grip strength is the number one limiting factor. Believe it or not, the most effective forearm grip exercises are not the typical wrist curls you will see most guys in the gym do. You do get a real burn from these exercises and you can gain results from doing so. But the real problem with these exercises is that they don’t encourage practical body motions that we perform in our day-to-day lives. (Similar to some machines in the gym)

Below are some alternative techniques you can use to build HULK LIKE looking forearms, while performing movements that will allow your body to respond and  say ‘that movement makes sense… I’ll go with that’.

Bucket Of Sand

Get a bucket, spade and sand, which you can find at a home improvement store.  Fill the bucket with the sand. Then, you want to put your hand down far into the sand where you still have hand movement. Start moving your hand all over and tightening and loosening your fingers, essentially playing with the sand.

A few minutes of this and your will feel all the muscles in your forearm and the small muscles in your hand start to tighten and you will feel the burn.  Alternate hands a few times, doing this about 3 minutes or more per hand.

Tennis Ball

This method is often used by physical therapists and their patients for regaining grip strength after any type of hand, arm or shoulder surgery.  Common sense will tell you that if you are not trying to “regain” strength, you would be adding to the already existing strength you have. This is convenient as well because you can do it while watching TV. (Better than those hand grip things)

Barbell (A fave)

A former body builder I once knew taught me this. Try it… you will feel the burn!

Take your barbell with a moderate weight and set it on the stand just above knee level.  Stand beside the bar and reach down gripping the centre of the bar with one hand and lift the bar then let it go down below the stand and hold this position for as long as you can.  Your resistance is gravity and balancing the bar with one hand.

Weight Walk

Grab a pair of the heaviest dumbbells you can handle in each hand and walk with them until you cannot hold the dumbbells anymore.  You don’t have to limit yourself to dumbbells, you can use any other heavy object (try younger kids… they’ll enjoy the ride) that you can grip with both hands at the same time, say a couple of bags of dog food or something heavier in each hand.  You can also use the EZ curl bars and load them up to the capacity that you can handle.

Thick Bar

This is a common one. You will see most guys in the gym use this to get the grip strength they are looking for.  Using a thicker bar puts a very different kind of stress on the grip and forearms, giving you vast improvement.  There are many types of commercial grips that you can buy to add to your dumbbells even, but to make them thicker, you can wrap them with tape to gain the thickest size for your preference.

Reverse Curls

These are actual reverse barbell curls. This is the exercise that will put your forearms into fatigue mode real quick. Your grip will literally be the only thing keeping the bar from falling to the floor. (I have the power!)

Wrist Straps

I am only including this because this is a huge no-no when you are trying to develop your natural grip strength. As you know, the wrist straps serve as an assistant and this will hinder any progress you might be shooting for. It is okay to use them for the heavier lifts, but if you become dependent on them, you will not gain the grip strength and forearm development that you need.

Hanging

Just hang? Yes… just hang. Sounds easy, but don’t be fooled by this one. You can really only accomplish this as long as you have a chin-up bar (Stick one at the top of the door).  Grab the bar with your hands evenly apart and just hang there until you can no longer hang. What I mean is not just letting go when your hands get fatigued.  I am talking about hanging there until your fingertips are the only things holding you up and you literally fall off the bar because your hands have locked up with lactic acid. This will also accomplish a great upper body stretch.

All of the above exercises are pretty simple to perform. More importantly they encourage natural motion and will definitely catch a ladies attention when she grabs your arm

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Machines vs Free weights?

This ongoing debate regarding free weights (low-tech apparatus) vs. machines (high-tech apparatus) for strength training never does seem to end. While each can help you build strength there are definite pros and cons for each. I have had experience with both, which I’m sure most of you have. But to answer the question on the superiority of free weights versus machines, it is first important to know what one’s goals are. I personally like to use free weights more, as i know they will give me quick results. My upper body I am not to concerned about when working out, but my lower body muscles take much longer to develop and grow, so using free weights works in my favor. Since every one is not like me, I will outline the pros and cons of both.

Machines

The most important component in any strength training program is safety. If you are new to strength training or if you are working out alone, variable resistance machines are your best bet. While machines can be a viable option for serious weight training, they are best for beginners, senior and recreational athletes.
For those that have injured your selves from working out incorrectly, variable resistance machines are preferred. They provide a more controlled motion and specifically isolate certain muscle groups. Machines also allow you to track progress and provide objective feedback while increasing the protective participation of the healthy limb or muscle groups.

