Barbell Bench press problem

Hey all, I really need some input from others here, possibly to help and pinpoint where some of weakness are.

For the moment, I have been doing DUmbbell Bench Press instead of the barbell, as one side is weaker than the other. And I like to build up the weaker side to a more similar level of strength, so when I do go to using the barbell regular, it will be more of a balanced load.

WHenever I have tried the barbell bench, I am noticing there seems to be issues, as one side seems to be doing the work, and the other side is well just there for the heck of it lol.

I know both have their advantages (I suppose the one good thing I like with the DBs is that both sides get a equal workout, without the stronger side doing all the work plus the range of motion feels better).

Now whether this has any affect, one of my shoulders is physically a little bit lower than the other, not really noticeable unless you are looking for it lol, probbaly only 1 - 2 cm difference.

ANother issue I have been noticing is that when I do those one arm dumbbell rows for my lats, I have noticed that the side that fatiques more, is the same side that is affecting me whenever I try to do the bench press with the barbell.

Does that point to strength imbalance? I know we all have one side stronger than the other, but in my case, it appears my weaker side is more so affected.

So any suggestions. It sucks that one of my sides is so messed up lol. My idea of thinking is if I can deal with the weaknesses and imbalances first, then everything else will be easier down the track.

Thanks.

What do you do for your core muscles? Do you squat and deadlift?


Fadi.

Yes I have been getting into the routine of doing those.

lordoftime said:

Yes I have been getting into the routine of doing those.

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That's great. If you look at the program I wrote here: http://ausbb.com/bodybuilding-training-discussions/9606-building-ultimate-muscle-machine-move-your-body-through-space-program-1-a.html
...you'll find that every exercise targets the core muscles as well as other stabiliser muscles. It's a good way of insuring you have a stable and strong base from which you can confidently build on. I'm not familiar with what you've done before or whether you've placed great emphasis on your core muscles so as to prevent you from leaning/preferring one side over the other due to weak posture.

On another level, you may have an underlying injury in one of your shoulder joints which is making you push with one side more than the other. Basically I'm searching for the cause rather than just saying go ahead and do X, Y, or Z of some exercise.

PS: it would be nice if you can tell me your name. Thank you.


Fadi.

Mate my left side was way weaker aswell, not beacuse of a problem like you describe, but because I had broken my left arm 4 times with a few years..

Both my arms are of different strengths, my left pec is stronger than my right, but my r arm/tri is stronger than my left, I have at times struggled on bench one side dies at the bottom the other at the top. Sometime putting huge stresses on your core ( abs and back)

All I can suggest is to keep perfoming the exercises, bench and db presses.
Eventually the weaker side will catch up, But as fadi may be alluding to it will take more than the target execises to improve your situation, your body works more as a whole than many realise.

Also if it is a structural problem with your shoulder the biomechanics of the movement may be effeted to a degree that causes a weekness in that movment. are all your exercises based on a shoulder movement affected, ie. bench, dips, shoulder presses, upright rows etc ie is it just the one plane of motion?

Whether this is a structural problem or a muscular imbalance, but one of my shoulders is just a teeny bit lower than the other, and unless you are really looking for it, you won't notice it. But being that I had to deal with tmj and other related issues years ago, I know that has contributed to much of my problems.

From what my trainer told me the other day, it seems like the bar is going to more than one side.

Now I Know one side will always be stronger than the other, but if I can at least fix up my left side to be close enough to my right, it will be better. I am thinking for long term as it would be easier to concentrate on fixing the problem now rather than wait 12 months lol.

I do have a problem with core muscles, but am I correct that the squat and deadlift will assist greatly with those?

I know that when doing the dumbbell versions, I not only have seen the weaknesses, but have slowly noticed that the weaker side is slowly improving. (maybe because doing the db version, the weaker side is actually forced to work, without getting assistance from the stronger side)

On the upside, well for me, so far the exercises I have been doing, and training myself to keep my jaw relaxed, none of the exercises I am doing at this moment are making my tmj worse, which I spent the past few years getting it under control.

So I must be doing something right (at the moment I am doing squats, deadlifts, overhead press, one arm dumbbell row (sometimes will switch doing the bent over row, but I find the one arm db row much easier to do) and bench press (this one is more db at the moment cos of my current imbalance). I am trying to keep my routine simple, and finish within 45mins (I tend to take longer breaks between reps, just the way how it is now for me).

One thing I am noticing when doing the dumbbells, my range of motion feels alot more natural, more fluent, which is why I prefer to use the DBs as opposed to the barbell. Maybe it will just take some time to retrain myself to have both sides work together as a team. Each has their ups and downs. Everyone has their preference I suppose.

