5 Quick Muscle Building Tips for Lagging Muscles

When it comes to building muscle there are some core principles that we must follow to be successful. Things such as progressive overload where we slowly increase the load we must adapt to (increasing reps, weight, etc). Also, making sure we are eating enough and specifically getting enough protein to fuel and sustain muscle growth. Despite our best efforts though there are just some muscles that seem to fall behind and refuse to grow which we call lagging muscle groups. When it comes to overcoming plateaus we tend to stray from the normal recipes and concoct special programs and initiatives to help spur the growth in the body part we desire. Whether you're working on your lagging biceps or your trying to grow that butt John Romaniello has some interesting tips you can try to jump start that growth

1. Increase your lift speed: By increasing the bar speed you will force your body to learn how to recruit more muscles quickly. This increased neurological efficiency will not only help you be more explosive but should also increase the amount of muscle recruitment across your lifts
2. Perform Unilateral Exercises: Unilateral (or using one side) to exercise will stimulate the recruitment of High Threshold Motor Units (HTMUs) and like tip 1 will escalate overall fiber recruitment and neurological efficiency. Some examples are performing a leg extension one leg at a time or doing a db bench press only holding the weight and performing reps with one arm. Some single side exercises such as the one arm DB bench will increase core activity as you fight your body's desire to rotate towards the weighted side
3. Pre-Stimulate: Use an isolation exercise to stimulate the major muscles you will later use in your big compound lifts. Unlike pre-exhaust, use only a light weight as the goal is to not fatigue the target muscle group but to activate it and prepare it for the bigger lift.
4. The Power of Touch: Keeping with the theme of mind-muscle connection when we use tactile stimulation, lightly touching the muscle you're about to work, you will boost the signal being sent to activate that muscle. Say you have trouble activating your glutes in the glute bridge exercise. Resting a hand on the butt as your drive the hips up should give your body the cue it needs to fire/activate the glute muscles. Try it out with various exercises (even if you get strange looks)
5. Total Workout Time as a Variable: By increasing the total time of your workout you will increase the "training density" of your workout (think total workout volume (reps and sets) over time). The article suggests that by fatiguing the muscle using rest time as the modified variable we can spur muscle growth by introducing a new adaptation.

There you have it. Unlike most of the articles I tend to read there wasn't many links to any documented studies or trials but for things such as plateaus there's no one right way to do it and experimenting will always open your mind to new concepts even if the results aren't dramatic. Now get out there and lift some weights!