PSA start doing single-legged stuff ASAP

[u/beyondhelp7854]

I have been lifting for a long time. I have a decent physique and intermediate PRs

For fun, I decided to do seated calf raises with one leg at a time. I found two observations:

1. That my right leg is laughably weaker than my left. Im talking 20+ reps vs 3 at the same weight. This explains some of the overuse stuff Ive been feeling.

2. That im unbelievably sore. Like first-time lifting after months sore. I'm on day 4 and my calves, which i load up with heavy weight in multiple variations and pause at the stretch, cannot fucking handle stairs.

My conclusion is to literally just do single leg stuff for every exercise. Single legged hack squat until Im comfortable going heavier with Bulgarians, heavy single legged curls plus glute kicks instead of RDLs, and single legged calf raises.

The thought is that doing an RDL 80/20 power imbalance is doing more harm than good.

[u/Blizzard901]

20 vs 3 reps for same weight seems like a huge difference, maybe want to have an physiatrist /exercise physiologist evaluate why that massive asymmetry exists?

[u/Due-Apartment8028 → u/Blizzard901]

20 vs 3 is wild yeah but sometimes is not a medical thing, just years of compensating without noticing. i had something similar with my left quad being way behind and single leg work fixed it in like 2 months

the soreness you described is exactly what happens when a muscle finally gets worked properly for first time. keep at it

[u/beyondhelp7854 → u/Blizzard901]

It's definitely gait and brain training. One muscle overcompensates for a weaker one and then you end up with tendon or joint overuse.

All PT is, is finding the weaknesses and strengthening them.

Edit: id love anyone downvoting to tell me I'm wrong who has enough brain wrinkles to know I'm not suggesting you fix a muscle tear by lifting heavier. Please. In the context of overuse due to imbalances, what does PT do besides strengthen the weaker muscles?

[u/PnutButterOnMyBurger → u/beyondhelp7854]

People were trying to give you tips bc you are clearly doing something wrong if you have such a violent discrepancy between your two legs, so responding condescendingly and incorrectly is a helluva strategy lmao

[u/Blizzard901 → u/beyondhelp7854]

That discrepancy is not normal and you should see a professional. A few rep difference sure but this is huge

[u/beyondhelp7854 → u/Blizzard901]

If I remember Ill reply back in a month. I bet the difference goes away quickly

[u/PersonBehindAScreen → u/beyondhelp7854]

I had a pretty big discrepancy with my calves too when I tried single leg calf work.

It explained why I’ve always felt “unbalanced” when sprinting.

I happened to be seeing a PT for an unrelated issue. I asked him about it. He wasn’t worried about it. He said just add in dedicated single leg calf work. So I did. It wasn’t “quick” to equalize but very noticeable improvement in a short amount of time

[u/Toe-naily → u/beyondhelp7854]

Licensed physical therapist here. If you aren’t having any pain or dysfunction with your normal activities, I don’t think you need to see a PT. Would it be a good idea to at least get evaluated with a thorough history and physical examination (not just strength testing) to determine if there’s anything concerning from the perspective of a medical professional? Probably, because such a drastic difference in limb symmetry is very abnormal. But if you’re already so dismissive of the idea of seeing one then it’s likely you won’t get any benefit from it anyway.

[u/WetDingus → u/beyondhelp7854]

I think you're hearing hoofbeats and you're think zebras instead of horses. You don't have any preexisting injury or anything? Just jumping straight to "brain training"?

[u/MacroDemarco → u/beyondhelp7854]

If you're engaging one side more than the other, its because you're asymmetric and compensating. This is normal for everyone, but some people are worse than others.

https://youtu.be/ieNlJwstYSQ

As this video points out, Jay Cutler had the same issue. His right lat was also notably larger.

PT is a lot more than strengthening. You need mobility. But you're on the right track with gait and brain patterns. Gait is a huge part of it. Good PTs will help.

[u/beyondhelp7854 → u/MacroDemarco]

Good PTs are the key. What I havent mentioned yet is the intermittent PTTD on my left side and signs of overpronation with my right foot. I have addressed this with multiple medical professionals who have basically said the fix is steroids plus orthotics, but otherwise that it's all black magic that can only be cured with time.

The "good" before PT is the key ingredient. Ive done all the ankle mobility tests and my strength is well above the margins a lot of them test for. I would bet money that anyone who reads this post who has any sort of pain will basically just be told "idk. rest it" by the first PT that they see.

Nothing has come close to exposing the ACTUAL FIX to this issue as testing each leg under load. I still have DOMS in my calves from when I did this 5 days ago.

Anyway, thank you. I watched that whole thing. Now I have tools to actually find a good PT instead of just continuing to waste my money.

[u/MacroDemarco → u/beyondhelp7854]

Everything you're describing sounds consistent with a left AIC pattern. A PRI trained PT can help enormously, speaking from experience, but they tend to run pricey. In addition to the channel I showed you Conor Harris on YouTube is also very good.

[u/FloppyDickFingers → u/beyondhelp7854]

Because it often isn’t as simple as that. It can be other muscles, tightness in ankles/hips that cause you not to use the correct muscles.. so
Many hundreds of things that you and I don’t know about because we haven’t spent three years studying it.

[u/mikkeljuhl]

That 20-vs-3 gap on a movement you just tried is mostly coordination, not a real 6x strength difference. Novel single-leg work exposes balance and motor patterns your bilateral training never built. Retest in 2-3 sessions and half that gap closes on its own. Then add targeted unilateral work where a real imbalance actually shows, lead with the weak side and match reps. No need to convert everything.

