Lagging bodyparts thread . . .

T

TheRock

New Member
I recently posted a thread asking for advise on how to bring up my lagging delts and got some good replies (thanks), I also used the search function and looked at a few other threads on similar topics . . .

Anyway I was thinking maybe an article should be added to the FAQ section on how to bring up lagging muscle groups. It should be helpfull for many of us as we all have a genetic weak point. What do you guys, (and gals) think? good idea? or not :confused:
 
Well, to bring up lagging bodyparts is a matter of increasing volume of exercise for that bodypart.

Is it a good idea? Yes, why not? A general overview on how to bring up lagging bodyparts is a good thing. Application of HST principles to a particular problem will provide better understanding of the HST principles.

What say ye?
 
I was kinda suprised when I my arms weirdly stayed almost 1 cm smaller than their max size during the 15`s and first days of 10... then I cut down to just 1 set for bi`s and tri`s instead of 2. Just after 2 more workouts of 10 reps, they recovered better (they felt full the day after instead of 2 days after ) and size regained;-) phew...

But they are not really a lagging bodypart... perharps they just got too many sets with the indirect work on chest/back.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Dianabol @ Dec. 28 2003,4:45)]Well, to bring up lagging bodyparts is a matter of increasing volume of exercise for that bodypart.
Click to expand...

[b said:
Quote[/b] (Keel @ Dec. 28 2003,6:52)]... then I cut down to just 1 set for bi`s and tri`s instead of 2. Just after 2 more workouts of 10 reps, they recovered better (they felt full the day after instead of 2 days after ) and size regained;-) phew...
Click to expand...

So 1 guy says add more volume and exercise . . . Another guy says he got better results when he cut the volume from 2 sets to 1 set.
I would definately like to hear more opinions. We could all learn something from this.
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I say the first step is to analyze why the muscle is lagging. Is it genetic, like calves? Do you work it last in your routine, when you're out of gas, not that you'd be out of gas with HST. Is your technique or exercise choice poor? Is the muscle group rapidly conditioned?

If you can narrow down some possible reasons for a lagging bodypart, finding the solution should be easier.
 
Before I knew HST, I would do 9 sets per bodypart every 3 days or sometimes 3 sets every day with pyramid ups and yeah, I'd be sore but it didnt kill me. I'm interested in knowing how often you work your arms, Keel. If you can only do 1 set every 2 or 3 days, I'd say thats a major endurance problem. Supersetting and trisetting are good at working your body's endurance and allowing you to do more volume. I know HST doesnt focus on high volume, but it does say that if you can handle the volume you should. More TUT means more growth. More volume means more lactic acid and such. I'd be concerned with only doing 1 set. It seems to me a healthy but not obsessive amount of volume would help bring up lagging body parts. Also, spreading that volume over exercises that work the muscle differently. Like doing some regular curls and some preacher curls in the same workout. The weak link theory. Your bicep has to grow w/ your brachialis and other synergists.
 
My problem might be glycongen retention which might be more apparent with arms since I can measure them very accurate. Because last week, I had a few days extra off due to illness(just a minor headache, but bending over was killer), and even while I was ill, they became bigger an harder just after one extra day of rest. Now, a week since the last workout (I did a chest workout on friday, and just legs on saturday to see if I did not get ill again..couldn`t risk doing fullbody,
so, well... today and yesterday have actually progressed to my max size ever again. Not bigger than a few months ago during arm workouts once a week (I did a 3 day split for 2 months due to HST boredom, and gained 1 cm on my arms during that time, which shrunk gradually a few mm`s after every training day during the late 15`s and early 10`s back one full cm. ... talk about depressing...

So I`m naturally doubting HST is right for me.....
 
You're eating insufficient carbs during the week. Combined with higher volume you will be slightly depleted, so a day of rest - or fewer sets for a muscle group - will allow glycogen to refill. A higher volume on exercises stretching the muscle under load, combined with more aggressive increments will bring up lagging bodyparts. Just make sure to avoid overtraining - you may have to cut back volume on other muscle groups. Sometimes muscle imbalances, nerve impingements, or trigger points will limit the load you can use on an exercise.
 
