How to Stimulate a Weak Spot
When practising bodybuilding, one question is often asked: how to develop a weak point, whether it be in the thighs, shoulders, biceps, triceps or pectoral? This article will give you the answers, in order to know the behaviours to adopt and thus to progress.
All bodybuilders, whether professional or not, have weak points that require special training compared to other muscles. Many make the confusion between a weak muscle and an under-trained muscle. There is a nuance between these two terms. If there is a lack or poor training, it is not a weak point, but simply an "under-training". In order to recognise a weak muscle, the same intensity of training must be done on each muscle to see where it is weak and strong. It is important to understand what a muscle weakness actually is to avoid confusion.
What is a muscle weakness?
A muscle weakness is a muscle that has difficulty developing despite regular training or a suitable diet. This muscle lags behind the others.
In most cases, a weak point is surrounded by muscles that are primarily involved in the exercises dedicated to it. For example, the pectoral muscles are taken as weak points, and the shoulders and triceps as strong points. When "lying down" and "inclined" exercises are performed to develop the pectorals, it is the shoulders and triceps that really progress. The consequence is that, the gap that already existed between the two muscles increases with time and training,which accentuates the deficiency of the weak point.
The identification of weak points is not always obvious. Indeed,they do not necessarily manifest themselves during the realisation of poli-articular or so-called "basic" movements. In addition, other muscles involved in the execution of the movement in question may distort the strength estimate of the weak point. In the process of identifying the weak point, the practice of isolation exercise on a heavy weight is not recommended, since the loss of contraction prevents its localisation.
Generally speaking, there is poor congestion of the weak spot during training sessions, for the simple reason that good irrigation of a muscle helps to better transport nutrients into the muscle, whereas poor congestion creates weakness.
How to overcome a weakness?
It is always possible to develop a weak spot. As already mentioned, using heavy weights in isolation is not an adequate solution. It is necessary to change the training routine and thus review the distribution of activities in order to reorganise them. Each person must be aware that there is no "miracle solution". For example, the training of strengths should be reduced.
Different steps in the process of strengthening a weak point should be emphasised, after the weak point has been identified.
Train your muscles to become congested
It is imperative to select isolation exercises for the weak spot, to choose the one that feels the least bad. These exercises must be repeated, with maximum resistance to the burns, without forgetting the congestion. The goal is 100 repetitions, with the possibility of doing less at the beginning. It is not enough to do a long series during training sessions, they must be repeated for an average of 12 to 15 series. Performing more than 30 repetitions would be highly recommended since this would allow you to feel the muscles, develop the nervous networks between the weak point and the brain and above all learn to congestate the muscle. Thus, the use of heavy weights without apparent results must be abandoned. To be effective, this method should be practiced at least twice a week.
With strong motivation, and strict adherence to the advice given, the first stage should be passed successfully and follow on from soreness. Congestion becomes easy, the 2th step can then be considered.
Increase the workload
The objective in this step is to massively advance the weak point. More concretely, it is a matter of reducing the number of repetitions and increasing the weights in a specific way. The first series should be performed lightly, with the weights increasing gradually. The aim of these exercises is to contract the weak point as the weights increase. To begin with, exercisers can perform 30 repetitions and finish with 6. If they manage to feel the weak spot with a set of 6 repetitions, the goal is achieved: the weak spot is responding to the workouts.
