Left Right Strength Imbalance: Cause & Fix

[@goedman5489]

Everytime I think of something I want to know about climbing, Mani makes a video about the topic. Keep it up!!!!

[@ManitheMonkey]

glad to hear that, it's a pleasure, I will!

[@maximedelmas]

Fun fact : I grew up left handed, always having my left arm stronger. I started climbing indoors 1 year ago, and now my right arm is much stronger and muscular than my left one. And I feel more precise with my right hand now, outside of writing. One of my hypothesis was that right handed route setters (that are the most frequent) tend to design problems that rely more on right side. Maybe you guys have any idea ? I didn't think about the different types of power that Mani talks about in the video though.

[@ManitheMonkey]

Thanks for the interesting input, regarding route setters, could definitely be that there are simply more right handed man-made problems out there, since probably more route setters are right handed, and they often test their own problems out themselves. Another reason why natural outdoor problems are so valuable.

[@torbjoern1]

@@ManitheMonkey I can confirm that it is a thing, and a lot of my fellow routesetters don't think about it enough.

[@camilleo2817]

Yep. I’ve noticed that in my gym 90% of toe hooks and heel hooks are done with the right leg. Same with dynos, right hand. I find it quite annoying

[@shawnington]

I have also noticed this. I didn't know I had a strength imbalance, but I am left handed, and now in social distancing. I have noticed that my left hand is much weaker than my right, and I think it is because of right handed route setters.

[@philippn.6716]

I totally agree with this! I am right handed and my rights arm is stronger than my left one. Nevertheless my right arm gets pumpy way faster during climbing. The confusing thing is, that I can feel it too if I'm working out on Moonboards. I think due to climbing so many right handed set routes in the Gym, the whole body learned to focus much more on the right hand. I try to set myself porblems wich include the left hand as much as possible to work on this imbalance.

[@TheSuperLegoMan100]

it all depends on which hand you choke the chicken with

[@davide871]

About the stronger locking power of the left arm. I Saw a video where they also asociated that to the way we would prefer to clip the quickdraws. Since we would rather clip with our right hand, our left hand locking power is more developed. So I think even pure outdoor climbers would experiment that syndrome, but maybe in a different way. I also agree with the point you made

[@ManitheMonkey]

Interesting point I haven't thought of so far!

[@davide871]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGPQfYB_gMZ4b68 here is the video from Geek Climber where they mention it.

[@DanielDavies-StellularNebulla]

Mani can I just say that your participation in responding to people's comments here in the comments section is awesome! It's actually such a cool thing to actually see as most big youtubers simply don't have the time to respond to all the comments. It's refreshing so keep it up, you're doing great!

[@ManitheMonkey]

Thanks for the feedback, doing my best (:

[@ljc4721]

Really reassuring to see this subject addressed and find that it's not just me, so cheers Mani. I had a dramatic difference between my right and left arm(slightly embarrassing), and without realising this I started training to reach the next grade - doing weighted pull ups etc (without enough research..) I quickly triggered tennis elbow in my right arm (dominant arm). Gutted. After a break from climbing I became more aware of this and started leading any arm excersises with my left (weaker side) first. I also warm up and stretch more often too, which I really lacked before - another obvious mistake I was making. The main solution to this imbalance and healing my injury for me was general excersising, adding more non climbing specific workouts into my routine that were to build up a good foundation of muscle that would help with the intensity on joints and tendons from climbing. I now feel like I have healthier arms and to my surprise they seem more balanced too! Self care can go a long way.

[@TuvofLuv]

Just dropping a like and comment, cos I know it helps.

[@ManitheMonkey]

appreciated (:

[@iamillasfuck]

​@@ManitheMonkey You deserve everything good that is coming your way Mani, you are truly an inspiration and a scholar.

[@josephearley9530]

Interesting topic about the stronger non-dominant side phenomenon. Personally I put this down to our dominant sides having a weaker alignment than our non-dominant sides. I'll try to explain: I think this is because we spend our whole lives reaching for things (using a mouse etc) with our dominant hand and over time this leads to our dominant shoulder falling down and forward, and poor alignment (typically some sort of scapula impingement). The opposite is true for our non-dominant side which is typically less well-used and so the shoulder remains high and pulled back. I think this means that our weaker sides have a more (shall we say) natural alignment (in terms of scapula position, internal/external rotator balance and connection to lower back muscles) than our dominant side. So when we get on the one armers the non-dominant side feels smoother and back dependent, whereas the dominant side feels usually feels like we're grinding it out mainly with our arm. I think this could also help to explain the greater grip strength in the dominant, as we have simply used that hand more often throughout our lives. This theory seems to work for the OAP phenomenon which I think relies on back muscles more than forearm strength, whereas grip strength is probably mostly forearm dependent and so our dominant side might perform better for pure finger strength. I think the phenomenon could be explained by subconscious preference in the gym, but a part of it might also be day to day postural habits and preference as described above. Cheers for the videos. Fascinating - as always

[@the_soap_opera]

i definitely have the phenomenon you proposed. right handed but better at left-arm lock-offs.

