Claves para desarrollar los músculos atrasados

Keys to developing lagging muscles

There are many strategies for correcting lagging or stubborn muscles; experts believe in a logical and systematic approach. What does Raúl Carrasco think?

One of the most frustrating things athletes encounter when trying to make progress is discovering their lagging muscles.

Initially, everything seems to change and respond to training relatively well, except for one area that simply does not seem to change at all. This is one of the main problems for bodybuilders, and the coach is not always able to develop solutions.

It seems almost logical to think that if you train your entire body equally with the same volume, focus, and intensity, everything should respond in the same way, but this simply is not the case.

Most people have a stubborn or lagging body part; however, just because it is common does not mean it has to be frustrating.

Aside from genetic differences in muscle length and shape, honestly, there should be no reason for this to happen.

In fact, if you use some techniques for lagging muscles, you will find that they respond much faster than before, and perhaps even as well as the rest of your body.

Lagging muscles: why?

The main reason a specific muscle does not respond is a lack of connection;

  • When performing the most effective compound muscle-building gross motor movements (exercises that use more than one joint, such as squats or bench presses), you are recruiting and activating many muscle groups.
  • For example, in the case of the bench press, although I could tell you that the pectorals are the primary movers in the bench press, the shoulders and triceps also contribute significantly to the exercise.

The problem with compound movements is that your brain does not know that you are trying to “stimulate or work a muscle group.” All it understands is “lift this weight from point A to point B,” and it will do so IN THE MOST EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE WAY it knows.

In other words, your brain receives the signal to lift and chooses the best way it knows, which is often the way that uses the weak body part.

Going back to the bench press;

  • If your chest is a weak and lagging body part, it will probably be used much less than you would like.
  • Although the bench press is one of the best chest-building exercises in the world, if your brain knows that your chest is weak, it will rely on your shoulders and triceps to do the work.

If you do this enough times, you will develop a “muscle recruitment pattern” that will become your default way of bench pressing.

In this scenario, you become stronger and stronger in this predetermined pattern, and your lagging muscles, which are the pectorals, will fall further and further behind.

Lagging muscles: fibers first

To get a better picture of what is happening in all scenarios, Raúl Carrasco shows us what happens with the calves, namely the gastrocnemius/soleus muscle complex.

When analyzing how to train lagging muscles, in this case, it distinguishes the gastrocnemius from the soleus because there is a difference in the type of fiber that makes up these two parts:

  • The gastrocnemius is mainly made up of more power fibers (white fibers).
  • The soleus, which is more of a part, a stability muscle; it is composed of more red fibers.

This is important to know when it comes to training them, and it applies to the other muscle groups as well.

How to train the soleus:

Stability muscles, such as the obliques or soleus, are trained or developed with a lot of time under tension; slow movements and high repetitions are useful, with sets lasting 60–70 seconds under tension and even 90 seconds.

Here Raúl Carrasco uses Rest-Pause;

  • The soleus is trained with slow movements.
  • When you reach 20–25 repetitions, it starts to feel heavier and burn.
  • So, you pause for 2 seconds and then you can keep pushing, continuing that time under tension.

For the soleus, this is great because you can keep it under tension for a very long time, with brief pauses that will help inhibit the lactic acid that might otherwise prevent you from continuing to stimulate the muscle.

How to work the gastrocnemius:

This muscle is characterized by having more power fibers (fast-twitch fibers); these are muscles that work harder or are designed to help you flee from danger, which represents ballistic movements.

  • They must be trained with heavier weights.
  • They are performed at a higher movement speed.
  • Time under tension would be between 20, 30, or 40 seconds.
  • There will be more rest time between sets.

Lagging muscles: stimulus

In this context, Raúl Carrasco explains some logical points that are worth highlighting when working the lagging muscles.

The soleus:

  • Less weight.
  • More time under tension.
  • Slow, controlled movements, especially while seated.
  • Between sets, a shorter rest period will be enough (40 to 60 seconds maximum) to create more metabolic stress.

The gastrocnemius:

  • Maximum weight.
  • Less time under tension.
  • Ballistic power movements, especially while standing.
  • Between sets, a maximum of 2–3 minutes will be enough for full recovery so you can lift the maximum weight.

In all cases, if lagging muscles are not growing, there is a reason; so before considering the advice and practices, the first thing to put into practice is to determine what type of muscle fibers they are made up of.

Fuel your muscles at exactly the right time

Lagging muscles: frequency

Continuing with his example, Raúl explains that both the gastrocnemius and the soleus, above all, are body parts that need a high frequency (2–3).

In the case of those blessed with naturally strong calves, training them only once a week might be enough, but training them more frequently is better because the calves are very strong and ultimately adapt to a high workload, like the glutes.

That would be the first step for any of your lagging muscles; if you see that they are not developing or you are not meeting your goal, then start increasing the frequency: frequency 2, frequency 3, or even frequency 5.

But be patient; do not do this for 4 weeks and then say, “It’s not working for me, I’m going to start increasing the frequency.”

You need patience, and you need to give the muscle an extended period of time to adapt; this can be three months. Sometimes it can take you a year to find out what is happening with any of your lagging muscles.

For example, if your biceps are not growing and you have been training them hard at the gym for 3 months, you should then periodize differently and implement a variation, with a different frequency to place more stress on that muscle so that it is stimulated.

Lagging muscles: time is key

When you prepare an athlete, you obviously need time; during this time, you analyze the lagging muscles and other variables.

  • Bulking period: normally 2 weeks (15–20 days); during this time, we need to analyze whether insulin sensitivity is good, taking metabolic flexibility into account, check visual appearance, and compare it with body weight and perhaps body-fat measurements.
  • Cutting period: reports are analyzed every week.
  • Competition period: reports are analyzed every 48 hours, or on loading days every 24 hours.

Below is the explanatory video by Raúl Carrasco on this topic, which, besides being fascinating, is critical when it comes to achieving both physical and psychological progress.

Lagging muscles: what does science say?

Now we will analyze things from the perspective of sports science, which has some arguments regarding lagging muscles.

This time, we will not discuss a specific study showing us which training variables we need to consider, such as periodization, the way you train, or matters related to the stimulus you should give your lagging muscles, which Raúl Carrasco explained very well.

What you should bear in mind is the principle of biological individuality, which, according to a specific study, tells you that in order to achieve the symmetry you seek, you should find a training and diet plan that works for you. (1).

Time will tell you whether it was effective, so stick with it and do not change it. Remember that our muscles, including yours, need time to adapt, and for that, you must be patient, have the right motivation, and provide your body with the right nutrients at exactly the right time so that you can recover fully, especially (2).

Always, protecting your joints is crucial

In addition to this, we share what two great bodybuilders tell us about lagging muscles

Jimmy Atienza's opinion is that, instead of relating lagging muscles to genetics, we should treat them like our children, taking care of them and even loving them.

Rober Castellano's opinion is to work them more in isolation, taking into account the first hypothesis we discussed. This means adding isolated exercises for those muscles, for example, or pre-exhausting them (isolating them with pumping work) before performing a compound exercise.

In both cases, it has to do with the muscle fibers and the origin of where the muscles are inserted, as Raúl Carrasco explains to us, but Rober adds that when it has to do with genetics, those lagging muscles are the ones that get the most muscle soreness, are the ones most prone to injury, and therefore require very specific training.

References

 

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