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Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.
Speaker: Hey guys.
Welcome.
Welcome to today's fun fact, Friday
on the Lifting Lindsay channel.
I'm really excited to break down
a question that I often get a lot
actually, and that is, what do I do if
one side is stronger than the other,
or maybe visually one side has a, seems
like it has a little bit more muscle.
Than the other, what could be done.
So super, super important
that you understand this.
Majority of ex of people, majority of
people experience this to some degree.
Okay?
So this is actually really,
really common and it's more
common with newbies in the gym.
So the, the, if you've only been lifting
for a year, you are probably going to
spot this and be more aware of this than
people who have been lifting longer.
Because with enough time and training, I.
These discrepancies do go away, not for
everybody, and maybe varying degrees, but
for the most part, these discrepancies
do kind of take care of themselves.
But what if you're worried that
it's not going to, or maybe
you've been lifting smart.
Four years and you're still noticing
it to some degree and you want
to be a little bit more proactive
or quicker in diminishing the gap
between those two sides, the the
strong side and the weaker side.
What can be done.
So we're gonna talk about a few
options that, that you have that we
can utilize in the gym and we'll talk
about why these may be good options.
Uh, before we dive into
that, I do wanna say though.
That with mothers, especially newer,
um, or I should, I shouldn't say
newer, new mothers, but mothers
to younger children, we tend to
see these discrepancies even more.
Why is that?
Because they tend to use just
one side to carry a baby, to pick
'em up, to grab the car seat.
They tend to use just one side, and
now you could say, well, they're using
that one side because it's stronger.
It doesn't matter if using that one side
made them stronger or they're using it
because it is stronger, it doesn't matter
because continuing to overuse that one
side for picking up the car seat, picking
up and holding the child is just going
to continue to widen the gap between
the strong side and the weaker side.
Okay, so I bring that up because for
those of you who have younger children,
I just want you to be a little bit more
aware that if you're noticing that in
the gym you, maybe you're just starting
out in the gym and you're noticing this
discrepancy, then go ahead and start.
Using the other side to scoop up and
pick up that car seat or the child,
uh, try to balance it out a little bit
more and that can actually have some
pretty good impact in this, uh, dominant
or weaker side that we're seeing.
So that's one thing that I just
want to bring to your attention.
Now moving on as far as in
the gym, what can we do?
Well, my first suggestion would would
be, let's use more unilateral exercises.
So what are unilateral?
Well, bilateral means two, right?
So that's using both
sides at the same time.
Unilateral is using one side at a time.
So if you are noticing it in.
Um, biceps or delts, maybe let's
start doing some unilateral movements.
Actually using the weaker side to gauge
how much weight and reps that we're using.
Okay.
Um, another thing is if we're
constantly doing bilateral movements,
let's just say for legs, you're
constantly using bilateral, but
yet you feel like one side is.
Dominant and stronger could very well
be that constantly using bilateral,
the body can kind of lean to that
one side, for example, in a squat,
that it can, it can lean on that,
that stronger side to get you up.
And sometimes that can lead to
discomfort in the exercise or even.
Post-workout.
Um, and so using unilateral movements,
make sure both sides are strong,
it is a really good idea and both sides
are actually contributing to the load.
And moving the load is a
really, really good idea.
And like I said, using kind
of the weaker side to guide.
This is how much weight or reps that we
just do, and this allows the weaker side
to kind of catch up to that stronger side.
Now another thing that we can do, and this
has a little bit more to do with muscle
size than necessarily strength, but it can
also lend towards strength, and I am going
to do a another podcast episode solely
on what is strength and hypertrophy?
What is the crossover and
what are the differences?
Because a lot of people assume that
strength and hypertrophy training is
the exact same thing when it's not
so think about in terms of extremes.
Let's think about a power lifter,
which would be a strength athlete.
Totally different training
than a bodybuilder.
And bodybuilders are focused on muscle
and increasing muscle and aesthetics.
Okay, so there can be some crossover.
I.
But not always.
And depending on how we train, you may
see more or less of muscle or strength.
So this is why I tell people all the time,
you just telling me you go into the gym.
You move weights doesn't necessarily
mean that you are doing so in a way
that will lead towards your goals
because it's not just weight lifting
that leads towards a certain body
composition or even towards strength.
It's how you do it.
Is going to lead towards it.
So I oftentimes tell people,
think about how many sports
there are that use balls, right?
There's basketball, there's
soccer, there's baseball, there's
volleyball, there's, what was it
that my husband played a water polo.
I totally space it.
There's golf.
They're all balls.
Just 'cause you know how to maneuver with
one doesn't mean like if you are great at
basketball, that doesn't mean that you are
going to be great at soccer or baseball.
So weight training is kind of like the
ball may be relatively the same, but
what you do with the ball, what you do
with weight training will determine.
How good you are at your sport or how
well you move toward, towards your goal.
So I often say to people, look how
you've been weight training, how
you've been using those weights has
not been leading you to your goal.
The same as if you really wanted to
become good at basketball, but every day
you go to, you go and you play soccer.
Just because you have a ball doesn't
mean you're gonna become amazing at
all the sports that use balls, right?
You still need to practice the actual
sport that you want to become good at.
Weightlifting is the same way.
You need to learn to train in
a manner that actually gets
you towards your end goal.
This is why a lot of times
women go into body pump classes.
After years of doing it are kind of like,
so why don't I look like I lift weights?
I have amazing, instructors, body
pump instructors come to me saying,
I don't look like I teach this
class and I wanna look the part.
Can you help me?
Yes.
And we're gonna train differently than
what you actually do in body pump because
body pump is more metabolic type work and
it's not necessarily hypertrophy training.
So just because you're moving
weights doesn't mean that you
are doing so in a way that lines
up with your personal goals.
Okay.
So that's really important to understand.
So back to, um, the weaker
side versus the stronger side.
Like I said, this will work a little
bit better for those that see muscle
discrepancy, but it still can work
a little bit with strength too.
But this is adding maybe one more set.
I.
Or 20 to 25% more volume to your
weaker side, that can actually
help bring that muscle up.
So let's just say you feel like
your Dels are really coming along.
You're really excited
'cause you have this goal.
Your specific goal is, I really
wanna build out my doubts, but my
right side actually looks bigger.
I.
Then my left side.
Well, one of the things that you could
do would be after you're done with, let's
say your training program has three sets.
After you're done with your three
sets on both sides, you actually do
a fourth set on the smaller side.
And if you want to help bring up
the strength, then maybe lower the
reps that you do it to, closer to
eight to 10, because lower reps will
contribute more towards strength.
Higher reps won't per se.
Okay?
So if you want to see the
amount of weight that you can
move, go up, then choose from.
A lower rep scheme.
Okay, so that is one
thing that you can do.
If you feel like you have a dominant
side, a stronger side, a little bit more
muscle on one side versus the other side.
So hopefully this has helped and you
guys are always free to DM me and
ask me any questions you would like.
I'm here to help.
I really appreciate you guys.
Love you guys.
Thank you for joining me today.
Have a wonderful weekend.