Bench Press

Working as a carpenter I find, maybe from the work I do, I find one side of my body is more dominant than the other. Although this is common I've been told, I'm finding every time I do chest the RHS of my body doesn't impact as greatly as the LHS, maybe my lat is dominating the lift is this possible?

I think when I started maybe got bad form, I'm right handed and I've been doing gym on/off for last couple of years and found this is very annoying. What can I do?

Aaron's Answer…

There are a number of things that right side of the body weakness could be.

(1) You might be pushing more with your left hand habitually, with poor form, and it's just that the left hand side of your body has gotten much stronger.

(2) You might have trigger points that are making the right side of your body weak.

Your lats primarily pull downward, so they won't have a pronounced impact on any bench press or chest press movement that you do. You'll want to focus on your pecs and deltoids (chest and shoulder muscles).

So, here's what you can do. First, massage all around the right side of your chest and right arm muscles, trying to massage out muscle knots (trigger points). Better yet, get someone else to give you a massage.

Then, try doing bench presses with dumbbells. This will make you focus more on controlling the weight you're lifting, show you how much weaker the right side of your body is, and give you a chance to isolate your right side and work it up to a more balanced level with your left side.

Also, have someone watch you doing a bench press to check and make sure that you're using proper form.

And if the weakness has come on suddenly - get it checked out by a doctor! There might be something really wrong if you are experiencing a sudden decrease in muscle strength, especially if it's only on one side of your body.