To sum it up
Pros

• Faster workouts – Ready to go stationary apparatus
• Reduced risk of injury – Great for beginners (Doing it all wrong)
• Easy to use – Self explanatory, no personal trainer
• Useful when recovering from an injury – Isolate particular muscles, can maintain activity in your sport

Cons

• Increased risk of pattern overload injuries – From repetition of working the same muscle groups
• False sense of strength gain – (why i like free weights)
• Mistaken sense of safety – Forgetting about common sense, not knowing your limits
• Locked-in-place body movement patterns – Forces unnatural body motion

Free Weights

Free weights promote quicker strength gains and they require more balance and coordination than the weight machines. Free weights recruit more muscle groups than variable resistance machines, which tend to only isolate specific muscles.

Free weights are also more versatile than machines because they allow for more variations in range of motion, motions that we use day-to-day. Free weights require balance, and they tend to promote more activity of the joint stabilizer muscles. Finally, they are considerably less expensive than most of the machines on the market. You can perform a complete strength training routine with a few dumbbells, and a little imagination. (Home vs Gym)

However, free weights require the help of a spotter, and result in more injuries than machines. Careful instruction and training is necessary to master the art of free weight lifting. (Beginners… take it slow!)

To Sum it up

Pros

• Increased use of stabilizing muscles – Abs, Erector Spinae and some leg muscles
• Similarity with everyday activities – e.g. bent-over rows, bicep curls and step-ups
• Improved balance – Ever tried using or incorporating an exercise ball?
• Increased use of brainpower – Proprioreception (your brain tells the body where it is)
• Convenient and inexpensive – For the traveler, the busy, the broke guy, home exercisers

Cons

• Increased risk of injury when not using proper form – Make sure you know what you are doing
• Decreased efficiency – i really do hate waiting for others to finish with the weights

Although i prefer using free weights for most of my workouts, an ideal training program should incorporate both free weights and machines on alternating training days. In order to get the most from both muscle strength gains and joint stability, you should focus on free weights for some exercises and machines for others.

The bottom line is that you should use the strength training equipment that suits your training needs, is safe, and is convenient. However, if you are comfortable using free weights like myself, you may see greater strength gains here than with machines.

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What is muscle memory? Does it exist?

When i was training as an athlete, one of the first things i was taught was that your muscles have a memory. At the time i was training in group with others, and as a group our first reaction was…

‘HUH!’

The trainer said,

”Yes it’s true, it’s just controlled by the subconscious level of the mind and if it didn’t exist you wouldn’t be standing on this track today. Take babies for example, when you were just a little bubba you didn’t have muscle memory for activities like crawling, scooting or walking. The only way that your muscles became accustomed to these activities was to learn how to do these things and then practice them with a great deal of trial and error. Gradually, you became a skilled walker, fell down less, was able to balance, and finally able to incorporate other activities such as running.”

Fast forward to today and similar scenarios occur. When working out , there are inevitably going to be times of long breaks away from the gym . In the early days of building muscle mass, it was a ride for sure. The whole body went through a huge change, facing pain and gain. As time went on i did face interruptions due to injury or increased work load at university/ work. But every time i went back after a few months of no action, the pain from starting again was still there.

BUT!

The muscle recovery time was much quicker. So was this due to to muscle memory? Since being introduced to it and experiencing it a few times, I’d say yes… it was.

Fine, that all makes sense, but can you back that up with some real life scenarios we can all relate to?

Sure, all of the scenarios below all include some form of muscle memory activity, and without it, some of the great performers that you have come to know of today wouldn’t be so great.

Athletes

Most top level athletes believe that muscle memory is best developed when the same activities are practiced over and over again, with any corrections of form that are needed. More practice in the correct way leads to records being broken.

‘Muscle memory’

Singers

Hitting those high notes. How long has it taken for some of the great singers that we see today to develop and become as good as they are?

‘Muscle memory’

Learner Drivers

If a learner driver ‘goes it alone’ in a practice vehicle before learning to drive (with an instructor) in a method that will allow them to pass their test, they will pick up bad habits. It gets worse the more they practice alone because their muscles subconsciously remember specific movements they make. Movements which decrease their chances of being able to pass their test. This is painful because no amount of time off will help undo their muscle memory. They would need to re-train their body through repetition.

‘Muscle memory’

Musicians

The same again. It’s a lot harder to teach someone who’s been playing an instrument (the incorrect way) for a few years because the first step is breaking them  free of all the bad habits they’ve acquired, which are now part of the muscle memory.

‘Muscle memory’

Are there any factors that can interfere with developing ‘good’ muscle memory?

If we were all robots then probably not, but we are human, humans suffer from emotions and emotions can affect even the best of the best in there craft. Due to things like:

* Attitude
* Confidence
* Nerves – (clenched muscles)

Our subconscious mind directs the appropriate muscles to respond as they are accustomed. As long as we allow the subconscious mind to control the actions that we take, everything will work as it has in the past.

Myth or Fact? Get at me in the comments.

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