Making up for a weakness in bodybuilding

Posted on: 02/23/2021

Catching a weak spot isn't as easy as it sounds. Many have tried, but few have succeeded. But beware: if you have weak points, it's necessarily because you have strong points - it's all relative! Weaknesses appear fairly early in a bodybuilder's life, and can be genetic. Even if it's unlikely to transform a weak point into a strong one, you can still try to rebalance your physique a little. Naturally, our muscles are neither perfectly symmetrical nor very harmonious. Our left arm is not the same size as our right, and our thighs develop better than our torso, or vice versa.

A true weakness is characterized by two criteria:

It develops less easily than the average muscle
When on a low-calorie diet, it's the muscle that loses the most mass

toovercome this dual problem, we first need to identify our real weak points, and then provide a targeted response.

Adopt the right training techniques

In bodybuilding, the priority is not the load, but the muscular sensation. Unlike weak points, you've probably noticed that your strong points respond well to training. Congestion and muscular fatigue mean that you feel strong sensations, so you feel the work better. The same applies to your weak points.

Apply yourself in order to perform lighter sets, but with the most perfect execution technique possible. Concentrate as hard as you can, so that you can feel the area you're working, with a slow pace of execution and continuous tension. Hold the load during the eccentric phase, and explode during the concentric phase! To get a better feel for the muscle you're working, you can also start your workout with an isolation exercise. This is the pre-fatigue technique(discussed here), an intensification technique often recommended to get a better feel for a muscle that's not responding well to training.

Be careful, however, not to overdo it, and don't focus expressly on one muscle in particular, as you risk over-training! Find the right compromise: reduce the training of a strong point somewhat, and increase that of a weak point. It's also a question of proportion: the faster your strong points develop, the more your weak points will seem to lag behind!

Rest: of paramount importance

restisessential for recovery and muscle building, and this applies to all muscles. Our advice would therefore be to give your lagging muscles a little extra rest in the days following their training. If you have a strong point, ease up on those trainings, and concentrate on the weak points, so they'll have more energy for their evolution!

Try the "100 repetitions" technique

The aim of this technique is to increase the oxidative capacity of the muscles involved. In other words, to help oxidize fat! All bodybuilders are accustomed to training short sets with heavy loads, which means that their bodies easily use blood glycogen, and a little less fat.

The "100 repetitions" technique is all about stimulating our capacity to burn fat. But that's not all: by performing such long sets, we boost our ability to get blood flowing to the muscles we're working, triggering better congestion, and therefore the supply of nutrients and hormones.

However, this technique will only apply to basic exercises, and will be performed with a light load. To put it into practice: when working on a specific muscle group, perform a few sets of 100 repetitions on your weak point, but don't overdo it!