My left side body mind muscle connection or body feels completely different than the right help!

[GZ21]

Couldn’t find a thread related to this problem, but just recently everything I train besides legs feels completely different. I was just left completely defeated today after a back day, where the right side of my lat mind muscle connection and pump is great and strong, whereas my left side almost feels switched off. Even when I hit chest when I’m benching and try and pinch my scap the movement just feels completely different when performing the movement and contraction.

My left and right side of my body just feel like two different unconnected unsymmetrical things. I’ve been leaving the gym completely discouraged as before this problem occurred my movements and mind muscle connection on both sides of my body felt godly. I need any kind of input or advice or knowledge of what could be going on with me it’s killing my progress and every single workout I have, thanks meso as always much love.

 

[jJjburton]

Couldn’t find a thread related to this problem, but just recently everything I train besides legs feels completely different. I was just left completely defeated today after a back day, where the right side of my lat mind muscle connection and pump is great and strong, whereas my left side almost feels switched off. Even when I hit chest when I’m benching and try and pinch my scap the movement just feels completely different when performing the movement and contraction.

My left and right side of my body just feel like two different unconnected unsymmetrical things. I’ve been leaving the gym completely discouraged as before this problem occurred my movements and mind muscle connection on both sides of my body felt godly. I need any kind of input or advice or knowledge of what could be going on with me it’s killing my progress and every single workout I have, thanks meso as always much love.

Pinched nerve? Whats dominant hand?

Do some unilateral work for a while.

 

[GZ21]

Pinched nerve? Whats dominant hand?

Do some unilateral work for a while.

been working with unilateral movements except for chest the movement still feels wonky gonna get some opinions from physical therapist and chiropractor now that I think about it maybe it is a pinched nerve or something of the related. When I do a lat spread my left lat won’t spread and contract, this has never been a problem for me before. Thank you I’ll see what I can find.

 

[BigTomJ]

Do you have a visual or strength imbalance between your two sides?

 

[GZ21]

Do you have a visual or strength imbalance between your two sides?

No strength imbalances except I’d say when I dumbbell press my right pec and arm (my dominant hand) are slightly stronger than my left. But visually I do feel like there are imbalances but in that case it might be in my head or even my posing. Now I’m second guessing if this is all just a basic mind muscle connection issue, It just doesn’t make sense to me that all the sudden I’m so unsymmetrical when it comes to my connection.

Excuse the lighting and small man in this photo but here is something to maybe work off of. The second picture may not be a great representation with a phone in one hand.

I apologize to everyone if I sound like a baby about a simple mind muscle connection problem that I’m overthinking just left feeling awful about my lifts.

 

[BigTomJ]

No strength imbalances except I’d say when I dumbbell press my right pec and arm (my dominant hand) are slightly stronger than my left. But visually I do feel like there are imbalances but in that case it might be in my head or even my posing. Now I’m second guessing if this is all just a basic mind muscle connection issue, It just doesn’t make sense to me that all the sudden I’m so unsymmetrical when it comes to my connection.

Excuse the lighting and small man in this photo but here is something to maybe work off of. The second picture may not be a great representation with a phone in one hand.

I apologize to everyone if I sound like a baby about a simple mind muscle connection problem that I’m overthinking just left feeling awful about my lifts.

I dont see any glaring visual imbalances, and since strength is comparable between both sides i wouldnt be concerned on your perceived MMC.

its fairly normal to have a greater connection to one side or another, especially in the back.

for shits and giggles, you can buy a cheap tens/ems unit off amazon and watch a few tutorials for pad placement and try some occasional sessions on your back/lat to improve perceived MMC, but again i dont think its necessary

 

[GZ21]

I dont see any glaring visual imbalances, and since strength is comparable between both sides i wouldnt be concerned on your perceived MMC.

its fairly normal to have a greater connection to one side or another, especially in the back.

for shits and giggles, you can buy a cheap tens/ems unit off amazon and watch a few tutorials for pad placement and try some occasional sessions on your back/lat to improve perceived MMC, but again i dont think its necessary

Much appreciated for your time I’m gonna buy the tens unit and see what results I can get thanks so much.

 

[BigTomJ]

Much appreciated for your time I’m gonna buy the tens unit and see what results I can get thanks so much.

yeah it might help you develop a better mental connection with that area.
but you have pretty good back development and from those photos looks reasonably even, so i dont believe your MMC imbalance is impacting your results directly

 

[Benf15harp]

Huh?

 

[GZ21]

Huh?

What’s up? I was concerned about a severe imbalance in my mind muscle connection between my left and right half I bought an ems/tens unit to see if that helps with the problem not much else to do or say here.

 

[laclark89]

You could have a pinched nerve in your neck, I have a herniated c6 or 7 and My left arm and left lat atrophied.

