The Elite Physique

How to Develop Your Lagging Muscles

I’ll Show You EXACTLY How to Develop Your Lagging Muscles for a Balanced Physique…

Develop your lagging muscles

Lagging muscles are a huge frustration to anyone training seriously! Let’s face it. When you trained day in and day out, week after week, and month after month you want to see SOME results from all that hard work, blood sweat, and tears.  It’s a big disappointment when you step back and take a look in the mirror and see that you still look exactly the same.

You can thank your lagging muscles for that.  It’s one of those under par body parts that just doesn’t seem to respond no matter what you do.  Understand it’s not your fault.  The fact is, the human body doesn’t just become that to-die-for physique you imagine just because you workout. There’s more work and a bit of detail that goes into it.

Guess what? You CAN make dramatic changes in just 8 weeks and improve your lagging muscles. In fact, if you can dedicate just 2 months, that’s only 8 weeks, I can assure you that you can bring your lagging muscles up to speed and actually see visual improvement, not to mention a boost in strength in that area.

Sounds like a pretty cool deal? Okay, let’s go then…

woman working weaker body parts

You Are Not Alone

One of the most sought after goals in bodybuilding is improving lagging muscles.I’m not going to lie to you.  My inbox is CONSTANTLY slap full of questions about how to bring up a under developed body part. It’s not uncommon for someone to have one, if not more, weaker muscle groups. The concerns can be anything from floppy triceps to totally under-developed hamstrings.

Just so you know that you are not alone you need to know that everyone, yes, EVERYONE, even top men and women physique competitors, bodybuilders, female bodybuilders and figure competitors have a lagging body part. It’s a universal fact. A lot of IFBB Pros do a great job at hiding their weakness and showing their strengths. That’s the art of the sport which comes in proper posing.

Even if you don’t have a goal to compete in a physique contest, it’s still good to know how to keep weaker muscle groups up to speed with the rest of your body so you have that overall balanced look.

results of training lagging body parts

The Small Steps Lead To Success

One thing to keep in mind with your workout is to improve each training session. You always want to strive for progression. Strive for perfection, but that perfection is built through progression. Are you with me? It’s as simple as this: With every small improvement, you’ll improve overall muscle development.

You see, when you improve an under developed muscle group, you will improve your other lifts. For example, if your hamstrings are weak, your squat is going to be somewhat weak. But, if you manage to bring your hams up to speed, your overall squat will improve, in turn, improving overall leg development. That’s a 2 for 1 shot!

man showing is best muscle group

Avoid Being Intimidated

Most people with a lagging body part don’t necessarily like to train it or they are intimidated by training it. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. How often have you seen someone with a great upper body, but as your eyes move down their legs are virtually…. not there!

A lot of people are intimidated by leg training because it’s a very intimidating body part to train.  To improve your weak muscle you need to give it a bit more attention and this may mean to start at square one and lift lighter and progress the poundage slowly.  Too many people are overlooking the QUALITY of the rep and just slinging heavy loads.

Drop your ego, lower your poundage and focus more on your rep, tempo, stretch, and contraction.

man and woman battle off

Train Your Weaker Muscle Group at the Start of the Week

That’s right. Suck it up and train your lagging muscles early in the week when you are well-rested and mentally pumped. This is the time when your motivation and strength are at their highest. Capitalize on this time!  Fusion Bodybuilding notes, “The point is to overload the muscle early in the week and come back later in the week and really focus on squeezing out the reps and getting the best of both worlds [with a feeder workout].”

Work Your Lagging Body Part First

Prioritize your training so you tackle that area you hate first in your workout. This is to ensure that it gets targeted with your full attention when your mental and physical strength are at their peak.  So, if your back is weak and you can’t get it to respond, hit it FIRST in your workout on back day.  Typically, when someone leaves a weak muscle group last on his or her training agenda, that body part either gets skipped or it’s given only 30% of the attention it’s needed.

under developed lats being worked

Start Your Training Off with a Compound Exercise

To really take full advantage of improving that lagging muscle group, being your workout with a compound movement. A compound exercise is a multi-joint exercise in which all the muscles of that precise area are called upon to perform the movement. Compound exercises are you core muscle building exercises.  Follow-up with 2-3 isolation movements for a high-quality workout.

Do a Feeder Workout

To amp-up your weak areas, toss in a feeder workout during the week, about 1-2 days after you hit your lagging muscle group. A feeder workout is a short, high repetition workout a day or two after the principle workout. It provides the muscle in need another stimulation session and drives blood, nutrients, and oxygen into the muscles without putting you into over training mode.

The idea of a feeder workout is to keep it short and simple, and just rep out. Choose an exercise for the body part and do 1-3 sets of 50 reps.  That’s it.  You’re done with the feeder workout.

proper form on deadlift

Below is an Example of a Training Program and Feeder Workout for Legs

This is just breaking the tip of the iceberg.  If you really want to improve your physique and create a well-developed physique with great symmetry, you shouldred arrow pointing down check out my Free Bodybuilding Report Below…

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Don't Forget...

Download my FREE Guide on how to build muscle and lose fat to totally transform your physique.

>> Instant Access <<

Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT

Don't Forget...

My name is Karen Sessions and I am a life-time natural female bodybuilder, multi-certified fitness instructor, author, specialist in performance nutrition, and a success coach. I've been in the fitness industry since 1988! I teach people Just Like You how to transform their bodies, get in shape, build muscle, lose fat and compete in Bodybuilding, Physique, and Figure Competitions. When you have the CORRECT information you can have total confidence and turn your dreams into reality... and I can help transform YOUR body. I have helped THOUSANDS of clients reach their goals and I can help you, too. Be sure to grab my free gift above so you can start moving toward your goal.

More About Karen

Related Articles