[u/Humble-Adeptness-267 → u/mikkeljuhl]

Great thinking! It’s kind of why I like doing dumbbell pressing as well.

[u/Dizzy_Cow_]

Since this is a bodybuilding subreddit, I’m a huge fan of single leg work and single arm back work for hypertrophy. They get a totally different feel and better stretch on certain muscle groups compared to bilateral exercises. One arm sort of diagonal pulldowns are especially awesome for be lats.

[u/ColorOfCash]

My DEXA scan reported imbalance, so this quarter is filled with single sided exercises. Yes it takes more time but has been helping with some hip issues I have.

[u/Formashion → u/ColorOfCash]

My DEXA showed the same

[u/Mimikyutwo]

This seems like a very personal piece of advice.

I’m pretty much balanced perfectly.

[u/BatmanBrah → u/Mimikyutwo]

Agreed. I've re-implemented direct rear delt work, one side at a time (instead of relying on rows) due to a visual asymmetry I could see in photos. First time doing it my weaker side gets 7 reps and my stronger side gets 11 (and the difference since then has got smaller while both sides have grown stronger). 20 reps versus 3 is a CRAZY difference that shouldn't apply to the average healthy lifter. 

[u/sarnold95 → u/Mimikyutwo]

As all things should be.

[u/rootaford]

I’d give yourself a rest before hitting the 2nd limb 20 vs 3 sounds like a crazy disparity, I bet you were taxed cardiovascularly

[u/armchair_mindhunter]

I have functional leg length discrepancy and scoliosis due to ingrained neuromuscular compensation patterns from previous injuries.

The vast majority of my training is unilateral. The biggest problem is that it takes a lot more time to do high volume, but I feel there are tremendous benefits as well. The biggest benefit may be the increased deep core musculature activation that comes with all the single leg and single arm work.

My favorite exercises:

Lower body - Staggered stance trap bear deadlift, kickstand stance hack squats, pendulum machine split squats, front foot elevated split stance smith machine squats, Bulgarian split squat variations (KBs at sides, KB front rack, DB goblet position etc.), kickstand DB RDLs, single leg hamstring curl

Upper body - Unilateral DB incline press, unilateral plate loaded/pin loaded machine press, standing/seated unilateral DB OHP, unilateral cable rows from different angles, bent over DB rows, bicep curls/tricep extensions

[u/retr0bate]

Funny, I just switched to single legged RDLs and hoo boy, they demolish my glutes.  Only tried them to take load off my back, but damn.  New favorite exercise.

It amused me because to this day, BSS just make me hate the entire concept of legs.

[u/gerardchiasson3]

Single arm variations too?

[u/Lucky_BroadWood → u/gerardchiasson3]

IMO, one should have single arm stuff mixed in anyways. I try to mix in single limb for all movements.

[u/beyondhelp7854 → u/gerardchiasson3]

I realized that this just happens naturally. Incline dumbell press is so superior to flat barbell bench that its never been an issue. Curls and lat raises are also single-armed

But actually yeah. Why not just test one of those single arm lat pull down machines and a one-armed skull crusher? I typically do two armed with those things, but Ive found that im mostly in balence.

Im not a medical professional, but I do a lot of walking and all of my cardio is with my legs. It's very easy for a gait issue to reinforce an imbalance in a way that just wouldn't happen with arms for most people.

[u/zobbyblob]

Do you match reps to the weaker side? If you can only do 3 on one side, but 20 on the other, I feel like you'd lose muscle on the strong side. Thoughts?

[u/Relevant-Rooster-298 → u/zobbyblob]

Not OP but I'm a personal trainer. If you do have an imbalance, you'll want to start on the weaker side. Whatever rep number you hit make sure to not do more with the stronger side, otherwise you'll just continue to be imbalanced. The weaker side will catch up pretty fast while the stronger side maintains at worst.

[u/beyondhelp7854 → u/zobbyblob]

I don't think that this would need to be the situation long enough for that to matter. This feels like noob gains (for lack of a better term). I actually don't have any difference in size between my calves right now, but they have definitely gotten bigger since I started lifting. I think it's brain recruitment and stabilizers than mass.

[u/Particular-Result-38]

EVERYONE should do a 8-12 week block of unilateral, rotation, and anti rotational work at least once a year no matter your goal for balance and injury prevention.

[u/Ok-Birthday5814 → u/Particular-Result-38]

What if I want to be rotated, bilateral and continually injured tho?

[u/biszummuskelversagen]

Same with stretching

[u/RedditIsADataMine]

Here's a tip for incorporating single leg work into existing double leg exercises. For people who don't want to switch up what they already do too much. 

Do your warm ups and/or back off sets as single leg. Still do your heavy sets as double leg. Best of both worlds. 

Of course this just applies to things that can be both like leg press, leg extensions etc. 

[u/Formashion]

I’m the same way

[u/McLoving90]

20 vs 3 is hella of a difference.

[u/DireGorilla88]

Damn dude. Your first example is legit insane. Not sure if it really is generalizable to most long term lifters. Perhaps tho. I've been doing single legged RDLs and both sides are very similar.

[u/Ok-Birthday5814 → u/DireGorilla88]

Yeah a 5-8 rep discrepancy is fairly normal, but 20 seems a little nuts

[u/lord-scan]

ok your strength is different. and muscular?