Complete Physique

[Skilla_Staz]

Earlier today I read an article on T-nation about quad development, and the multiple parts. It gave exercises, anatomy lessons etc. However, it got me wondering...

What other muscles are neglected, or underdeveloped, on just about everybody?

Now, not only am I looking to pack on the mass/strength, I'm looking to develop a "complete" physique.

 

[Fred Da Head]

Legs, triceps, delts, back.. everyone just works their chest and biceps

 

[Skilla_Staz]

I'm pretty fond of my legs/back/triceps. Other than "everything", my delts could use plenty of work.

I was thinking the rear delts, "upper" pecs, calves, and traps are relatively neglected...

(Edit: Pretty fond of working on them. By no means is anything on my body up to "satisfaction" with me)

 

[Fred Da Head]

I agree. What sucks is the lightbulbs who scoff at people who actually work on their whole body.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

Eh, I'd rather have a complete, balanced, powerful physique, with no glaring weaknesses, and less injury prone. But hey, to each his own right? lol

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

Posterior chain.... Hamstrings and such.

Shoulder rotator cuffs. Good for stability. Helps to rotate shoulders. VERY injury prone.

Inner groin area.

And whatever other imbalances you may have. Not good to have big back and small chest, nor small back and big chest. Fix imbalanced muscle groups.

 

[Kwello]

I like the Teres Major and Teres Minor. They're the muscles in charge of adduction and abduction of the Humerus. When they're strong it helps you control free weights better. Most exercises to target the Teres muscles will also get you some strength on things like Infraspinatus, Supraspinatus and Subscapularis as well. These along with the Teres are the core rotational muscles.

 

[blinkwatt]

Rear Delts.

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

Rear Delts.

Rear are worked when you do compound back. Like when rowing.

 

[jocca]

personally i think im right :rockon: nah but seriously lats are generally suprisingly neglected same with calves

 

[Skilla_Staz]

Aside from kwello spouting stuff that I'm going to need to look up, this got a surprising response, so "early" in the morning.

 

[blinkwatt]

Rear are worked when you do compound back. Like when rowing.

Yes but how often do you actually see people isolate them in an exercise?

 

[Kwello]

Sorry about that, I'm in the digital animation field and need to know every single muscle in the body in order to properly create human beings in CG.

Anyway, I'm not great with exercise names, but this is what you do:

Lie on your side with maybe a 10-20lb weight in your arm that isn't propping you up. Make an L shape with the arm so that the Humerus is pointing straight down your body with the forearm being perpendicular. Now what you do is rotate ONLY your Humerus bone so that the forearm goes from being parallel with the floor to being perpendicular with it. This will work the Teres Minor.

Also you can use the exact same positioning, but with a standing pose and reverse the movement using either rubber bands or one of those pulley machines. This will work the Teres Major.

You will feel the burn VERY fast in the Teres muscles since they are usually neglected by anyone other than gymnasts/breakdancers.

Another good exercise: lie flat on your stomach with maybe something like a 5-10lb weight in each hand. Put your arms straight in front of you - if you were standing up you would be reaching for the sky. Point your thumbs to the sky. Lift as high as you possibly can. You should feel this burn a LOT in the lateral areas by the Scapula.

Typically rotator groups are very neglected.

There's similar exercises for legs as well if you're so inclined. Muscles like the Sartorius (longest muscle in the body... even in porn stars) which is used for abduction of the Femur plus all the adduction muscles like Tensor Fasciae Latae and many others (the legs are very complex when it comes to all these tiny muscles which are used for micro movements).

I really recommend reading up on anatomy by the way. When I give a massage I love talking about all this **** and the women are really impressed at how I can read their body like a road map. Just say things in a sensual voice and it gives you conversation matter during a massage... mostly women like the bedroom voice, but it's nice to have some big beautiful words to say with it.

 

[Kwello]

This is why people are so gung ho when it comes to complex movement exercises and NOT using machines unless it's totally needed. Isolation exercises simply won't touch all these micro muscles, rotators, adductors, abductors, elevators, depressors, flexors etc. They're small muscles, but they start to add up once they all begin to grow and will REALLY round out your physique properly and your overall fitness level.

Check out this website:
http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html

Go into the articulations section... it takes some knowledge of the terms to really know what to look for, but if you know what movement you're seeking to improve, this website will tell you which muscles you're looking to improve and what exercises to do it with.

