Dealing with asymmetry

[Notorious]

Back in June of this year, I injured my right shoulder while bench pressing. My spotter said that my left arm was consistently coming up first while he was spotting me. At your advice I started doing presses 3 times a week for about 3 months and the injury healed up temporarily. After I started benching again and got nearer to the weight I could lift before, the pain in my right shoulder came back.

Not long after that, a spotter noticed that I tuck my left elbow more than my right. Sure enough, if I stand vertically in front of a mirror with a PVC pipe, pull back my shoulders, and mimic a bench press, my left elbow is significantly more tucked than my right. I also noticed while squatting in front of a mirror (not in my usual gym) that my right elbow is much more forward when I squat and the bar is slightly uneven on my back. However, both of my elbows are symmetrical if I don't keep my upper back tight -- If I don't pull my shoulders back, I can bench with elbows evenly tucked, and if I squat with a wider grip I can keep my elbow position more or less even. My starting position for the press also appears to be a little uneven, but it is not that drastic.

I'm not sure if the asymmetry is caused by one shoulder being more flexible than the other or an actual difference in muscle size. I also am not sure if this problem started pre or post injury (I'm guessing pre). I will say that when I started lifting, before I read any of your books, I always did my heavy deadlift sets with the same mixed grip, which may be the underlying cause of the asymmetry (I use hook grip now). How would you go about dealing with this?

Thanks

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is an awfully technical question for the internet. I am generally pretty good at these things, but not from this distance.

[juicysweet]

Have you checked arm length?

[Notorious]

Have you checked arm length?

It only happens when I pull my shoulders back, so I'm pretty sure it's not arm length.

Right now I'm just stretching a ton and hoping it's just a flexibility issue.


If that doesn't help, I guess I just need to really work with my spotters and make sure my elbows are even until I get a feel for it. I think I can tuck symmetrically, it just feels very unnatural and would require me to play around with pulling back each shoulder to a different extent.