Sixpack on the left side

[CatalinWeb]

Hi ladies,

year resolution was to have a sixpack and.. I almost got it! BUT, it is see-able on the left side only. Funny enough, I do not have a 8, 6 or 4 pack.. I have a 3 ! UH!
I didn't go to gym. I'm 19 and I practice home. I didn't focus on making muscle, although I did some exercises for that matter (mostly Reverse Crunches, but also V-ups, Hip Ups, and leg raising on the sides). The leg raising on the left side went poorly most often but I didn't get a hint that something is wrong ( ). That unbalance probably grew since I bike a lot (last weekend I did a 200km trip). The unbalance originally came since I fell from the bicycle and almost broke "meniscus". I didn't stop from biking and used only one leg for it ( ).
What should I do to make it the same on both side? On the right side it's a flat - like I didn't work out in the past year at all. A week ago I tried to make 50%+ exercises for the right side. Is that a good solution? Should I focus entirely on the right side? Should I continue "doing" thing and maybe.. focus on doing the proper exercises for both sides? What do you think?
I am not looking to be a muscle builder or something. Just "shape fit"!

Surely enough, thank you in advance!

[Boss Man]

Hi Catalin, perhaps I may be able to help you.

Is it possible at all that you could show us a picture of what this looks like? If you can't or wish not to for any reason, that is perfectly okay and I wouldn't think anything less of you .

[CatalinWeb]

Hi Boss,

I can not take a picture now since I don't have a camera. I will tomorrow, tho. Nevertheless, it would be kinda awkward.
Anyway, an idea that you could possibly get from the photo is that there is no line/shadow separating the lower ab and the next one .. since they don't exist (they are too small). Image

I am currently doing 50% more exercises for the right side and maybe i'll get some results. I don't think many have this problem and I have no idea where to find a possible solution. What do you think?
EDIT: I also read recently that I shouldn't focus at all on abs since they fat is all that matters and instead focus on building muscle on other areas. That's probably true but they should be the same size, anyway. As a side note, since I am right-handed, left arm is also weaker then the right.

Regards,

[Alinshop]

Interesting....curious to see a photo...but not in a creepy way.

[Boss Man]

It doesn't matter about any photos Catalin, as I'm sure we can try and mull over your predicament anyhow.

Abs can be trained indirectly with things like deadlifts, squats, power cleans, dragon flags, wood choppers etc, but you can target them directly as well.

This seems like it could have been a technique problem with one or more areas, where you have over emphasised one side of the abdominal area versus the other, assuming that is that it is not a physical trait you were born with.

The main thing to potentially do would be actually to try and emphasise one side more than the other as you're doing, but instead of trying to do more work on the side with the quirk, reduce the work on the more prominent side and maintain the normal emphasis on the quirky side.

This is potentially possible, for example doing things like side planks with more reps on one side, torso twists with more reps one side, punch situps with more reps on one side, leg raises with more reps on one side, then when your abs hopefully appear symmetrical, then even out the workload.

You will find like some do that the abs are not symmetrical in terms of being exactly opposite each other, as some people have what appears to be lopsided abs, almost as if they could have three on one side and four on the other and if that happens that's just nature and you can't correct that to the best of understanding.

[CatalinWeb]

Thank you, Boss! Got it.

[CatalinWeb]

Hi,

I'm back ladies and gents. I moved into UK a week ago I'm one of you now
So here is what's happening: As I was telling you, I used to bike a lot. I can do that no more now and I started jogging. I'll tell you as many details as I can give as they are a bit fresh in mind. So.... I didn't run in life before coming here, beside running to catch the bus - of course. I ran 4 days ago and It was almost all right.. for half a mile. I got room mate who's been jogging since he was 8 and we had quite a talk during our run .. so maybe that distracted me a bit from pain. After 75% of the 1 mile-path I gave up. I didn't stretch afterwards and I didn't feel any pain the next day, until 7-8 pm (that would count up to 24 hours). I don't know the term for that but fellow said that it was a cramp. The cramp (pain) was located in right lower abs. I thought that could be because right abs are lower then the left ones (the original topic); also, it was first time.. so I ignored it. I run again 4 hours ago and after 50% of the run I gave up. This time we didn't talk that much but I don't know if that was it. Other things worth mentioning: I did exercise abs and did push-ups until exhaustion until yesterday - nothing today. I ate a bit of chocolate (75% cocoa) and a pizza 15 minutes before the run. There was also a bit colder tonight then before. Did a 1 minute stretch before the run where as the last run I did 5 minutes. I tried to go through the pain since fellow said that I don't have determination. After a little bit, he told me to stop because I might get injured. So I am having these thoughts: Could all the differences between the run that I had 4 days ago and today add up to the poorer result.. Or, is it that body isn't evolving fast enough (should I rest more?less?). Also, Should I push through the pain? If so, how much? How do I know when I get injured? And the last one: Since I feel that right low abs (the ones that I'm the having problem with) are getting "worked out" the most, does it make running the best exercise for me? Should I even ask you all these questions or should I just do, tweak what it doesn't work, do, tweak again?. Is there such thing as "listening to your body"? because I don't seem to be doing it right.

