One of my blog readers had asked me to write a blog on lagging body-part development. Before elaborating the technique, let me point out the common mistakes that people do.
Let’s face the truth. Let’s think logically and rationally as a bodybuilder. We are not going to the gym to compete in an endurance contest. Most of us have the ambition of a beautiful physique.
A body-part is lagging in development because it is not able to grow at the speed of the other muscles. What does this imply?
The growth process is slow in this particular muscle.
It takes more time to recover in comparison to the other muscles of the body.(the recovery ability is less)
Train the muscle less frequently. I have explained the growth process earlier in my blogs but still I will explain in short here. When we workout we dig a hole into the reserves of the muscle cells. When we rest and provide proper nutrition to the muscle we cover up the hole. When we leave adequate time between the next workout we will overcompensate for the upcoming stress on the next workout. But if we train before the muscle fills its reserves and starts overcompensating, if we train the body-part again, we do not grow but we deplete the reserves again. So the reserves never come to full. When we are not able to fill in the complete reserve how will we gain muscle tissue?
As I said earlier I am going to elaborate with the help of biceps. Load the barbell with weights with which you you can do no more than 6 complete reps. Keep it ready. Now do two sets of preacher curls with dumbbells. Do one very light and one moderate heavy set. The whole idea here is to bring some blood into the bicep with some isolation movement.
Now get your concentration fully into your bicep and lift the barbell. Curl the weight for full six reps. It should be really challenging to complete six reps. The reps should be performed in a slow manner. With each rep taking 6-10 seconds. Remember challenges make life more interesting. You have 12 seconds rest now before you continue your program. Immediately after completing 12 seconds of rest grab the barbell again and now complete 5 reps out of the same. I know that it will be more challenging but this ain't any ordinary set. Its gonna shock your muscle to growth. It is going to send a strong impulse to your muscle to grow. So imagine your bicep growing and visualize a 20 inch arm of yours. This should be enough motivation to complete the 5 reps. Now you have an option to rest for 10 seconds. Quickly massage your biceps and make them ready to continue the workout. Now lift the bar again and squeeze another 4 reps. I know that your biceps would have started screaming by now. But remember this is going to give your lagging part the potential to grow and grow more. So complete the 4 reps. Scream, shout , cry and do what so ever you can to withstand the pain and complete 4 reps but don’t cheat your movement. Now you have 8 seconds to rest. Quickly shake your arms to flush out some lactic acid and now grab the bar again and squeeze for another 3. Had bodybuilding been so easy everyone would have been Mr.Olympia. So you have to put your complete effort into the workout. Now you have 6 seconds to rest. I know that by this time lifting your own arm would be a pain, but you have completed 80 % of your workout. So just few more seconds of workout left With that positive attitude pump two more reps. Now you have 4 seconds to rest. Remember “no pain, no gain”, “no guts, no glory” So just Do one more rep and you are done for the day.
That’s all. Your workout is done. Don’t train your bi for the next 10-15 days. And don’t do any kind of weight training the next day.
You will really be amazed with the results after just two workouts.
The nutshell:
Warm-up Preacher curl – 2x10
Barbell curl – 1x6
12 sec rest
1x5
10 sec rest
1x4
8 sec rest
1x3
6 sec rest
1x2
4 sec rest
1x1
When you do your normal set, let us say 10 reps. The first rep is the easiest, the second rep is relatively tough and so on. Only the 10the rep is tough enough to stimulate growth. But in the super heavy duty rest pause method explained above, except the first 5 reps all the other reps are growth stimulant and a battle to complete.
Always the result of hard work would be great. So look forward to great muscular development. Don’t over do this training. Do not try to do more than one set of this training, you might end up in hospital. So train optimal.
Choose good compound movements for following the same technique for different muscle groups.
Break through your sticking points of growth and achieve your personal bodybuilding goals. May your dreams come true.