Left/Right Discrepancy

[joev9]

I tried to go through the threads to see if this had been addressed previously but can't seem to find anything.  I'm finding a pretty obvious difference between my max ladders starting right hand first versus left hand first. Yesterday, I was able to complete 1-3-5.5 (moon spacing) and 1-3.5-5.5 with the right going first, but could only touch the higher hold when going left hand first. I was even able to touch rung 6 from 1-3.5 starting right, and was way off the 6 on 1-3.5 starting left.

I did strain my left shoulder about a month ago so this doesn't surprise me.  I have 2 questions for the esteemed board:

1. Should I hold back on my "starting right" campus sets to keep in pace with my "starting left" or should I be trying 1-3.5-6 starting right but not left?

2. I do some supplemental exercises for my shoulders but can anyone suggest a specific supplemental exercise that might help my left catch up to where my right is?

I'm not really complaining too much as overall these are PRs on the campus board for both sides, but I'm wondering if I should hold back on the right to avoid making the discrepancy worse or if it even matters. I can always just seek out boulder problems that favor my right side, ha ha....

[erk]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just keep trying to set individual PRs for each side. A lot of people have asymmetries that go unnoticed until you start doing mirrored workouts (like campusing).

My left lat is significantly stronger than my right. Even though it sounds kinda silly, it doesn't mean I should let my right lat hold my left lat back from achieving its true potential.

[MarkAnderson]

I agree. I'm usually stronger leading left. One season I made a concerted effort to really focus on my technique when leading right, and as a result I caught up and surpassed what I could do leading left. Then I "taught" the same technique to my left side, and it quickly re-gained it's rightful place (pun intended) as the superior leading hand. Anyway, I try to do the best I can with each hand. Climbing isn't symmetric either. Some days that discrepancy will work in your favor (some days it will work doubly against you).

For SEs, I think one arm pull-ups, assisted as necessary, are about the best you can do. But again, my left arm is strong on 1-arms, so it hasn't really helped with my discrepancy. Each arm has gotten stronger at roughly the same pace.

[aikibujin]

I think Mark brings up a good point, strength is only one variable in the equation. Don’t overlook technique and coordination. I also do better when leading with my left hand, but I think my problem is more of a technique issue. I’m better at timing the swing of my center of gravity when I lead with my left hand. When I lead with my right hand, I tend to reach up too early when my CoG is still swinging, limiting my reach. The difference is pretty subtle, but enough to create a one rung difference when I lead with my left hand vs. with my right hand.

[joev9]

Nov 8, 2016 9:57:11 GMT -7 aikibujin said:

I think Mark brings up a good point, strength is only one variable in the equation. Don’t overlook technique and coordination. I also do better when leading with my left hand, but I think my problem is more of a technique issue. I’m better at timing the swing of my center of gravity when I lead with my left hand. When I lead with my right hand, I tend to reach up too early when my CoG is still swinging, limiting my reach. The difference is pretty subtle, but enough to create a one rung difference when I lead with my left hand vs. with my right hand.

Thanks for this post. Up until about a year ago, I was really, really bad at campusing. So bad, that I avoided doing it for 20+ years. Finally bit the bullet and just started slowly and am now getting ok at it. My technique is probably pretty poor so this might be my issue.