Started by Awesssss, February 7, 2015 · 3 Replies · 3,644 Views
My left arm is weaker than my right arm, I can feel my left arm(/shoulder) give in faster than my right arm.
How do I strengthen my left arm? Should I do my pull ups by grabbing the bar with less fingers with my right arm and a full hand with my left arm?
Work on exercises that will load your left, but not your right arm. Work up from there. That is the safe approach.
If you train pulling exercises with only your left arm you might end up creating bad habits and bad movement patterns. It is very difficult to just pull correctly with a weaker arm/shoulder, when you have been pulling incorrectly earlier.
My left arm/shoulder was also significantly weaker, but going through basic rows is slowly alleviating this issue.
To fix the strength imbalance in your body, just push or pull more with your weaker arm than your stronger arm.
Another thing to consider is if your arm is really weaker, or if it has a bad recruitment pattern. For example, my left shoulder wasn't retracting properly during pullups and my right side was much stronger and bigger. Now that I've improved my activation on the left side, my pullup number suddenly went up 
. I do have a twisted ribcage which makes my biomechanics different from most people, but faulty recruitment patterns are somewhat common.
I also think I read somewhere that squeezing with you weaker side more improves activation.