Work Your Lagging Body Parts Hardest

WORK YOUR LAGGING BODY PARTS THE HARDEST

It makes sense to work your lagging or weakest body parts hardest. Doesn’t it?

But that’s not what happens! You start out that way but most often your ego kicks in. You grind. You’re working hard. You’re sticking to your program. Suddenly you find you are working more on the things you are good at; the movements where you can move the most weight. Or the movements that get you most the attention and most complements on your progress.

The movements that are hardest for you or the parts no one ever compliments you on suddenly begin taking a back seat. You’re not getting compliments on your legs for a reason! They look like toothpicks.

Bodybuilding

Symmetry is what get’s you high marks (on stage or in real life). Ok, you’re not a professional body builder. I understand that. But did you ever stop to wonder why symmetry is what judges are looking for? It’s because symmetry is what people find attractive. It’s a scientific fact that a symmetrical face is more attractive to other people and the same holds true for the body as a whole. It’s called the “Golden Ratio”.  I won’t bore you with math but you can go to http://ignorelimits.com/fitness/golden-ratio-in-bodybuilding-how-to-build-a-timeless-aesthetic-physique/  People tend to work hardest on the parts they can see in the mirror. (Chest and arms mostly) and neglect the parts they can’t see in the mirror.

 Instead, of using the mirror to judge you progress use photographs. (Front, back and each side). Take them or have them taken on a regular basis.  You will likely be in for a big negative surprise unless you’ve been working on the lagging parts.

Strength

Maybe you’re not as vain when it comes to looks as most people. You just want to be your strongest. The same thing happens. If you are better at a given exercise you’ll eventually catch yourself working harder on that exercise. The bench press is the best example. The minute people discover you lift the first question is “How much do you bench?”

If you prefer to bench press when the gym is crowded but find yourself trying to do squats when no one is looking you’ve “drank the Kool-aid”.  There will come a point when your progress will stall. You won’t get stronger and you won’t gain mass. You’ll think you’ve hit your genetic ceiling. You are neglecting the lagging areas.

Weight loss/fat loss

Do you get a lot compliments on the weight you’ve lost? That’s great! That was your plan. But have they seen you in a swimsuit?

If you’ve lost weight but not replaced at least some (hopefully most) of that fat loss with muscle you drank the “Kool-aid”, too. If you lose fat without adding muscle to increase your metabolism you will probably not be able to keep it off. And it’s not likely you’ll look good in a swimsuit.

You are also leaving yourself open to increased chance of injury. Imbalance is often a root cause of many injuries.

·        Train the body parts you can’t see harder than the parts you can see.

·        Train harder on your weak lifts than you do on your strong lifts. And I’ll give you odds that you strong lifts will increase as you get better at your weak lifts. Muscles don’t work in total isolation

·        Don’t work on a goal of losing weight-work on a goal of losing fat and

replacing it with muscle

SEND YOU QUESTIONS TO alphaedgefitness@gmail.com  If I don’t have an answer I’ll find someone who does.