what to do if body sides progress unequally?

[ratcreature]

Like for example, I recently noticed that when doing sideplanks, it is somewhat easier on one side than the other, i.e. I could hold the plank longer on one side than the other if I hold it as long as possible. Also when doing split squats, I can do it slightly easier on my left than my right leg. How do I best help the "weaker" side to catch up in an exercise?

Comments

[daedala]

Two things:

1. Start moves on your weaker side. I at least reflexively use my dominant side first and then struggle to complete the reps on the weaker side. (Or "stronger" and "strong" sides, if you read Strongfirst. LOL.) Do what you can on the weaker side, and then don't do any more than that on the strong side.

If the imbalance is minor this should do it.

2. Do one set on your weaker side, one set on your strong side, and then another set on your weaker side. Don't try to make it even. If the imbalance is big, this should help. (H/T Bret Contreras.)

[ratcreature]

Thanks for the tip, I'll try the first method first, because I don't think the difference is very big, I just don't want it to get worse rather than improve with exercise. And right now I do tend to start exercises with the left leg first, not so much because it is dominant (I'm right handed) but because of some internalized left-to-right order thing I resort to when counting and keeping track of repetitions, probably because of reading order or something...

[daedala]

Oh, yeah, if you just don't want it to get worse, that should be sufficient. I hope it helps!

It can be really weird. Especially whole-body exercises. I tried to start my Turkish get ups today with my left arm up and got completely confused because I'd had my legs set the other way. I got started and couldn't figure out for a few seconds why it wasn't working.

[weirdquark]

I've also seen the suggestion (Nia Shanks, I think?) to start on your stronger side and do your goal number of reps, and then do that many reps on your weaker side, putting in a brief pause (say 5-10 seconds) at some point if you have to. (For example if I do 8 reps on my strong side I'd do as many as I can (let's say 6) put the weight down for a few seconds, and then pick it up again and do the last 2 reps.) My rule is that I can't move up in weight until I can do my goal number of reps on both sides without a pause.

But basically the way to not make the imbalance worse is to make sure you're not doing extra reps/time on your stronger side; either keep it the same or favor the weaker one until it catches up.

[ratcreature]

With the split squats I currently can do sort of the same number on my weaker leg but the execution technique starts to break down noticeably (more problems with my balance for example), so I guess they are not really the same number of reps and I need to be really mindful of the form.

And with the sideplanks I'll need to time myself accurately to gauge. Currently I usually just hold the position as long as I can, often not bothering with a stopwatch, but then it seemed noticeably easier on one side, and I tested on that side whether I could do the progression with the more difficult step of lifting the upper leg and (barely) managed that a few times, but on the other side that kind of extra movement is still impossible for me. So with that it has become clear to me that there really is a weaker sider and I need to have it catch up. And I need to use a timer to not exacerbate the difference.

Generally I'm not so great with using exact timers, because I dislike creating a sort of hectic atmosphere. I tried a couple of exercise timer apps initially, because many people seem to like these for prompts but it drives me crazy to have thirty seconds of this, then of that (and worse with added beeping ::shudder::). So I abandoned that approach. I mean, I realize that with some strength building method timing within and between exercises (and also speed) is important for best results and added intensity or such, but since I mostly want to keep keep my back pain at bay, do only body weight exercises anyway, I didn't bother.

But I guess using a stopwatch for the isometric stuff to exactly time the sides isn't too bad. And I really don't want to worsen imbalances.