I dont see any glaring visual imbalances, and since strength is comparable between both sides i wouldnt be concerned on your perceived MMC.

its fairly normal to have a greater connection to one side or another, especially in the back.

for shits and giggles, you can buy a cheap tens/ems unit off amazon and watch a few tutorials for pad placement and try some occasional sessions on your back/lat to improve perceived MMC, but again i dont think its necessary

That's a great idea tom I may try that myself.
Any tips on getting my lat and arm to balance back out some? Mabe a few extra sets on the weak side? I know it may never be the same but my spine surgeon told me as long as I can flex and extend a muscle it can regain size and strength.

 

[GZ21]

You could have a pinched nerve in your neck, I have a herniated c6 or 7 and My left arm and left lat atrophied.



That's a great idea tom I may try that myself.
Any tips on getting my lat and arm to balance back out some? Mabe a few extra sets on the weak side? I know it may never be the same but my spine surgeon told me as long as I can flex and extend a muscle it can regain size and strength.

How do you recommend I figure that out chiropractor or some sort of scan?

 

[laclark89]

How do you recommend I figure that out chiropractor or some sort of scan?

First x ray then mri, it's a stupid process.
I wouldn't let a chiropractor touch me personally.

 

[BigTomJ]

Any tips on getting my lat and arm to balance back out some? Mabe a few extra sets on the weak side? I know it may never be the same but my spine surgeon told me as long as I can flex and extend a muscle it can regain size and strength.

Ive never had to personally deal with it, so i might not have the best experience to pull from there specifically regarding a spinal injury/surgery.

however generally, when dealing with imbalances for whatever reason (injury, genetic, training induced, ect) I am not in favor of adding additional volume to the weak side in an attempt to rebalance it.

if youre benching, and you are not centered with your grip position and the bar is imbalanced as a result, you wouldnt add weight to one side to try and rebalance it. It is my opinion that attempting to compensate for a imbalance is more likely to make the imbalance worse.

my preffered approach when tackling imbalances in appearance or strength is to ensure mobility is comparable on both sides, make sure im incorporating isolateral and bilateral movements, and when performing iso movements train the "weak" side first and match reps on the strong side.
outside of that, even in healthy individuals without an injury history there is going to be some level of unavoidable imbalance, so my primary focus would be to try and get mobility and strength similar and then the appearance SHOULD follow.

beyond this, when theres a nerve issue or an atrophy issue, some targeted stim or deep tissue work might be all thats needed. I recommend finding a PT or similar in your area that works with lifters and understands the various issues we come across.

 

[BigTomJ]

How do you recommend I figure that out chiropractor or some sort of scan?

you would likely know, in a lot of cases youll have numbness/tingling/pain in the case of an impinged nerve.

 

[laclark89]

Solid advice thanks for the reply.

you would likely know, in a lot of cases youll have numbness/tingling/pain in the case of an impinged nerve.

This is 100 percent true especially in the advanced stages. However it is possible to have a herniated disc and have no idea.my dr told me iys actually pretty common.
.

I dont really think hes herniated either but,
I think my injury built up over a few months or years then 1 day it finally fully went and pinche the nerves off after a hard work day. I was noticing the weakness only no numbness a few months before it being diagnosed.

 

[Benf15harp]

I’ve used this method to help with fecal incontinence.

 

[OldGHGuy]

I will just say that its easy to obsess on this sort of thing and once it gets in your head, it snowballs. When I feel this way (and BTW it is normal to a degree) I have always focused on simple, compound movements with lower reps during which I would visualize/feel the muscles equally on both sides. I dont think you want to start doing isolation nor extra reps on one side or the other, as this will just compound the mental "seperation" of that side from the other. Now, if tou have some physical issue with a nerve or something that will require medical attention obviously.

Try wall pushups with an exercise ball, for example. Focus on the complete chest and both tris as you work through 10-12 reps for 3 sets. Are you able to "feel" both sides equally (or almost equally"?

 

[Sector]

Id say the warmup sets are the best place for establishing the mind muscle connection. Beyond using them to just warm up, that's where you really focus on trying to feel the movement as much as possible, so that when you do increase the weight, you can hopefully replicate the same thing. It also becomes easier to lose the mind muscle connection if you ramp the weight too heavily and start sacrificing form for the sake of strength.

Rear delts for instance: lets say I'm doing rope facepulls. I'll start off with an obnoxiously low weight and do that for 1-2 sets so that I can zero in on the rear delt activation, then after I feel I've got the "groove" down for targeting the rear delts I'll increase the weight. If I just jumped immediately to as heavy of a weight as I can do, I'd still probably be activating the rear delts through the exercise, but the mind muscle connection wouldn't be nearly as strong