Uneven Pecs Please Help!


hi guys

im posting my photo so that hopefully someone can advice me what to do with my chest because its really messed up. as you can see the right and the left pec are not symetrical even though i always try to keep a solid good form

just as a note i did notice that my pecs were non-symmetrical by looking at the mirror but after i took a pic it shocked me that it looks reaaly off so i just want to know if i could try and fix it somehow

i attached a photo but its my first time doing this so im not sure if my photo will work

How are you working your chest? Do more 1-arm presses and flies till the other pec catches up. Do you work your back enough? It’s hard to see if you have any traps in that pic.

  1. Take a picture without flexing any muscles.

  2. As has been said SEVERAL times on this forum, everyone is not made the same and being asymmetrical does not mean there is a problem in and of itself. Some people don’t have pectorals that are mirror images of each other. There isn’t shit they can do about it.

If it is a true imbalance from training, unilateral exercises may help. If it is a shape issue, that is something you simply have to deal with.

No one can tell you much of anything from that half flexed picture you posted. Your posture alone could be the cause of any “asymmetry”.

  1. The picture above is of Lionel Brown. His pectorals are asymmetrical. He is still coming in at good placings in contests and there isn’t anything he can do about it.

Your chest isn’t really messed up, I had a similar problem, my right pec was filled out at the bottom and my left was top heavy. The main advice I could give you is to not dwell on it, it consumed me when I was a stupid kid, the radical one-sided remedies I attempted did nothing.

Putting on another 25lbs ALL OVER will make you forget about it. I’m roughly 40lbs heavier now and its not an issue. The main training advice I’d give you (cause I can’t really tell from your picture) is to focus on dumbells as your primary chest movement until your using weights you never thought you’d use.

Like Prof said, it looks like a shape issue.

It happens.

As a newbie myself, Im really glad you raised this question. The right side of my body is large than my left AND one side is stronger than the other.

Ive wondered if I should be using different amounts of weights when using dumbbells.

Hey…this is the newbie section…we are trying to learn!! :slight_smile:

[quote]ninesemesters wrote:
Putting on another 25lbs ALL OVER will make you forget about it. [/quote]

Brilliant!

When you do chest work, use dumb bells. If there is a strength imbalance, you’ll see it immediately. If there isn’t…

grow more muscle.

[quote]BodyBldgBabe wrote:
As a newbie myself, Im really glad you raised this question. The right side of my body is large than my left AND one side is stronger than the other.

Ive wondered if I should be using different amounts of weights when using dumbbells.

Hey…this is the newbie section…we are trying to learn!! :slight_smile: [/quote]

Do unilateral work (alot), start with your ‘weak’ side and only do as much reps with your ‘strong’ side as you’ve completed with your ‘weak’

Try to use both limbs when lifting/carrying things etc while doing everyday stuff like cleaning/shopping/whatever

Pulling up your pants should help as well

[quote]HoratioSandoval wrote:
How are you working your chest? Do more 1-arm presses and flies till the other pec catches up. Do you work your back enough? It’s hard to see if you have any traps in that pic.[/quote]

i never do 1 arm at a time because i thought it was pointless but i guess its worth a try
and yes i do work a lot on my back and traps

Well, I think everyone is a little uneven. It is just natural that one side of the body is usually a little stronger and bigger than another. Have you ever seen an ambidextrous baseball pitcher?

I think you need to include a little more information to help figure out the problem. Do you do any kind of sports or work that requires more work from the right side? Have you had someone analyze your form on barbell exercises to make sure your stronger side is not compensating for the weaker side? Have you had an injuries? I ask this because I broke my left humerus when I was in my teens. The arm is shaped a little different than the right. It functions fines, but it is shaped and moves slightly different than before the injury. Any injury to the right arm, shoulder, head, or neck could cause a problem due to injuries to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, or even nerves.

The obvious course of action is to first make sure you are doing the same workload for both sides. Second, have a qualified person analyze your form on your lifts. Third, include more unilateral work and see if that helps the problem. Fourth, vary up the workout between the sides. One side may need a little more weight, more reps, less rest, or even more rest than the other sides.

Good luck with the detective work. I think you will just have to do some trial, error, and research to figure out what works best.

Dont worry about it. My triceps are very uneven.

My left tricep is short and thick. My right tricep is long and thin(ner).

Arnold’s biceps were uneven, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the greatest in the world, right?

Based from what I’m seeing, you should doyour regular chest exercise and superset your left pec with 1-arm presses with a 70% RM at the end. The key here is to make your left pec bigger without making it stronger than the other. Supersetting it would make it grow faster than your right pec.

[quote]BodyBldgBabe wrote:
As a newbie myself, Im really glad you raised this question. The right side of my body is large than my left AND one side is stronger than the other.

Ive wondered if I should be using different amounts of weights when using dumbbells.

Hey…this is the newbie section…we are trying to learn!! :slight_smile: [/quote]

no don’t do that use weight that feels hard for your weaker side. even though it will feel easy to your stronger half you wont lose any muscle howver it will catch the weaker side up in time.

after that you can increase them both gradually. if you did heavier weight with one hand they would both get stronger but in the end you would still be in the situation.

i sent a pm but ill post here incase someone else would benefit
anyway I thought it might be worth visiting a chiropractor or a osteopath,

it might just be the picture but I thought it looked like a rib on your left side might be a little depressed in which case a chiroprator can straighten in out and in turn make your pecs look more even, I had the same thing and I think it was called a “slipped rib” or something like that.
cheers

Hey I’m under 16 years old and when i was a small child 6-12 I lifted wights more so on the right side of my body and now i have a massive right arm and pec. WHAT should i do?

[quote]Slim Shady wrote:
Hey I’m under 16 years old and when i was a small child 6-12 I lifted wights more so on the right side of my body and now i have a massive right arm and pec. WHAT should i do?[/quote]

See how strong the right side is, then bring the left side up to par.

[quote]BigDaddyT wrote:
Have you ever seen an ambidextrous baseball pitcher?
[/quote]

Actually, yes. Pat Vendidite (idk how to spell his last name), a guy who used to pitch for the Creightion Bluejays last season and now pitches for the New York Yankees Double A team (I think) throws with both his arms throughout a game.

Looks like genetics to me

My pecs are the same exact way I think the partcial reason I think mine is like that is because I broke my collar bone by falling of a roof