i read in the faq that larger increments will increase more hypertrophy than small increments (5lbs). small increments will still give hypertrophy and will greatly increase strength.
my biceps are lagging.. i'm using small increments since my workout is inclined hammer curls. i can't do Ez curls for injury reasons (i used to do this). do you think i should stop growing my back first since it grows really fast?
i'm doing 1 set of 15s, 2 sets of 10s, 3 sets of 5s...and planning to do negatives on my biceps and bully them to grow. 4x a week training. 2900 calorie diet.
why do you think it's lagging?
any ideas?
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My arms are my lagging body parts. They grow, just not as fast as my larger muscle groups. I would like to bring them up in size in relation to the rest of my body. But, since my main concern right now is abdominal visability, should I wait for a bulking cycle to do arm specialization programs? Wouldn't muscle specialization programs be a waste of time and effort if I am not going to be eating hypercalorically? Isn't calorie surplus/hst training the most important factor for gaining size especially if one is not using androgens? I am going to embark on a PSMF diet (1200 calories per day) using HST and low intesity cardio on weight training off days for my 11th HST cycle.
 
How long are you planning on doing the PSMF for?

I've done it a few times, allways for one day though. It really does alot in one day, i'll tell ya. I can eat really bad for a couple days and 'erase' the mistakes in one day of PSMF. It's beautiful.

But i don't think it would be a good idea for a FULL HST cycle, unless you're having some refeeds or something, i don't know.
 
More aggressive increments are limited by your maximum though (whether it changes by say 5-10lbs throughout the cycle or not). So you can only aggressively increment until your max, and then if you keep working at that (no negs) you'll get RBE right?

Question: if using high frequency - 6x per week full body - then how can one aggressively increment? This prob isn't applicable during the 15s or 10s, but during the 5s I imagine it comes into play more.
 
i got a question!!!
for example i do dumbell curls . but since it's a lagging bodypart, i could do an extra workout for that (avoiding overtraining) as long as load is progressing ?
 
Skinnyman,
If your arms are lagging but everything else is growing at a satisfactory rate, you could try doing an arm workout twice a day.
You say your back is growing very fast so pulldowns to hit the biceps may not be what you want as your back will grow exponentially with twice a day training.
Try doing your regular workout but on the same day do another workout, similar to an AM/PM split except you are only working your arms twice a day. This is easy and effective (I have done it) as your second workout only involves about 10 minutes of exercise.
If twice a day training is not an option for you, it seems to be the general consensus that an increase in volume will help. Good luck to you.
 
Another thought: you might consider moving arms to the beginning of your workout, if you haven't already done so. You'd be hitting 'em fresh and would be able to use heavier weight. I did this when I wanted to bring up my delts this cycle and it has definitely worked.
 
Hey :)

For lagging body parts, you may tackle them with different strokes.

1) Improve exercise choice. For example, you want to bring up the arms, and you already have a lot of heavy compounds. You decide to add in isolation during the later part of the cycle, but you add an exercise that has a stretch which is only comparable to the compounds. This won't work. When you are loading the arms with the heavy compound core lifts already, that added iso won't work unless it has significantly more stretch. So the right exercises would have to be those with greater stretch like incline curls. Also, know how to properly incorporate isolations into your routine. That little bit of knowledge certainly won't hurt.

2) Just do them first while you are fresh - so either do them at the start of the workout or, a little more extreme, do them on a separate split. Being tired or "out of gas" can make an exercise less effective. Try doing this one before upping the volume, otherwise you'll probably have to up the volume for that exercise for the entire cycle to keep on staying ahead of RBE, which might be a problem as you get heavier and heavier with all your other exercises, especially the compounds.

3) If 1 and 2 don't work, increase volume. Especially if arms, they might be getting RBE much faster than the larger muscle groups, especially if you have a lot of compounds and a lot of isolation work early in the cycle. Countering RBE requires upping the load, or upping the volume. Since you probably can't up the load (because you are midcycle already and are following a plan), you need to up the volume.

If they still don't gain or gain too slow, perhaps you are approaching your genetic limit for that part already. If your forearms or arms don't grow or hardly grow anymore, maybe you ar getting closer and closer to your genetic limit. For example, small-boned people less than 6' in height may only have a genetic limit of 16" on their arms and 12" or 13" for their forearms, and growth may get slower as they approach that.

If you are sure you are far from your limit yet, maybe you are not doing the exercises properly.

If they still don't catch up, well, I'm out. I simply don't know what else. Maybe get AAS or something :D

Regards :)
-JV
 
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