[@cshanek]

Mani what I would really like covered in depth is the million dollar, age old noob question ... Am I lacking more in technique or strength? The default/safe answer is always technique, but I feel there are probably some pretty good indicators at times that it would be more advantageous for progression to work on strength. Specifically I would like a more experienced climber to itemize these "hints" that should tell you when to turn up strength training, and when to focus a little more on movement skills.

[@lukascmuchalek8663]

I am sorry to you Mani, I will never forget to leave a Like any more! Thanks for great content. It helps quite a lot to stay mentally sane. :D

[@scvrush]

Really appreciate how you always go into great details in these videos. Very interesting and I think the injury management bit you mentioned briefly could make a great topic for another video.

[@ManitheMonkey]

Thanks for the feedback Phat!

[@connormccafferty5288]

Your common sense, pragmatic approach is always appreciated Mani!

[@carlobenettoni4271]

Super ueful video as usual! I was a tennis player for about 5 years (right handed) before starting climbing, so my right arm (and generally right side) is significantly stronger than the left side, unfortunately this is causing some injuries on the left side around my scapula/shoulder and i think that is because my left arm cannot keep up with training. By climbing and doing more varied movements it was not a big problem but in these times of quarantine where i train two arm pull ups and two arm hangs it started feeling like a big problem, so now i started training one arm at a time to see if things can change (one arm assisted hangs and pull ups). Anyway thanks for the tips and when i go back to climbing i will try to make some kind of simmetrical problems, and i will also try to train my left arm a bit more than the right (if my injury doesn't get worse). Hope to see you again this summer around Trieste and baratro crag! :)

[@jurajgazdarica5332]

Hey Mani, you hit the point I mused about some month ago. Firsty, yes I like video, I leave comment and like too. I did mostly fitness/weightlifting for about 12 years, now I do climbing for 4 years (but first 2 still more fitness), and focus mostly on climbing for 2 years (now I am on grade round 8a, V8). As you said, all we wanna see our progress, best performance, doesn’t matter what kind of sport. This is my case, too. Even I focused on disbalace, I couldn’t train just that way, because no bigger progress come in that time. But on the other hand, this kind of training make difference afterwards, a little. Wonder, it probably depends on the time you spend training. But in my opinion, it is mostly about genetics and logically muscle volume. I never did one armers before this winter, because I thought it was really challenging for me. But 2 month ago I change my training a little and try to pull up on beast2000 (biggest middle hold) and did one without any special training, surprise (not perfect but decent I guess). But absolutely surprisingly for me, on the left injured arm (epicondylitis 😊, golfer elbow. Dave Macleod is right, I am just weak 😊). I didn’t understand that and mused about it. I think, except of genetics, it is all about muscle volume. I have stronger fingers, arm and especially biceps on the right arm. But for example, I did and stil do many pull-ups. During years, not only right side of my upper body but also left side naturally did pull-ups. Since my left arm is weaker, subconsciously my latissimus (and other connected parts) getting stronger on my left side. I always tried to keep on decent technique. So yaeh, my both sides of upper body did 1000s of pull-ups but right side preferably using forearm and biceps and left side using latissimus. Maybe I am not correct, but this is my explanation - genetics plays a major role. Look forward to your next video.

[@ManitheMonkey]

Thanks for the detailed input Juraj, interesting!

[@pierodamico4985]

Hi many, I'm a prevalent outdoor climber and I show the same differences between left and right just like you, cause a golfers hellbow issue on left side. I noticed in exercises like pull UPS (netrual grip or supinated for less stress in hellbow) a kind of 'shaking' in some points, cause this healing injured arm. I think at the end of training that the good arm take a 'better' training stimulus and recovery even at the same load, maintening the imbalance. A fun thing, genetically i'm a left hander, the weak side at the moment!

