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.