Validity of DB Exercises "Balancing Things out" Muscularly

Note: I posted because I thought this question didn't belong in the daily simple question thread - but I can post there if this doesn't belong as a post.

--

A lot of people say that, if you're muscularly unbalanced (say, right arm is stronger than the left), that you should switch to DB exercises instead, like DB bench instead of barbell.

Is there actually any validity to this advice? I feel like experiences are either anecdotal, or this is an easy cop-out answer to a more difficult question than most can tackle. Anytime someone asks this question in the Daily Simple Question thread, the answer is "just switch to DB", without any more context needed, and forgoing the knowledge to the newbie that they are probably going to progress a lot faster if they just stick to barbell.

I've been training for a long time, and personally have never noticed DB training to "balance things out". In fact I would say the opposite (emphasizing this is my anecdotal experience)

Keeping with the DB bench example - I understand that, you're forcing yourself to push the same weight on DB exercises. Like, you're gonna push 80lbs each arm, no matter what. But this isn't accounting for, say, RPE on each arm, speed of the push, or angle of elbow (one might have their weaker arm closer to their body for it to be more tricep dominant without realizing it). Ultimately, what I have seen, is someone holding back on reps so that their weaker arm can perform the movement.

Meanwhile, let's say you switch back to barbell bench. You're going to notice that your left arm is lagging behind on the lift a bit more than the right arm. Whether it's slower to push, craps out right before the right arm, etc. But in the past I have just kept training, trying to push on equal parts of the body and it usually fixes itself the next set or so. Typically, for me, spending extra time setting up, breathing, and bracing fixes these issues, or, I try again the next week without jumping up in weight and notice no weakness on the other arm.

Maybe the answer is a bit of both - continuing training barbell, but include DB variations as needed/wanted.

Thoughts?

submitted by /u/Rock_Prop
[link] [comments]

* This article was originally published here