OVERCOME MUSCLE IMBALANCES TO ACHIEVE SYMMETRY, INJURY PREVENTION, AND LONGEVITY IN THE GYM.

Question sent by Sean in the Substack Chat for paid supporters:

Sup Mr. Potato. Love the content. I have a question for you, I've been lifting for about a year and a half and I've definitely seen some results. The problem im having i don't seem to be symmetrical. My right side looks bigger then my left side. What's going on?

Wassup, Sean, MY BRUDDAH!

Our bodies ALWAYS favor the path that with minimal effort and the least amount of resources can generate a positive outcome to whatever task we might be partaking in— why aren't we all ambidextrous? Why when you do some things with your left hand it kinda feels like you're dating a stranger— HAHAHAHA— asymmetry will arise in pretty much every domain that requires skill learning, so if you ever played any sport consistently during periods of your life— or just IDN, you sleep on the same side of your body every day— you can bet that you've already developed some imbalances that when you're in the gym executing mostly bilateral movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses with a BEAUTIFUL barbell over time gets exacerbated 'cause in an effort of introducing minimal effort and the least amount of resources, the stronger side of your body will compensate for the weaker side by taking the bulk of the load— hence progressing faster— hence further increasing the imbalance.

On a different note, you've gotta realize that most of us are VICIOUSLY SELF-CRITIC, we notice tiny details about us that not in a million years other people would ever realize, and potentially, DO NOT MATTER AT ALL.

Right now, I'm bulked up to 170-175, from my very wet 155-160, my abs are gone; maybe a legendary 2-Pac is still there, but the lower abs are GONE-GONE— I'm carrying a pouch that makes me feel like I'm 255lbs with a ginormous beer belly all over again, and it's only when I'm being a self-loathing bastard around my friends uttering things like "Oh, fuck, I'm ridiculously fat right now", and I'm met with "WFT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU LUNATIC", that I realize, oh, right, my perception of self is so distorted by being constantly bombarded by steroid-infused, photoshop-enhanced, perfectly symmetrical genetic elite social media influencers, that I simply can't trust my instincts when I'm evaluating my physique.

I need to sit down, download the app REASON back into my brain, and think of things in the proper context, where I started, where I am now, how much I progressed, how much work I've put in, and then I can feel good about the results that I've got.

Now, ALL THIS isn't to say that ignoring imbalances is a good thing, it's actually quite the contrary, in the beginning, the stronger side will pick up the way increasing the imbalance, and then eventually if it goes unaddressed, the weaker side or weak link in the chain gets EXPOSED, and that's where you fuck yourself up big time.

The good news is addressing this shit couldn't be more simple.

SWITCH YOUR BILATERAL MOVEMENTS TO UNILATERAL MOVEMENTS!

Switch Barbells to Dumbbells.

Do single-arm and single-leg exercises so you can identify which side is weaker, and slowly work towards correcting the imbalance by simply making sure that both sides can move the same amount of weight, and take the same amount of volume— muscle hypertrophy, muscle size as a quality fo the muscle, is usually directly correlated with how much VOLUME you can handle in that particular muscle or exercise.

Just to make sure we're on the same page here, you calculate volume like this— weight × sets × repetitions = volume— so if the left arm can curl 25lbs for 20 reps and 5 sets that's a volume of 2500, and the right arm can do 35lbs for the same amount of reps and sets for a volume of 3500, you just need to make sure to always match the loads you're using in the stronger side, with the weaker side, so you can even things out.

If both sides are equally strong, the risk of injuring yourself diminishes significantly, and you might be thinking "YO, but the stronger side could be even stronger if I just kept hammering"— and THAT'S TRUE if your goal is to simply have the strongest possible right arm 'cause you'll eventually become the next Devon Larratt and redefine what the word LIMIT means, be my guest— but if your goal is to be able to express strength optimally in something like the big powerlifts for a lifetime with minimal risk of injuring yourself, so you can improve your strength, size, bone density, ligament, tendon, and all the other soft tissue qualities, equalizing your strength is a sure road to victory— you can even ask Matt Wenning about that HAHAHA.

Lastly, if your conundrum is purely aesthetic, the best road to victory here is also equalizing volume and strength on both sides with unilateral exercises— and if after doing so, you're still feeling like your body is disproportional and asymmetrical, then just be good to yourself, bruh, odds are, it's just that inner-devil playing tricks on you, don't listen to it and accept yourself the way you fucking is, you know what I mean?

That's it, bruh, I hope I was able to shed THE MIGHT OF BRODIN'S LIGHT upon this darkness, my G HAHAHAHA!

STAY ON THE IRON PATH, MY BRUDDAH!

Big KISS

THE POTATO MAN

Hi guys, I'm going through a bit of a rough patch, I’m still at that scrappy initial stages ya feel me— if you want to help me keep helping other people BANG IRON and get their shit together, please, consider a paid subscription to this substack so I can keep producing content for you guys, yo, thx for reading this anyways, means a lot to me.

BANG IRON, MY BRUDDAH!