Bringing Up Your Lagging Muscle Groups – Your Orthopedic Health Depends On It!
Here’s What You Need To Know…
1. Bringing up lagging body parts is more than just bodybuilding and broscience. Targeting specific underperforming or dysfunctional musculature and patterns can be one of the most powerful protective mechanisms to orthopedic health when implemented correctly.
2. Posture, chronic pain, and risk for acute injury can all be improved with a simple but intelligent approach to resistance training, placing specific emphasis on strengthening weak links in the kinetic chain.
3. Genetics plays an undeniable role in local muscular development. But instead of using this fact as an excuse, realize that genetics are only part of the equation and can be grossly overrated. You know what can never be discounted? Hard work and proper execution.
4. There are many ways to prioritize a lagging muscle group, but choosing the right method for your body, your skill level and your goals, is the key to success and growing again like a newbie.
More Than Just The Mirror Muscles
How many of you look in the mirror and notice that specific muscle groups could use a little more size? How many of you feel joint pain or discomfort during exercises that were once pain free? How many of you have ever used the phrase, “It’s just my genetics,” every time your training has stagnated and your goals seem unattainable?
If I had to guess, I would say that every single one of you is guilty of at least one of these, myself included! As lifters and athletes, we work damn hard to produce results, so hitting plateaus that keep us from our goals really tends to piss us off, understandably so.
What if I told you that there are ways to add mass to your lagging muscle groups, kick that nagging joint pain to the curb, and help you realize your full genetic potential? And no, this isn’t some lame ass late night infomercial trying to sell you a 5-minutes to Shred City product! Enhancing your weakest links isn’t some false promise; it’s truly what you are capable of, with a few fixes to your programming and execution.
Here are the five most effective methods that you can start utilizing instantly, in any type of training program, to bring up your achy, painful and lagging body parts and patterns and break through those plateaus once and for all!
#1 Prioritization
I would guess that the muscle groups you feel are underdeveloped are also the ones you train as an afterthought. Stop leaving just 10 minutes for calves at the end of your leg workout and wondering why they won’t grow. If that muscle group is important to you, as the old saying goes, “Take care of the most important thing first.” Stop searching for some sort of new striation on your rear delts when you already hit them with three sets per week at the end of your shoulder session.
Sit down and write a list of the muscles you feel need the most attention. Then give them that attention. Train them first thing in a workout when your energy and drive are the highest, and do it without modifying sets/reps/volume etc. This simple tip alone can make a huge difference, and lead some some notable changes in a relatively short period of time.
#2 Frequency
According to a study by Tang et. al in 2008, untrained individuals can stimulate elevated protein synthesis for up to 48 hours following a bout of resistance training. If you are reading this article right now on DrJohnRusin.com, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re not exactly in an “untrained” state! The same study indicated that trained individuals only enjoyed a 16 hour increase! That number is more accurate to us as an active population.
It is easy to see that perhaps the old standard of hitting each muscle group once a week is probably not optimal for maximizing hypertrophy. Furthermore, even training a muscle group two times per week might not be enough in terms of maximum growth. Obviously, this study does not take individual differences into account (i.e. that one friend we all have that doesn’t lift and has 20 inch calves), but it does shed significant light on proper frequency for muscle growth.
Try taking the same amount of sets and reps you would perform for a given body part in a session, divide by three, and hit them every other day. This approach is aimed at taking advantage of elevated protein synthesis levels as many times as possible in a given time period.
#3 Modify Volume and Intensity
Do more sets, lift more weight, right? If only it was that simple!
When your muscles have stagnated and halted in strength and growth, there is a good chance that you simply aren’t providing adequate stimulus for adaptation. In that case, you need to up your game. That doesn’t mean throw form out the window and toss around a bunch of iron that you can’t control. However, working in a little low repetition, high load training could help bust that plateau.
If you have already been training with low reps and high loads, focus on your form and keying that all important mind-muscle connection to unlock new growth. Our bodies only respond to change, so give it what it needs!
I’ve heard Dr. John Rusin state that the number one factor in muscular hypertrophy training is the novelty factor of an exercise or scheme. This is exactly what I’m talking about with the strategy to changing the set and rep schemes of your program. This not only makes training more fun, but it will shock your body into new growth and leave you devastatingly sore, if you consider that fun as well.
Find what scheme works for you and stick with it! Remember it takes time for our muscles to adapt, so switching things up every week is unlikely to yield the impressive results you are looking for. Be patient, buy into the methods, and the results will come.
#4 Simplify and Go Back to the Basics
Check your ego at the door, and focus on perfecting your form. Stop lifting weights just to move a bar and start strategically contracting muscles to accentuate every single rep.
One thing that I have noticed is that the most developed body parts on trainees are the ones that they enjoy training the most and have the best connection with. This is worth noting for a pretty obvious reason. If you know what it feels like to isolate a muscle, you can train it with as much precision as you desire. If you’re just flinging around weights aimlessly, you might as well go home. While intention is key for any notable gains, tension is the number one factor that will unlock your true growth potential for the long run.
Make a plan and take the time to rebuild a sound movement foundation. That means keying things like locking down your core, tucking your chin, retracting your scaps, etc. Learn how your body moves and which muscles are responsible for which actions. By taking a little extra time now to educate yourself, you will save yourself from a lot of confusion and frustration down the road when your muscles are refusing to grow.
#5 Don’t Ignore The Role of Proper Nutrition and Quality Rest
Make sure that you are providing adequate fuel for your workouts. This seems too stupid to even mention, but you’d be surprised how many lifters go into workouts fasted for half a day and think they will still be able to generate notable size gains.
Don’t know where to start? Try adding some additional carbs on days that you train lagging body parts so that you have enough gas to keep training at a higher intensity. Carb cycling can give you the fuel during the days that you need it the most, your heavy resistance days.
If you want to take it to another level, prioritize those carbohydrates around your workout window. I’m not talking about the debunked half hour after a session that you must chug down a $7 smoothie seconds after your last set, but rather an hour or so before a training session until an hour or two after that session. That’s a more sustainable window, and one that will work on multiple fronts of muscle growth.
You’re not growing in the gym, so focus on what you are doing outside of your workouts as well. Get enough rest and food to help your body grow, or else all the advanced training metrics in the world won’t do shit. Monitor your daily postures, get adequate sleep and drink some damn water, otherwise known as hydrating.
Simple stuff, but these variables are what makes a foundation damn strong, and will battle the test of time, leading to growth and building up those lagging body parts!
About The Author
Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body. Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder.
Follow Ian’s Blog here: padronperformance.wordpress.com
Related Posts
