Hey all,

I started making use of the dumbbells I had laying around a few months ago, just to try and even out my physique before feeling comfortable enough to be seen at the gym.

My chest and arms when I started were pretty asymmetrical. My left pec is much smaller than my right (still is), and my left arm was 12.5 inches around when my right was 13 flexed.

The good news is that my left arm is now a little less than 14 1/4 flexed, and my right is exactly 14, so I've definitely gained quite a bit.

The problem is that my left (bigger) arm gets tired much more easily than my right one. It feels a lot more "worked" after lifting.

This kind of sucks because my right arm never feels as worked as my left, and I'm afraid even though I'm doing equal sets on both that the left one is going to keep getting bigger than my right.. since the right takes a lot more to get tired out. There's definitely a big imbalance of strength on each side.

I thought everything would even out once both arms were the same size, but no dice.

Is there anything I can do to correct this? Bicep curls also leave my traps feeling sore, as well as my shoulders. Is that normal? I'm sure my form is right.. but I notice quite a bit of popping and cracking going on when I curl in my upper back/shoulder area. I'm using 20 lb. dumbells so it can't be the weight.

Any suggestions?
:bang:

work out with even weights.

your body will adapt and balance itself out.

compound lifts.

why are you so afraid of the gym? just go! you're going for yourself. be happy.

Asymmetrical muscles are actually pretty common. And it's fairly often the case that the non-dominate side will be the slightly bigger side.

Yeah dude at this point just go lift it will balance out.

Doing things like starting with your weak arm on dumbells helps I've heard too.

I can't speak to the uneven thing, but I will say that if your goal is to get to the gym, just go.

When I very first began lifting in, um, 1865 I think, I distinctly remember struggling mightily to do dumbell curls with 5 pound weights. And there was a guy on the bench next to me pumping out 110 pound curls one after the other like it was nothing. And I was embarrassed, and I said something about it.

And he was so nice! And so was absolutely everybody else. It was a real musclehead place and I was anything but a musclehead but I wanted to learn and improve and I never ever got help and advice like I got at that place. Not one single person ever picked on me or looked askance at my puny arms. Plus, they were all chock full of useful tips about how to tweak a particular movement to get the best effect on this or that head of my delt, or a bigger, sharper belly on my biceps...all stuff you can't really get from a book or a forum.

Go to the gym. You will be so glad you did.

yeah, never be afraid to ask someone you don't know for a spot, either. just don't get mad if they don't spot like you're used to. ;)

I have the same problem with my arms. it also has to do with your daily routines. i have a relatively heavy bag, so i've started hoisting it up with my left hand, also pulling doors open with my left hand, just so that i even out the usage of my right(dominant) hand and left. but truly, when you've built those muscles up, (Focussing on distributing the weight evenly between hands) the difference will nearly disappear.

I say nearly because your dominant hand will usually have the advantage unless you specifically train your other side.