[@Hyrtsi]

Thanks for the video! This is true for me and my climbing buddies, too. It just has to be balanced out and hopefully that's going to help getting grades up and begin more in balance

[@jacobfriend5363]

I am now almost a purely outdoor climber. I am right handed and my right arm is stronger by far in terms of lock off/pull up power and finger strength. There definitely is no left arm advantage for pull ups in my case.

[@millacabral9475]

I'm a pure gym climber due to circumstance, but I rarely train on the forty fiver because my gym has very good setters that update the boulders regularly (Bloc Shop in Montreal). I am rh and my right side is significantly stronger throughout my body, and in my arms my right has been consistently stronger, but finger strength wise they are about the same, I think. However, I have noticed that my left hand has a stronger grip, or is at least more endurant than my right. Which just sucks, because I can't grab onto something solidly with my left and start the movement from it since my pulling strength is weaker on that arm. With home training I can adress these imbalances better tho, practicing my weak-ass lock offs on both arms. Today I found that I shoot down at about the same rate on both arms, so that's promising

[@mateobekemeier]

really liked the thing about 1 arms. i do lots of sytems wall and can do 10 second lockoff on left and 5 on right. ive never noticed the thing about finger strength but ill try it.

[@sanderv941]

I believe he said 200grams instead of a Kilo, but could be wrong

[@ManitheMonkey]

You're right, I re-checked, he said 200grams less in his left arm! Dunno why I thought of a kilo, my memory of the video wasn't as solid as I thought.

[@arnesl929]

I remember he did talk about this in an old clip somewhere, before he stopped competing I think, he did work to correct it. (If I remember correct it was more like 400g initially) I was wrong about this I did find it and it was 200g he did there as well.

[@lumiamerda5658]

I'm right handed, do very little gym, and my right arm is stronger while my left hand has more finger strength: it seems there's a common pattern of crossed strengths, anyway I would be cautious in attributing it to the gym. I guess it's in some way balancing out strength differences

[@derekxiaoEvanescentBliss]

I'm a purely indoor climber, however, I'm not at a high enough level where I have to make up my own climbs. I've done a few soft outdoor V5's and climb V6/7 in my gym. Interestingly, my right arm is much much stronger than my left arm in terms of lock off (0 seconds vs 6 seconds). So it seems this still somewhat supports your view!

[@iamillasfuck]

I mostly climb indoors as well, if you take a look at the problems a lot of route setters make, they all kind of tend do drift to the right. Once seen it can be unseen!

[@robertbuschlinger2422]

I have the sane problem. My left side seems to be stonger although i am righthanded. There are abs visible on the left side of my stomach while there are none on the right. When fingerboarding, the right hand is always the one which nearly seems to slip. However the left side is the one which in the end always gets injured. I had shoulder impingement, "hook-muscle-strain" and several luckily minor finger issues all on the left and nothing i can remember on the right. Sadly correcting this by trying to do imbalanced training always seems to backfire because the left hand will simply compensate, leading to even more unfair strength gains for the left compared to the right.

[@SimonDengler92]

Hi Mani I also think that the setted indoor problems have the same problem because most routsetters have the same imbalance. I train a lot on the tensionboard (mirrored 45 ° system wall), it did made it a lot better. I think that made me stronger. Greetings Simon Hi Mani, ich denke auch das die gesetzten Hallen-Probleme das gleiche Problem haben, weil die meisten Rutensetzer die gleiche Dysbalance haben. Ich trainiere viel am Tension Bord (gespiegelt 45° Systemwand), das hat es deutlich besser gemacht. Denke ich bin dadurch stärker geworden. Gruß Simon

[@mangiari]

I think it's 100% habits. And yes, injuries and being right or left handed has strong influence on habits. I'm super weak in lock offs and I was very far from one armers my whole life. Right was always my far stronger arm. Since 3 years I have a baby boy and for several reasons you always tend to carry babies on the left side. Keeps the right hand free for doing things like cooking, brushing tees... Also babies typically prefer left side, because of the heart beat. And although I'm quite bad in training, I can now nearly do one armers with left. Some 15kg assistance needed. Just from having the baby sitting on the 90° bent left arm all the time. My leg has the injury proof. My right knee had an unhappy triad, still 10 years later does not feel as healthy as the right one and body just always uses more force from the left one. As soon as I drop my level out training for some weeks, my right leg looks like the one off my skinny girlfriend (just more hair) the left one like the one of an elephant. With all the bad consequences for hip, lower back and so on...

[@trevorwitt1718]

I’m left handed, I am about to try it out

[@paumoreno7929]

Keep with these informative videos Mani!