 

[Drum&Bass]

I like the Teres Major and Teres Minor

- LOL

When they're strong it helps you control free weights better

- ROFL !!!! O RLY ?!!?

Most exercises to target the Teres muscles will also get you some strength on things like Infraspinatus, Supraspinatus and Subscapularis as well

WHO THE FUCK TARGETS THERE TERES MUSCLES ??? NO BODY DOES..ALL exercises that involve the infra spinatus muscle affect ALL teres muscles (including supra spinatus). If you do any rowing exercise you are working ALL of those muscles even benching effects them. (thats why its recommended to have a strong upper back and PERFECT FORM to help develop smaller muscles like teres major/minor)

These along with the Teres are the core rotational muscles.

what is actually "rotating" ????? all those muscles you mention pull back, you need your chest to press forward and the lateral part of your shoulders for elevation.

I like the Teres Major and Teres Minor. They're the muscles in charge of adduction and abduction of the Humerus

This is a false statement. Upper arm movement is a combination of chest, shoulders and upper back muscles.

Most neglected
Neck
obliques
Serratus
Grip
Long tricep
calves

 

[Kev07]

i think lower back is most neglected

i dont see people doing deadlifts, or good mornings at my gym very often

 

[shaunuk]

I'd also say the posterior chain. That includes lower back, glutes, hamstrings and calves.

Not many people in our gym do deadlifts, nor good mornings, nor SLDL nor pullthroughs. A few do squats but most don't quite go low enough. I do see people doing hamstring curls, but they don't seem to work the posterior core all that well.

-shaun

 

[Kwello]

what is actually "rotating" ????? all those muscles you mention pull back, you need your chest to press forward and the lateral part of your shoulders for elevation.

This is a false statement. Upper arm movement is a combination of chest, shoulders and upper back muscles.

Most neglected
Neck
obliques
Serratus
Grip
Long tricep
calves

Upper arm movement is obviously very complex and is obviously a combination of those things, yes. However, I never once mentioned movement, I mentioned ADDUCTION and ABDUCTION. These are both done largely via the Teres muscles with some bit of assistance from the bigger groups.

If you hold your arms out straight from your sides so that you look like a T:

- Bringing them in front of you into a Superman pose is done by the Pectoralis group.
- Bringing them from this pose back to the T pose is done in part by the Posterior Deltoid, Lateral Deltoid and the Lats.
- Bringing them up above your head so that you look like the letter I is done by all three Deltoid muscles.
- Bringing them down from there is done by the Latissimus Dorsi.
- Rotating your palms in a T pose so that they face upward/downward is largely done by the Teres muscles.

Of course other muscles become stimulated during these movements, it's natural that happens because of stabilization and adjustments.

This is why I never use the term 'rotating' if I can avoid it. It's a very general term considering there's 6 directions (3 main axes x 2 for moving each direction in those axes) for any ball joint to rotate in: Adduction, Abduction (rotation around the X axis) Elevation, Depression (rotation around the Z axis) Retraction, Protraction (rotation around the Y axis).

I've been studying anatomy at this point for several years. I have been doing sculpture and life drawing for 3-4 years now. I have been doing character animation for 2 years. I feel like I'm a reliable source of information.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Do you guys really think once you've got yourself a 500lb bench, a 500lb squat and 500lb deadlift that your physique isn't gonna be complete? These kinda posts border on overthinking, which in time will result in you guys adding in more exercises to your program and making it go balls-up.. concentrate on the basics. Powerlifters concentrate on getting stronger on the three main lifts and when they diet down, there's no glaring gaps in their musculature.

 

[Kwello]

Your chest, legs and back will be pretty damn strong, but considering that ALL of those 3 exercises are straight bars and fixed legs, you really aren't training all the micro adductors/abductors very much.

There's no glaring gaps in their musculature because the big powerhouse muscle groups can hide the little guys. I'm assuming the OP wants a physique like a breakdancer/gymnast/sprinter. Many women find those body types far sexier than a powerlifter... and I personally find that it feels 'healthier' in the sense that I maintain all my agility and quickness.

Develop a workout routine that you like and which achieves the body type that you're most interested in sculpting. Not everyone wants to simply get as huge as they humanly can.