I am a PT who does strength and conditioning classes with over 55’s.
In DB Pressing X’s (OHP or bench) a number of clients are able to lift more with one arm that the other. Sometimes this is due a past shoulder trauma, sometimes not.
My question is, should we encourage people to lift to capacity on each side if that means an RPE of 8 for example would equate to a 5kg DB on the R side and a 6kg on the L??
In this instance we are looking to maximise muscle strength and muscle mass gained. Based on current evidence, I can’t see that there would be any costs/risks in encouraging people to maximise their strength gains even if this means perhaps promoting a further asymmetry in strength??
Hi Alicia,
It seems like you’re asking whether or not we should keep the load the same on both sides during unilateral exercises even if there is a difference in performance potential. I think the answer is yes in most strength and conditioning settings. I don’t know that this promotes “further” asymmetry, but rather preserves the existing asymmetry. That also assumes that asymmetry is to be avoided and we can “fix” strength differences between sides. I don’t think either are reliably true, particularly small differences in the general population.
-Jordan
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Yes Jordan I was asking if we should aim for performance potential even if that means asymmetry in strength as opposed to keeping the load the same on both sides. To clarify, I meant that lifting a different weight each side could potentially promote greater differences in strength between sides. I guess I wondered if there was anything ‘wrong’ with this as I have some clients that want to lift to their ‘unilateral potential’ which means a heavier DB on one side.
My default is to prefer them lifting the same on each side because symmetry looks and feels nicer! But I did question my tendency to recommend this as it also doesn’t appear that there would be ‘harm’ in lifting different loads each side.
I don’t think I’d lift heavier on one side vs another outside of an injury or post-op situation, as I can’t see a benefit for hypertrophy, strength (in a context that matters), or otherwise.
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