Pec size

[Sixguns]

I noticed yesterday that my left pec is much bigger than my right pec. But the weird thing is that if anything my left side is slightly weaker due to an old shoulder injury. And idea what might cause this and is there anyway to kind of even things out?

 

[blackdogdeek]

i am not a doctor but my guess would be that your pecs are compensating for the weakness in your shoulder.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Few people exhibit perfection physical symmetry. I would not worry about it.

 

[Sixguns]

Few people exhibit perfection physical symmetry. I would not worry about it.

Im not really worried about it but its a big difference.

 

[KIAman]

Does your day job include any repetitive motions that activate your left pecs? RGA from another thread said he works in the auto industry and his job requires him pushing something in couple hundred times which made that arm he uses much bigger than his other arm.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

As someone already mentioned, excessive use of the pectoral musculature is a common compensation with shoulder injuries. It's big, it's easy to activate, and it stabilizes the shoulder. The only issue is that it causes abnormal postures and movement strategies.

 

[Sixguns]

I sit at a desk all day typing so dont think that would be it. As for compensation for my shoulder, it wasnt really that much of an injury. I posted here about it a long time ago. I did do PT and they said that the joint was just weak due to being inactive(lazy bum due to my back before my surgry). What ended up being the issue with the weak joint was pec minor being strained or something along that is what my PT said. My shoulders look the same in size also back and arms just my pec is odd. I have also noticed that it is much easier to flex my left side over my right. So maybe Ill just flex the crap out of my right side all day but I doubt that will do anything but make me look weird.

 

[Savij]

I'm not an expert but I had a very similar experience after I broke my collar bone in high school. My pec on that side was bigger and my shoulder on that side felt weaker. When doing bench presses, I could feel that shoulder was limiting me more than anything else.

I finally started to get over it when a trainer suggested some exercises that targeted the shoulder area and I started using dumbells in each hand instead of the usual bar bench press.

The exercises the trainer gave me involved leaning on a pilates ball at about hip level with your feel on the ground/against a wall so that you're making a plank at an angle to the ground. Then, with a very light (2lb?) weight in each hand you go through 3x10 of what we called "I,Y,T" where you hold your arms straight at your sides so you look like the letter i. Then, straight out to the sides so that you look like the letter T, and finally extend them 'above' your head so that you look like the letter Y. You should keep your arms straight through the entire movement.

The other exercise started with the same position on the pilates ball and the light weight but you pick the weights up from the ground almost like you are doing a reverse bench and bring them to chest level. Then, while keeping your elbows bent you rotate at the shoulders until the weights are even with your ears. Finally, you push your hands straight "up" until they are above your head and you look like superman flying through the air. This exercise was also done in three sets of 10.

I just mixed at least one of these exercises in with each workout when I was going 3 times a week.

I think the dumbbell bench press should be obvious.

I started to notice that my shoulder felt better and my normal bench press improved after this. In addition, I no longer felt like the bench was straining my shoulder after heavy lifting. It finally felt like I was working out my chest muscles.