Thank you guys.

[Boss Man]

Hi Catalin.

It's s difficult one to call, but I'd say try to push through the pain to some extent. What sort of pain does it feel like, does it feel like a stabbing sensation, does it travel, or does it feel like a burning sensation?

If you're getting a sensation that feels like part of your abs are bit knotted, you might just be getting a stitch and therefore if you regularly run 3-5 days a week it should hopefully dissipate with time.

It could then be that your body isn't used to the running, or maybe even your technique is a bit unusual I:E: your have one arm that moves differently to the other, as some people have a running style where one arm appears to flail.

However the answer to question might provide more insight.

The pizza before a run though, not great

[CatalinWeb]

Hi Boss,

I don't know exactly how to explain it because I didn't experience this kind of pain in life. I would go, though, with the stabbing sensation.

It's just that when I workout biceps or whatever, the pain is there but it's small, I can go through it, and simply, when I can't it's just it: I just stop or I fall. body can't do any more of the exercise and I know that. I give it a rest. Whereas in the case of running, I feel like everything is all right, feet are good to go, breath is at a nice tempo and it's just that little part of the whole body that's like a knife would go through body. Although I didn't check the other parts of body, it seems like that portion of the body when I stop is very tense/hard. I don't know exactly what "knotted" means but could that be it?

I'll look into running style. It's probably bad since I just got started but it feels fine to me.

Regards,

[Boss Man]

Knotted means something feeling like there's a kind of twisted sensation.

[CatalinWeb]

Knotted means something feeling like there's a kind of twisted sensation.

I don't think that's it :/

I'm stuck. Should I just go through pain?... How do I know when I'm about to get injured? What is "injured" anyway? It's not like I'ma break leg or something.

[Boss Man]

I'm not sure the pain is necessarily an indicator that you're about to injure yourself, it sounds like what myself and some people would call a stitch, as if someone has got a tight muscle in the rib cage area.

You could try and run it through and see if it dissipates over time.

You might also be influencing with your running style, if for example you have a running style where one arm tends to flail and the other doesn't, so you might find having both arms in a fixed static position might work best.

[CatalinWeb]

Okey. So, In the past 2 days I've been running 2 times a day, once at 7am and once at 7pm for a mile. I'll do that for one week or two and see what happens. I know that I might get injured and strange fucked up things could happen from exercising the same muscles and not giving them rest, but body is already fucked up. How fucked over could it get?... I ran 3 hours ago through rain and coldness and I didn't experience the pain so much as I did, say, in the morning. I probably hit some animal instinct in me that made me "get happy" and get back in the cave, in safety. So.. yeah! Oh and.. I'm also changing some things in diet. Since mommy isn't here to cook, I got to do it and I refuse to buy already-made food... 90% of the times. So... I'm eating breast chicken, broccoli as protein, and potatoes, rice as carbohydrates. Somewhere along the lines I add milk, yoghurt, bread, ham, cheese, and.. chocolate. These days I'm trying to measure things in about the right quantities and put them in containers. Ok this is not diary but .. just in case someone wants to know what a desperate man does - lol.
See ya

[Boss Man]

It sounds like the feelings you were getting in the ribcage area seem to be dissipating with time, so if you keep persevering, you might find they disappear completely.

[CatalinWeb]

It's quite a different pain from what I experienced before. I think running is the exercise that works abs the most. I couldn't run in the morning so I did a walk. Now, there was no pain at all for half of the road, but after that, the left abs started to burn. 2 minutes later both abs were hurting like crazy. I guess the rule "if one half of the system is not working, the other one will take it's role" applied.
One question: why do I get itches in the abs area?

Also, thanks for your assistance mate!!