Balancing Power?

[Dr J]

no one i'm friends with knows a thing about lifting, and i'm not really not expert myself, so i hope i can get some good advice. my problem is that i've played tennis all my life, and the right side of my body is ridiculously stronger than the left...shoulder, bi's, tri's, etc. i've been working out on and off for a about 5 years, and i find that every time i do some form of lifting, whether its chest, back, or abs, i'm only able to to feel any sort of "burn" on my left side. it's like the weight is heavy for the left and light for the right. consequently, i can't seem to get a workout in for the right side of my chest, back, or abs. i know cosmetics isn't supposed to be an issue on this forum, but i'm starting to see a noticeable difference...bigger arms on the right, and bigger pec and abs on the left. i guess my question is, what type of excercises would you all suggest for balancing everything out? i know that one key would obviously be to get my left arm stronger, but how about chest and ab excercises? anything that would work the right without the left?

maybe the answer is pretty obvious, but i guess i'm pretty limited to excercises...i only have a bar and free weights...and i can't seem to find anything that works. i'd appreciate any advice that you guys might have.

 

[gruesome]

You need to do some unilateral work, working each side independantly. For example, dumbell bench press instead of regular barbell bench press, dumbell rows instead of barbell rows, etc.

 

[Brad Morris]

I agree with gruesome, add in some unilateral movements.

A good unilateral movement that hits one side of the upperbody as well as the core is a one arm snatch with a barbell. But there are heaps of variations of bilateral movements that you can do as a unilateral movement, pistols (one legged squats) for legs. And remember one side is always going to be marginally stronger than the other.

But don't drop bilateral movements out of your program, keep doing them as well.