T Nation

Unbalanced Shoulder Strength

Beginners
#1

Hey all,

I started doing the Starting Strength routine and i now realize i how weak my left shoulder is compared to my right (From a prior injury that i slacked on rehabbing). Since all the moves in SS are bilateral will i be doing myself a disservice by following it to a tee? Will my weaker side not catch up the same way as if i did unilateral work for the upper body; one-arm press variation, one arm DB bench and single arm rows (probably hold off on power cleans as well)?

Obviously, i will probably not get as big this way but will it work better for balancing out strength between shoulders (and my upper back, too actually)as compared to just waiting for the weaker side to “catch up”?

Thanks
cs

#2

well one thought would be to do 2*5 reps on the exercises that use shoulders… which actually is pretty much everything haha

and then do 2*5 with only your weak one using a dumbbell or something. im not sure.

but quite honestly, the human body is built for being balanced, if you do the exercises correctly(for example personally my left leg is weaker than my right… when i squat since my body tries to get the weight up using the best possible way, rather than what the long term best thing would be… AKA good form… it throws the weight towards my right foot, and so my left leg wont get the same workout as my right)… so proper form is important. do them with proper form and the hypertrophy should be higher on your weaker shoulder than your stronger one. oh and btw the catching up at least to a reasonable level happens very fast… at least that was the case with me

#3

You would probably do better rotating single arm exercises with barbell exercises. Do one for about 4 weeks and then switch, etc. When doing the 1 armed exercises do the weak side first and then the strong side for the same number of reps and same weight. 1 armed presses, bench and overhead, 1 armed bent over rows and 1 armed high pulls instead of cleans.

#4

Good points guys. i did a standard press today and it felt pretty good followed by DL then finished up with higher rep 1 arm rows. i guess i will keep playing around; next session one arm press and bent rows or inverted rows.

The only thing that bugs me about the standard press after the fact (like when im home now) is that my upper traps feel like they are too active and it kind of bugs my shoulder. Maybe some stretching and lower trap activation would help
Thanks

#5

Stuward, whats the story with the guy in your avatar? i hope to look like that when i am old man!

cs

#6

Google “growing old is for sissies”