What Bodybuilding Really Is.

[psikooz]

When you body build people tend to think that you are shaping your muscles, and it is also normal to think that by doing different exercises for the same muscle you will get different effects. On example is the biceps, some people want to make them thicker and more round, and some want to build a bigger peak, but the fact is that you cant make this decision, it is in your genes.

Another example is the chest. You have decline, incline, flys, cable crossovers, and flat bench. It is common understanding that by doing inclines you will build your upper chest, and by doing decline you will build your lower chest. This is wrong. The true reason you do all these different exercises is to hit the muscle differently.

Go ahead and flex your chest hard. Try to just flex the top part of your chest. If you are not an alien you wont be able to. The reason why is when a muscle contracts, like when you lift heavy weights, the whole muscle contracts.

What you are doing is you are developing your muscles. By lifting weights that are heavy your muscles react by growing and gaining strength. You will often hear 16 year olds trying to build the upper part of there chest and the inside of there chest and all of that. Most of the time they are using 30-40 lb dumbells, and thats just it. You could build your chest 100% with flat dumbell press, you would just have to work your way up to 80's and 90's. 60 -70 for people of smaller build. At that level i gaurantee you will have great mass all over your chest. This principle applys to every muscle.

Getting back to the biceps. SO you want a bigger peak, or you want them rounder. You cant decide that. HAve you seen Arnolds biceps, one of them has a big peak and one of them is big but more rounded, that is because that is what his genetics for his biceps were coded for.

What i am saying is that you cant shape your muscles you can only make them bigger.

So if you want a big full chest or full horeshoe triceps you need to fully develop the muscles, when you start lifting realy heavy you will start to get were you want.

[EricS]

I'm glad someone finally said it. I hate Flys too!

[hardknuckle]

I don't say I bodybuild, I train. I'm not bodybuilding, I'm stock- piling muscle.

[DJO]

Genetics is bull****. Ya obviously a 4' tall ecto will never get 20" arms, but yes you can control shape varying diffrent workouts.

[dnoel]

1. the problem with your bicep example is that the bicep is not A muscle-it's 2 (or rather it has 2 heads.. whichever you prefer, it makes little difference in this case). by varying the form of the curl you can exhaust one head more than the other, which will allow you to shape your bicep.

2. have you not heard of synthol?

[Gene]

I wasn't planning on responding, but I feel I should so people don't get the wrong ideas. I disagree with a majority of your article, as I think you could benefit from studying a little anatomy and physiology before you make any claims such as those that you've made here. Your reliance on genetics is blown up out of proportion. There indeed exists and upper, middle, and lower chest (the pectoralis major clavicular and pectoralis major sternocostal). Go do some research and check up on electromyogram studies and which muscle fibers are stimulated in response to which exercises before you make such outrageous posts. Lift your arm perpendicular to your body and flex your chest and you'll notice an extreme hardness on the upper part of the chest. Similarly, lower your arm and witness the hardness and thickness of the contraction shift to the lower part of your chest. If you stick to only single exercises (with minor exceptions), your muscles will loose symmetry as those that aren't worked to their potential will will either atrophy or hypertrophy to a much lesser extent than the others. Next, lets discuss the biceps. Depending on the various hand/arm positions and the muscle mechanics with varied biceps curls, you can stress the Biceps Brachii, Brachialis, and Brachioradialis to different extents. While it is true that genetically some people will have longer biceps with shorter peaks, or shorter biceps with higher peaks, limiting yourself to one movement won't allow you to reach your genetic potential. Genetics lays down a foundation, but it does not predetermine your fate.

[Deejay_Spike]

Go ahead and flex your chest hard. Try to just flex the top part of your chest. If you are not an alien you wont be able to.

damn... now i know i've been adopted

[stangs]

Originally posted by Gene
Genetics lays down a foundation, but it does not predetermine your fate.

BIG BUMP!

[Infidel]

One could hypothetically do absolutely no movement other then shrugs. This persons Traps would be extremmelly sick, yet they would be out of proportion with the rest of his/her physique. In terms of a single muscle, yes, I don't believe you have much choice in what it is going to look like; in terms of your overall build though you can definately build your body any way you want to, within the limits of your own unique genetics.

