Uneven Pec Development

hello, im pretty new to weight training, ive only been doing it for about a year. im am starting to show good gains but have experienced difficulty in the way in which my chest is developing. one side is developing better than the other.

my left side is ‘normal’ but the left is lacking in size and definition on the underside and towards the centre which makes me look uneven and unbalanced!

i pay good attention to form etc and lift flat and incline bench for my chest exercises at around 54 kg which is all i can comfortably handle at the moment whilst maintaining good form. can anyone here offer help or suggestions in my hour of vanity? :wink:
many thanks

[quote]uber noob wrote:
hello, im pretty new to weight training, ive only been doing it for about a year. im am starting to show good gains but have experienced difficulty in the way in which my chest is developing. one side is developing better than the other.

my left side is ‘normal’ but the left is lacking in size and definition on the underside and towards the centre which makes me look uneven and unbalanced!

i pay good attention to form etc and lift flat and incline bench for my chest exercises at around 54 kg which is all i can comfortably handle at the moment whilst maintaining good form. can anyone here offer help or suggestions in my hour of vanity? :wink:
many thanks [/quote]

I experienced a similar problem during my first year of training. Keep training hard and focus on DB’s for your chest work making sure you lift symetrically on bith sides. In time they should even up. And remember, no one is perfectly symetrical. Your probably much more aware of the uneveness than people looking at your physique!

hey thanks, its encouraging to know that its not just me. i’ll switch to dumbells and jack in the bar n see what happens. thanks again :slight_smile:

Try building some more mass. My bench isn’t great, but 54 kilograms translates to about 120 pounds, which is less than some women on this site lift (and they constantly say their bench is low). So, if you double that weight, both your pecs will be bigger and have the chance to look even. If you’re really worried, add in some flyes and dumbbell presses.

Make sure you’re not inadvertently shrugging or letting your elbow drift too far away from or close to your body on that side. If need be set up a movie camera and film yourself or have someone do it from different angles to get some clues. It’s easy to move one side different from the other and not realize it.

I had to do this to figure out that I was very slightly leaning to my left while squatting which was hitting my left leg a bit more. The bad thing is as one side gets stronger it gets more and more “natural” to favor that side.

ok thanks for the replies. ive been workin so havn’t had a chance to check in. im going to try upping my weight and also using db instead of the bar,. i guess i could get my flat mate to check if im doing things semetrically aswell. cheers for all the advice!

what rep and set ratio would you recomend for a 100kg bench press, bearing in mind that my current stength aint great? (i do 4 x 12 reps then 4 x 10 then 4 x 8 etc till 4x4 at 54 kg at the mo)

[quote]uber noob wrote:
what rep and set ratio would you recomend for a 100kg bench press, bearing in mind that my current stength aint great? (i do 4 x 12 reps then 4 x 10 then 4 x 8 etc till 4x4 at 54 kg at the mo)[/quote]

Depends on if you want to reach a 100kg bench (220pounds, for the Americans), or if you already bench that much. If you already have it and want to know how to train with it, check Waterbury’s set/rep bible. If you want to reach it, check the article “Road to 600”, don’t know by who it was written, maybe Dave Tate.

yeah i doubt i could bench that right now maybe i could do 80kg tops. i will check out those articles thanks alot mate.

I have a friend that has the same problem. His left pec is slightly larger. He uses dumbells and they’re still uneven. He started using the pec deck machine with one arm to isolate the smaller pec. Is this effective?

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
I have a friend that has the same problem. His left pec is slightly larger. He uses dumbells and they’re still uneven. He started using the pec deck machine with one arm to isolate the smaller pec. Is this effective? [/quote]

Without knowing what size he is or how long he’s been into lifting…and no, 1 year isn’t enough, it’s hard to tell what is and isn’t effective.

Our bodies grow at different rates. Our left may grow differently from our right, but in the long-run, it should even itself out. Once you’ve put on enough mass throughout your entire body, then you can start comparing side to side. Otherwise, you’re just guessing.

Working your left and right pec seperately in early stages of development probably isn’t the best idea. Give your body time to work thing through itself.