Dominant / non dominant side imbalance

[fuwhereisfu]

Hi All,

First post here (been reading a bit though). I ordered a copy of RCTM a few months back now and it has been great to add structure to my training. I am currently working through the beginner campus routine and it has highlighted an issue I have with strength in my dominant (right) vs nondominant (left) side I'm hoping someone might be familiar with. Basically I am a lot stronger on my right side, my gf has pointed out my lats, triceps, etc are more developed on that side too (moreso since campusing). When doing a B1-R3-L5-B5 I have no issue but struggle on B1-L3-R5-B5.

I haven't noticed but guess that I am much more comfortable doing some moves with my right instead of left or vice versa. 
Could anyone suggest some climbing-specific tips to help me balance this out a bit? continuing to work the campus board making sure I only do as many right side as left side starts is helping I think, and I do this with other exercises, but when it comes to climbing I'm not sure how to target the left side.

Thanks any and all!

Matt

[MarkAnderson]

That is pretty common. Over many years I've seen one side lag at certain things, then catch up and pass the other, then fall behind again and so on. My right bicep was always stronger, but after a few nagging injuries now my left is significantly stronger....

I think the best thing you can do is to make sure you are giving equal time and effort to each side in training. In theory, we should be applying optimal training stress all the time, to both sides (note I said "optimal", not "maximum"). Some might think "I should train my left side harder so it can catch up". But if you are already striving to train optimally, then you can't train the left side any better than you already are. So the only way to even things out is to slack off on the right side. I don't think that makes sense. If you do that you'll miss out on an opportunity to improve. Rock climbing is not symmetric, so being a little bit stronger on the right side might make the difference on some future goal route. Also, you can't predict what might happen to your body in the future. You may experience a plateau, injury, or some other thing that will cause your dominant side to stagnate or regress. If you climb long enough, and train evenly, that dominance will likely oscillate over time, eventually resulting in a fairly even average.

If you campus better on one side, it can be tempting to do more sets on that side, to boost your perceived performance, but I would strongly recommend against that. For one, favoring the dominant side will likely make the disparity grow. Second, you will miss out on a tremendous improvement opportunity. For example, for years I was better leading left on the campus board, so I really focused on my technique and effort when leading right. I've improved to the point that most of my recent PRs were set leading right.

[erick]

To keep myself balanced I try and do as many 1 arm supplemental exercises as possible. For example, 1 arm rows, 1 arm pull ups (with a pulley system), and KB clean press, 1 leg squat. This makes sure one arm can't do more work and I find that if you only ever train to pull with both arms at the same time with the same force it can be negative for climbing.

[fuwhereisfu]

Thanks for the replies guys. Good to know its common and not something to fret about too much.
With the campusing I've been tending to focus on the weaker side more (i.e. repeating until I get it) in trying to even it out. It is more with my bouldering that I feel a bit of disparity growing (although this could be in my head!)
I'll give those 1 arm sup exercises a shot.

Cheers
Matt