Also there are two types of muscle -- quick twitch and slow twitch. I believe the amount of each is determined by genetics, yet you can train your body to be more quick twitch or slow twitch oriented.

[J-Rod]

Originally posted by Gene
I wasn't planning on responding, but I feel I should so people don't get the wrong ideas. I disagree with a majority of your article, as I think you could benefit from studying a little anatomy and physiology before you make any claims such as those that you've made here. Your reliance on genetics is blown up out of proportion. There indeed exists and upper, middle, and lower chest (the pectoralis major clavicular and pectoralis major sternocostal). Go do some research and check up on electromyogram studies and which muscle fibers are stimulated in response to which exercises before you make such outrageous posts. Lift your arm perpendicular to your body and flex your chest and you'll notice an extreme hardness on the upper part of the chest. Similarly, lower your arm and witness the hardness and thickness of the contraction shift to the lower part of your chest. If you stick to only single exercises (with minor exceptions), your muscles will loose symmetry as those that aren't worked to their potential will will either atrophy or hypertrophy to a much lesser extent than the others. Next, lets discuss the biceps. Depending on the various hand/arm positions and the muscle mechanics with varied biceps curls, you can stress the Biceps Brachii, Brachialis, and Brachioradialis to different extents. While it is true that genetically some people will have longer biceps with shorter peaks, or shorter biceps with higher peaks, limiting yourself to one movement won't allow you to reach your genetic potential. Genetics lays down a foundation, but it does not predetermine your fate.

RACK HIM...Nice Take!

[psikooz]

oh man, i knew i was going to get bitched at for writing this article by somebody but that doesnt matter.......


"Your reliance on genetics is blown up out of proportion."

Were is this? I use genetcis as an example when talking about bicep peaks, but nowere else. How is that blown out of proportion?


"There indeed exists and upper, middle, and lower chest (the pectoralis major clavicular and pectoralis major sternocostal). "


yes you are correct, although there isnt really a lower chest because it is just the pactoralis major. I never said there werent different heads on a muscle, never, i only said that you cannot isolate a single head.

"Go do some research and check up on electromyogram studies and which muscle fibers are stimulated in response to which exercises "

-Thats bs, i know for a fact that eletromyogram studies can only detect how many fibers are being recruited in a muscle, it can tell you which heads are being stressed the most

"If you stick to only single exercises (with minor exceptions), your muscles will loose symmetry as those that aren't worked to their potential will will either atrophy or hypertrophy "

-That is true, you should use different exercises to confuse the muscle, so it doesnt get used to a single exercise. Thats why when people start doing incline db the start noticing more mass on there chest, because your muscle hadnt been challenged that way before. I never said that you just needed to use a single exercise, i even stated that you need to use different exercises for the same muscle.

and for the crap about the biceps. Thats a load of bs. when you do curls, no matter what the whole bicep is stressed. not just the inner head or the outer head.

Developing your muscles isnt rocket science. It just takes time.

[sanger11]

I agree muscle take time to develop. But your body is a science, and everyone should research every angle to see what works for them. Become your own doctor. Now if I can only figure out how to self medicate.

[DIABLO]