[@cylosgarage]

I desperately needed this video mani, I’ve been struggling with this for a while. Thanks for the advice!

[@corneliuschoong6349]

I have the same issue with a stronger left lock off. Would have suspected it was because I was more comfortable clipping with my right hand. However, this was before I even began serious climbing so the stronger left lockoff really baffles me. Also to note, this is even though I have had a SLAP tear/ dislocation and surgery on my left arm before. Am usually worse when dyno-ing left VS dyno-ing to the right too...

[@corneliuschoong6349]

Now my theory is that right handers have overloaded our right shoulders which have a lot more wear and tear, hence superior right shoulder strength in lock off positions. Right arm is more used to doing over head work so right is stronger when pulling. Not sure if that makes sense... the main thing would be to resolve the issue/ reduce it so that it doesnt lead to further problems down the road.

[@alede5206]

Interesting video. I also notice that I lose my left front split when I don't train flexibility. But I keep flexibility on my right leg. Imbalance is not only on the strength

[@joolsgrommers1466]

The Moonboard isn't mirrored, but there are quite a few (wood) boards that are. It's strange to use them, as it's also body positioning, legs, foot placements etc that are different. Very useful, because even if it is genetic, what are you going to do? Not train? Are the injuries caused by the imbalance? Just a thought...

[@omgwateverlol]

even outdoor problems, the person who set the route who would be right arm dominated would notice what is possible for a right handed climber. Would this not be true as even though the rock is not man made the problem found on outdoor problem is a man made construction of thought.

[@ManitheMonkey]

Interesting thought. However, quite often lines are bolted outdoors which are not climbable by the bolter (or simply not climbed by the bolter because they only bolt, or bolt so much that they are busy and more psyched for bolting etc.), but merely regarded as "probably possible" (climbable by someone who's stronger), therefore the problem could be more disconnected from the climber and his/her preferences than in an indoor setting, regarding the moves if they are left completely natural (a good point was made when someone mentioned clipping positions, and bolters could potentially put their preferences down in a route when deciding from which positions to clip, more right handed since more coordinative etc.). But you're right, even the stronger crowd coming to try those hard unclimbed problems, which they haven't even bolted, will also tend to be right handed. Right handed routes will be climbed quicker and easier, and end up in the topos, maybe more than left handed climbs. Maybe some super hard still unclimbed but regarded as possible outdoor projects are in fact just left handed, who knows. So it could be, that outdoor routes display a grade shift in terms of left right imbalance, left arm demanding routes are "harder graded" than necessary for a theoretical even armed individual, because we as humans have on average weaker left arms, and right handed climbs are "softer graded" than necessary for a theoretical even armed individual seeing as we have on average stronger right arms. Funny stuff to think about.

[@iamillasfuck]

"man made construction of thought" fucking deep.

[@hugodeneffe9953]

Hey Mani, i think that doing symetric hangs/pulls would logically rebalance the strenght between your arms. Doing asymetric exercice , as you said in the video, is one of the main causes of that unbalance. So if you train with two arms weighted instead of one arm, the balance should come naturally i think. Interesting subject anyway.

[@ManitheMonkey]

If you're not limited by genetics/asymmetric injury, yes that could work.

[@PeterEmski]

Hey Mani ! Great vid as always :) could you tell me where you've talked about one armer on jug is pointless ? Cheers

[@arnolodo]

Mirrored spray wall would be awesome!! My right arm is quite a bit bigger and stronger than my left but in the same way gets pumped out faster on hard outdoor routes. I think thats because I subcounsiously rely on my right arm more and crank down the holds harder, clip with my left hand etc. etc. Anyone got any tips for that?? Probably focus on that problem and climb more aware? Greetings from Vienna to Greece

[@thebusko]

Moonboard is not symmetrical, I think you meant the tension board

[@nicrosser1428]

You could just start most training sets with your weak arm. If one set is basically two one arm hangs or whatever. That could help even you out

[@TheJustinConnor]

I’m right handed and find that most of my serious injuries have happened on that arm/hand - rock climbing related and otherwise. I assume it’s because I favor it in more injury prone situations or just put more wear on it in general. Although I can’t do a 1-arm yet, I’m closer on the left hand!

[@janneskonrad7918]

Hey Mani do you think alot of climbers supplement collagen and do you think it's helping climbers in general? Thanks for the frequent videos!

[@begga9682]

Thanks!

