Problem With Lat Symmetry

[Tom Treutlein]

Well, I've noticed that when flexing, my right lat is a great deal bigger than my left. If I stand normally, it's not noticable, so I'm not overly concerned yet. Still, I'd like to correct this problem as soon as possible. I workout at home and only have a bar on which to do chinups/pullups.

My right side is dominant and I used to do one-armed chinups with my right arm, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the mishap. Either way, what should I do? I switched to pullups (palms away) recently, and have been adding weight pretty quickly.

Should I throw in pullovers to stimulate the lats more? Maybe one-armed pullups with the left arm? This is so fucking annoying. It's not like I go up crooked, so I don't know how it happened.

 

[wnt2bBeast]

umm i really wouldnt worry unless youre at your ideal size and are looking to step on stage..the only question why did you only do 1 arm chins with ur right side? you definitely could do some 1 arm chins with ur left arm..also if you can make dbells 1 arm dbells rows..make sure if you hit the right side for 10 reps you damn well better make sure to hit the left for 11..other than that i would keep your back routine pretty normal..

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Alright. Yeah, I'm not ever going to compete. Not as a bodybuilder, if anything. I doubt even a powerlifter, but that would be the only thing I'd consider. So, yeah, not at my ideal size either. I definitely want to get bigger. It just pisses me off to see any type of, what I consider, a defect.

 

[wnt2bBeast]

Alright. Yeah, I'm not ever going to compete. Not as a bodybuilder, if anything. I doubt even a powerlifter, but that would be the only thing I'd consider. So, yeah, not at my ideal size either. I definitely want to get bigger. It just pisses me off to see any type of, what I consider, a defect.

we all got them..even pro's!!!you could hit some iso work for the left sideafter your normal back routine see if that brings it up..im a righty yet my left side is bigger..also i had knee surgery on my right knee a long time ago but it has killed my sweep and my right quad is noticeably smaller (at least to me anyway lol)..just get to the size you want and let the chips fall where they may

 

[Griz1]

There are other options that will isolate one side or the other. Lat pulldowns can be done by replacing the two-handed bar on a cable lat pull down machine with a single grip and sitting "off center" of the cable to isolate the lat.

Another way is to lie on a bench (as if you were doing a flat bench press) and using a single hand-handle like above on a cable machine do pull downs on the one side while lying down. Same movement, just on your back.

You CAN just do alot of wide grip pull-ups and over time your lats should even out. It will just take longer to get symettry. This will not occur if you are, for some reason, utilizing one side more than the other during your pull ups.

Remember to pull down in your mind with your elbow and get it as low as you can. This will really hit your lats. I had a similar problem years ago and I'm pretty symetrical now and have a very good lat spread. My symetry problem was solved by hitting the one side harder than the other, then working both over time to sort of "level" them.

I'm trying to balance my lats now with some actual thickness since I kind of feel like Gumby some days.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Yeah, Gumby was the man. Actually, now I remember the song and it's stuck in my head. Dammit...

I don't have access to any machines since I workout at home. I'll probably just try having some people check to make sure my form is correct on pullups and then I'll work on maybe stressing the left side a bit more, if possible.

 

[Griz1]

Nah Pokey was HOT. I would've done Pokey! With a name like that, how could you not!

BTW - I heard Nicolas Cage used to be the voice for Pokey...bizzare!