Saying that one exercise such as flat bench, or jus one version of curls will work the entireity of the muscle is completely untrue and if you have been training for any period of time, completely stupid. Disagree? Try this: Next bench day do incline dumbell flies only, purposely overtrain a little or just do all your normal # of sets on that one exercise so that you get sore. Is your lower chest sore??? LMAO.... nope.... is the upper chest sore.....VERY!!! Now lets jump to the bicep, intentionally do wide grip curls all sets at a really high intensity ( if you even know what intensity is ), if you usally use a wider grip use a very narrow grip instead. What gets sore you ask??? With the wider grip the inside of your bicep (inner head) closesest to your chest gets sore, with the narrow grip, you outer and tallest part of your bicep will get soreest. Now, for those of you that believe that one exercise is enough to build proportionitly the entire muscle such as the chest and bicep with one lift you have done one of many things and most likely you have read an article somewhere on the net from some wanna be know it all that trains half ass and half looks like ****. If you train the upper chest ( example ) for six months with inclines and only divide your normal amount of sets from your normal flat bench routine half and half between flat and incline and do that for 6 months you will see a tremendous diffrence in your upper chest developement after that time. Or with incline you would see a major diffrence in your lower diffrence in your lower chest. And if you are not used to doing verations of an exercise at all you will really like the benifits, cause if you lift and eat right within two or three weeks and mabye sooner you will see a change in that area. Ask any professional bodybuiler if they believe that one lift or one angle will get them or you to Mr. O or win any major contest. They will say no! You know why? Because the people that have been properly training for some time can feel the area of the muscle that they are working mainly through total focus and concentration during the exercise, and soreness the next day or days. I am not saying that you should be sore after every workout on every body part. Just do your research and experiment people. I think that some of you would argue the fact that someone has walked on the moon. Don't confuse fact with fiction, yes exercising a muscle from diffrent angles will effect the area of the muscles growth. Can you shape a muscle? Well you can't make your bicep into the shape of a triangle, but you can focuss the area of work and growth on a muscle. Read books, get knowledge from knowledgeable people such as Joe Weider, Arnold, or other Pro bodybuilers. Are you familiar with weider principles? If not you are not even getting the most out of your workout period. EDUCATE EDUCATE EDUCATE YOURSELFS from the people that created the sport and not some SMOE JOE personal trainer of the internet that claims to have a miracle workout. If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and ****s like a duck, then it is most likely a duck. If it sounds too good to be true such as one exercise per body part for body building or power lifting, then almost such as in this case, it is too good to be TRUE. I have been a fan of bodybuilding for over 10 years and trained hard on and off during and just out of highschool, making a comback now at age 25 and starting very outa shape, i can currently very much so feel the effects from diffrent exercises through soreness. And though i am making a comeback after a very long layoff, i assure you that anthing in my life that i take involvement in i go extreme, with both workouts and RESEARCH untill i run outa stuff to read. I have read both sides of this matter from diffrent people and their perspectives. If you have the balls enough to take the challange experiment above AFTER fully knowing, understanding and USING weider principles in combination with heavy weights it WILL and i assure you that it WILL put to rest this theory once and for all especially if you do the experiment over a longer period of time. Over and out.

[psikooz]

wow manMy article sucks, i wrote it when i was really ****ed up, i had gotten back from a party and just started rambling about ****. MOD's delete this article it has been proven that it is crap. EVen i say so!

[geggis13]

When you body build people tend to think that you are shaping your muscles, and it is also normal to think that by doing different exercises for the same muscle you will get different effects. On example is the biceps, some people want to make them thicker and more round, and some want to build a bigger peak, but the fact is that you cant make this decision, it is in your genes.

Another example is the chest. You have decline, incline, flys, cable crossovers, and flat bench. It is common understanding that by doing inclines you will build your upper chest, and by doing decline you will build your lower chest. This is wrong. The true reason you do all these different exercises is to hit the muscle differently.

Go ahead and flex your chest hard. Try to just flex the top part of your chest. If you are not an alien you wont be able to. The reason why is when a muscle contracts, like when you lift heavy weights, the whole muscle contracts.

What you are doing is you are developing your muscles. By lifting weights that are heavy your muscles react by growing and gaining strength. You will often hear 16 year olds trying to build the upper part of there chest and the inside of there chest and all of that. Most of the time they are using 30-40 lb dumbells, and thats just it. You could build your chest 100% with flat dumbell press, you would just have to work your way up to 80's and 90's. 60 -70 for people of smaller build. At that level i gaurantee you will have great mass all over your chest. This principle applys to every muscle.

Getting back to the biceps. SO you want a bigger peak, or you want them rounder. You cant decide that. HAve you seen Arnolds biceps, one of them has a big peak and one of them is big but more rounded, that is because that is what his genetics for his biceps were coded for.

What i am saying is that you cant shape your muscles you can only make them bigger.

So if you want a big full chest or full horeshoe triceps you need to fully develop the muscles, when you start lifting realy heavy you will start to get were you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rC4EGFFcZw this is a very good motivation video

[Ivy123000]

Thanks. I am a bodybuilding lover.

[IronBar66]

I'm not refuting or supporting the OP's claims at all. I'd just be happy if he learned the difference between the words there, their, and they're. (Better look up your and you're while you're at it!)

[hulkstatus84]

I don't say I bodybuild, I train. I'm not bodybuilding, I'm stock- piling muscle.

Agreed I also don't like the term "workout" either. That term doesn't really describe what you are doing