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EricT · 08-06-2008, 11:37 AM

There is probably a quarter inch difference in my arms all the time, sometimes more.

Sorry. I don't think anyone mis-read your post. You are assuming that barbells cause this and it just isn't true. Like Andrew said something else is at work here.

You won't know what will help until you try it. So try you dumbell stuff but take the advice of everyone to still include some barbell work as well.

The kind of strength imbalances that people are talking about with barbells are not the same kind of thing you are talking about with bodyparts. Not that it's the barbell's fault but it is to do with bad habits, form, faulty movement patterns, etc..that favor the dominance of some muscles over other leading to imbalance (and even injury). So unilateral work can adress that and that is what WOLF was talking about among other things.

The more complex a movement is OR, in other words, the more muscle groups involved in a complex firing pattern, the more likelihood of developing these imbalances and they can largely go unseen for a long time. It's kind of like the fact that you can do a back squat wrong for a long time and your body just compensated to get the job done...but it WILL affect you down the line as things will come to a head.

The with simple movements and especially "isolation" movements, say a barbell curl, the strong arm cannot "compensate" for the weak arm or the bar will go up un-even. That should be pretty obvious. NO, the weaker are should simply fatigue first which fosters even development. Andrew was saying something about the bar not staying parallel. But, you know, easy to correct whereas faulty firing patterns in a deadlift or something is a totally different story.

Differences like you have, as both I and Andrew have pointed out, are not that common, and it is not just because you have used barbells.

This is from an older post that I'm including to illustrate some potential things:

You know what when you're talking about single joint or less complex exercises (fewer joints) it's actually easier to even things out by sticking with barbells. Problem with db's for this is that there is a tendency to overcome strength deficits on the weak side with little alterations in form and little cheats like using momentum without knowing it.

For instance if you watch enough trainees doing standard types of db curls you will notice that on one side they will tend to put a lot of shoulder rotation into it and not even be aware of it. This is the kind of thing that actually leads to some of the small differences in size and strength. DB's can make it harder in that respect because you have to concentrate a lot on being perfectly strict. Especially with things like curls and tri extensions but even to some extent on bench press and press.

If you use a straight bar and keep the bar moving in parallel (duh) then you are automatically limited by the weak small arm. With simple movements like I described you can't make up for weakness in one arm by having other muscles take over. So simply using a regualar bar is pretty much an automatic way, over time, to even things out. Whereas dumbells can introduce complications.

The more complex the exercise becomes the more this relationship breaks down and thus the more useful unilateral things become.

I'm not saying DB's don't work. It's just that everybody tends to go straight to them when there is really nothing magical about them UNLESS you plan on doing MORE work on the weak side, which would be a mistake.