[@samr2733]

Hey man ! First of all I think even a "pure" outdoor climber would tend to use beta which make better use of his/her strong side so I'm not sure it would be that useful to look at. Second of all about the "big muscles" strenght difference in favor of our "wrong" side, I think it's due to the fact that (in our daily life) we do most of the precise tasks with our "good" side and most of the heavy, straight forward tasks with our "wrong" side. That would explain it ! As for me I have a small difference between my two side and all of it in favor of my writing side, so not very helpful. Interesting vids ! props

[@iagoofpvp]

Great video mani! In these Lockdown days, do you changed your eating habits?

[@ManitheMonkey]

I eat a bit differently yes, because I'm in a village in Greece now, rather than because of a lockdown.

[@DanielDavies-StellularNebulla]

@@ManitheMonkey Ahh so lots of greasy food now then? Ah I love and at the same time, hate the English language 😅

[@theminzconlol]

Been climbing for about a year, climbing V6ish indoors. My right grip strength and upper arm is way stronger than left.. Been struggling with tendinitis from overuse (training 6 times a week) in both arms. My experience is different to yours, my right arm lock off on a jug is about 16 seconds. The left arm I can't even do 0.5 lol

[@amr1t_]

holy crap, how were you maintaining 6 times a week? were you climbing all 6 days? I feel so tired after doing 3-4 times a week for 3-3.5 hrs

[@arnesl929]

Hm I Also have stronger left than right, when it comes to lock of one arm, but nothing else, (except maybe arm wrestling). But not grip or curls.

[@jakobelliott2182]

I have been right hand dominant my entire life, But in climbing my finger strength AND lock-off strength is stronger on the left. My two armhang-boarding has plateaued (or at least adding more weight or going to smaller edges seems high risk of injury) so I only train one arm dead hangs. Normally I can add weight on my left arm but I struggle with my right. Lately I have been training no weight on either arm in order to let my right arm "catch up", especially since it seems I have all this time to train without worrying about outdoor or competitive goals. Thoughts on this way of evening out??

[@worldsaways717]

I’m left handed and big surprise, my left hand is stronger in most grip types. I wonder though what you would think Mani of how scoliosis may impact a climber’s training. I have an S shape with about 15 degree angle in the lumbar region, and 12 degree in the thoracic. My shoulders are not even and it makes hangs feel unbalanced for sure.

[@pajaroprofeta]

i'm left handed yet i have more power with my left arm (only side i can do one armers) buy my fingers are stronger in my right hand (and also more prone to injury) So i don't know if this aren't really general rules or i'm just some kind of exception. I'm guessing it's not the same being right handed than left handed, since some daily tasks requires using your right hand, but right handed people almost makes no exclusive use of their left hand.

[@dark-o]

Is the moonboard symmetric? The standard one, I have seen 2 versions, was not.

[@JohannesZiegenbalg]

No, it's not. I guess he means the tension board.

[@ManitheMonkey]

Could be that it wasn't actually a moonboard set which I saw, but some other system board setup. What I know is that symmetric system boards exist somewhere out there, unfortunately I've only seen pictures of it (:

[@dominicsch530]

I would rather aim for v14 and v13 arms instead of fixing the imbalance ;)

[@camilleo2817]

My left arm is stronger but the left fingers are weaker. My right arm is weaker but right fingers are much stronger. I’m right handed

[@eryberto87]

Great video, i was thinking about moonboard and simmetry. How do you think they managed this issue, by stacking one moonboard next to another just mirrored, or by creating orblem that are simmetrical inside a single moonboard?

[@ManitheMonkey]

Thanks, I think it's a symmetrical hold set inside of one moonboard area.

[@FelixSalomon]

There are already symmetrical boards out there such as the Tension board - it's really interesting to see the difference between left and right facing version of the same problem!

[@CroBarakuda]

Was 100% left handed till i broke my left hand. Now mostly right handed for any power specific stuff and left handed for precise work. Left or right handed I think it can be trained. I played football with my left hand in the cast and shooting with my right felt better so that is how it all started. My opinion is that mostly if you have a strong grip you don't have to compensate with the rest of your muscles and vice versa and that is what creates that imbalance. To fix it the best way would be to work on the weak points of each arm. Regarding the tendinitis I found that Dave MacLeod has a good video about it that helped me overcome mine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZqwppinnqimjKs

[@eryberto87]

first!

[@abel2226]

My right arm is also stronger then my left arm if you know what I mean😏

[@LeoTaxilFrance]

The balcony is not at all beautiful!

[@rodbuster416]

If u didn't ask for the like I wont give it