How to develop lagging muscles?

To develop lagging muscles effectively, several key strategies can be employed based on insights from fitness experts on the Mind Pump Podcast.

1. Focus on Muscle Connection: Ensure proper technique and muscle activation. When performing exercises like the bench press, many people unintentionally use their shoulders and triceps instead of their chest, leading to lagging chest muscles. Focusing on squeezing and isolating the target muscle helps activate it more effectively 1.

2. Use Lighter Weights: Instead of increasing the weight, use lighter weights to better connect with the lagging muscle. This principle helps ensure that the muscle is doing most of the work, which is crucial for development. This approach can be applied universally to any lagging muscle group 2 3.

   • 

     1

     Muscle Connection Matters

     00:29:33
     
   • 

     2

     Strength Training Insights

     00:00:01
     
   • 

     3

     Muscle Connection Matters

     00:12:22
     
   • 

     4

     Borrowing Training Volume

     00:04:16
     
   • 

     5

     Lagging Body Parts

     00:03:41
     

3. Adjust Training Volume: Rather than simply adding more exercises or sets for the lagging muscle, redistribute your training volume. This means taking away sets from well-developed muscle groups and adding them to the lagging ones to avoid overtraining and ensure balanced development 4 2.

4. Isometric Holds and Slow Reps: Incorporate isometric holds at the end range of motion and move slowly through exercises to increase muscle activation. These methods enhance the recruitment of the lagging muscle and improve its growth response 2.

5. Variety of Exercises: Sometimes, changing exercises can help activate the lagging muscle better. For instance, using different variations of squats or bench presses can help focus on the quads or chest if they are lagging 5.

6. Consider Symmetry and Maintenance: It's important to realize that the amount of training needed to maintain current muscle size is less than the amount needed to grow. Therefore, you can reduce volume on dominant muscles without them shrinking significantly, focusing more efforts on the lagging muscles to achieve symmetry and proportion 4.

Implementing these strategies can help bring up lagging muscle groups and achieve a more balanced and aesthetic physique.