I know with what I went through the past years, I know my left side was more affected than the right. Even my coordination got messed up as a result of what I went through. ANd it just appears to be when I am using the bench press that I am seeing this imbalance. I think a similar thing happen when I tried doing the bent over row with the barbell, my weaker side was just not working that well (Yet when I do the overhead press, I don't appear to have this problem, at least as far as I can tell).

SO as I get better with my deadlifts and squats, can they in time also assist the imbalances I have?

Something else I just realised today as I was just simulating my arm positions as if I were doing a bench press, and may explain why the bar seems to more somewhat tilt to the other side, I have notice that in a bench press position, my left arm is going that little higher than my right arm, and both are fully extended, and in saying that, when I simulate an overhead press position with my arms, my right arm appears to go higher than my left. I think this is a physical imbalance and I don't think there is much I can do about it, but it may certainly explain alot.

I think the stuff you are doing currently is great. Stick with it, I'm sure you'll see improvement over time.

Every client I get has some issues with imbalances, your not alone

Maybe someone else could comment on the validity of this; I read one article that recommended dropping a few kg (or relative weight depending on the exercise) on your good side and and less on your weak side to a weight you can lift well and let the weak side catch up.
I have a slight problem with my left arm being weaker and it will always be that way so you just have to work through it.

Zarkov said:

Maybe someone else could comment on the validity of this; I read one article that recommended dropping a few kg (or relative weight depending on the exercise) on your good side and and less on your weak side to a weight you can lift well and let the weak side catch up.
I have a slight problem with my left arm being weaker and it will always be that way so you just have to work through it.

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Thats the reason why I am doing the dumbbells for the bench press at this stage, it gives a chance for my left side to catch up. MY right side cannot assist in that method

I am seeing gradual improvement, between my left side and right side when it comes to driving up the dumbbells, I am sure in a few weeks, a month at most, I should be able to use the barbell bench more regularly.

I'd keep the weights the same on either side.

You know it might never even up.

When I was at my strongest I could do a strict standing DB press with a 50kg DB on my right side and only 41kg on my left.

When I did a strict military press with 102.5kg, neither side lagged, the bar went up evenly, yet there was a large difference in strength side to side.

PTC said:

I'd keep the weights the same on either side.

You know it might never even up.

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Exactly what I am doing, same weight on each side. And yes I am aware of it will never even up, but I am fairly confident I can get it close.

Im weaker on my left side but its evening out slowly. I dont think itll ever become equal though, its hard to undo a lifetime of right side dominance in everything.

Bluey said:

its hard to undo a lifetime of right side dominance in everything.

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Thats true. One can only hope for a close approximation at best

Something interesting I am noticing now. Whatever imbalances and flexibility problems I have been happening, I think they are being fixed up.

Up until a few days ago, I have now noticed that whenever I extend my arms out (whether its on the bench press or over head press), they are now more even now (prior to that, left arm was going higher for the bench, and the right arm was going higher for the over head press).

That at least is something, slowly my imbalances and flexibility have been address and improved.

I wonder if perhaps some of the lats muscles possibly had something to do with the issues I been having?

As of recently, my imbalances between my left side and right I feel are not as bad now as they were a few months ago. It actually feels like my both sides are as close to even as possible.

So now I am planning to go back to using the barbell bench on a regular basis now.

For the past few months have mainly used DBs, so when going to the barbell, would you just add up the total weight of the 2 dumbbells, and use that total weight as your barbell equivalent as a starting point? SInce I workout on my own, I of course will be setting myself up in a rack with the safety pins (heard of a nasty incident in my gym where some guy injured himself from the bench, because of not having a spotter when he should of).

It is a slightly different motion, so I would start at a weight slightly less, and see how you go, you do sets of 10 for a while to get used to the movement.

The weights should go up quickly as flat bb bench is easier than a db press.. I find I can do slightly more weight on bb bench than db press,

ie 100kg bench for 5 reps, or 37.5kg db presses for about 5

trofius said:

It is a slightly different motion, so I would start at a weight slightly less, and see how you go, you do sets of 10 for a while to get used to the movement.

The weights should go up quickly as flat bb bench is easier than a db press.. I find I can do slightly more weight on bb bench than db press,

ie 100kg bench for 5 reps, or 37.5kg db presses for about 5

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Yeah I remember well over 3 years ago, and this was prior to me getting all my nasty health issues, the only thing I remember last was doing bench press of 100kg, reps of 8-10, 3 sets.

I just couldn't remember if years ago when I went to doing the barbell from the DBs, if I used the equivalent, or a bit less, or a bit more lol. Too long ago My upperbody strength I have had to basically rebuild from scratch in a sense. Feels like all the hard work I did years ago was all for nothing lol.