Help with Lefty?

I've been doing curls with free weights in the gym now for about a year and have some good progress in stepping up the weight, but my left arm is slacking. I always struggle to curl the left pinky in and get a full rep on the left (while I can still bump out a few more on the right)

I've been occasionally lifting extra with the left and lighter weight, or assisting with the other hand, but wondering if I should be doing curls with the bar to even it out? My goals are to have big sexy muscles and to be useful at picking stuff up and carrying stuff.

Nick Herdegwrote:

My goals are to have big sexy muscles and to be useful at picking stuff up and carrying stuff.

Fastest way to reach your goal:

1.  Stop climbing.

2.  Get strong in all basic weightlifting patterns (squat, hinge, push, pull, loaded carry) in a variety of rep ranges.  You can add a bit of isolation work as well, but don't make it the main focus.  Train four days a week.  There are a lot of sensible programs out there.

3.  Eat a caloric surplus.  Half a pound a week of weight gain is reasonable.  Shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, and get your remaining calories from carbs and fats.

4.  Eat a caloric surplus.  Yes, I said it twice.  Failing to do this is the reason most people fail to get "big sexy muscles".  You must be consistent.  Muscles don't spontaneously appear.  They must be built from something.

@seriously mod climber thanks for the encouragement man! I am going to continue to eat more, got a bunch of tasty Chinese food tonight that im gonna wash down with some protein pow! Gotta nutritize the neck! And I'm probably gonna keep climbing though lol otherwise going to the gym would be no fun for me . Thanks again!

Switch hands when jacking off.

Problem solved 

saign charlesteinwrote:

Switch hands when jacking off.

Problem solved 

Lol I knew someone would suggest this. I already have lol. I think I'm just gonna keep doing some extra curls with the left . Appreciate the input tho

How much weight and how many reps are you doing, per arm? I know you're kinda kidding but big sexy muscles vs lifting heavy things are goals of two different training regimens, ie hypertrophy vs strength. There is no need for major caloric surplus, just make sure you are getting enough protein and generally sated throughout the day. If you want to train for strength (and not put on a bunch of muscle mass) aim for high weight, low reps (x3-5). If you want big sexy (heavy) muscles (not very conducive to climbing...) low weight, high reps (7+). If your left arm is really dragging behind your right and you want to even out the imbalance, you can do bicep curl negatives, slowly with higher weight or if you can only manage 1-2 reps, let the weight down very slowly.

Evan Gerrywrote:

How much weight and how many reps are you doing, per arm? I know you're kinda kidding but big sexy muscles vs lifting heavy things are goals of two different training regimens, ie hypertrophy vs strength. There is no need for major caloric surplus, just make sure you are getting enough protein and generally sated throughout the day. If you want to train for strength (and not put on a bunch of muscle mass) aim for high weight, low reps (x3-5). If you want big sexy (heavy) muscles (not very conducive to climbing...) low weight, high reps (7+). If your left arm is really dragging behind your right and you want to even out the imbalance, you can do bicep curl negatives, slowly with higher weight or if you can only manage 1-2 reps, let the weight down very slowly.

Nice! Thanks for the input yeah I'm going to focus more on higher weight and lower reps. I am aiming more for overall strength and useful muscle as well as injury prevention. I usually do 3 sets of curls as part of a whole body workout. Im now at 35 lbs on the first and third set, 40 lbs in the middle set. Usually 6-7 reps on the lower weight per arm and 4-5 reps on the higher weight per arm. So it sounds similar to what you've recommended with the curl negatives also I'll focus on slowly letting the weight down with the left. Great advice thanks again!

This has also got me thinking about left/right hand imbalance in daily life and am going to start carrying my basket in the grocery store exclusively left handed, as well as skis over the left shoulder now.

So far it seems like weight training has helped my climbing, giving me more confidence in muscley moves, underclings, sidepulls and even grip strength. 

The problem is most likely coming from your shoulder. I'm guessing if you do a mobility/asymmetry test you will find a significant difference between shoulders.