Evidence indicates that muscle growth occurs heterogeneously across the length of a muscle and between individual portions of a given muscle group.[1] This suggests that a variety of exercises that work muscles in different planes and angles of pull may be needed to maximize muscle gain and promote complete muscular development.
In studies that have compared differences in muscle gain between groups performing either multiple exercises or a single exercise, performing multiple exercises has been found to promote more complete muscular development. For instance, performing a combination of Smith machine squats, leg presses, deadlifts, and lunges caused hypertrophy in all heads of the quadriceps, whereas performing only the Smith machine squat did not.[2]
In a separate study, performing leg presses, half squats, and machine hack squats caused hypertrophy of the proximal, middle, and distal portions of the lateral thigh, whereas only performing leg presses failed to promote significant hypertrophy of the lateral thigh.[3] Additionally, performing a combination of barbell curls, preacher curls, and dumbbell incline curls tended to cause more hypertrophy in the proximal and middle portions of the elbow flexors compared to performing only barbell curls.[3]
Thirdly, performing lying barbell triceps extensions and bench press was found to produce greater hypertrophy in the triceps brachii than performing bench press alone, with lying barbell triceps extensions reported to cause preferential hypertrophy of the long head of the triceps, while the bench press caused preferential hypertrophy of the lateral head of the triceps.[4]
In further support of the utility of varying exercise selection, leg extensions cause preferential growth of the rectus femoris,[5] a head of the quadriceps that is not effectively hypertrophied by multi-joint lower body exercises like squats.[6]
Squats also do not effectively hypertrophy the hamstrings,[6] so hamstring-specific exercises are needed. Leg curls and Romanian deadlifts should be included in a resistance exercise program to maximize hypertrophy of the hamstrings.[7]
Similarly, the upper (clavicular) portion of the pectoralis major is best stimulated with an incline (about 30 degrees) bench press, whereas the middle and lower portions of the pectoralis major are best stimulated with a horizontal or decline bench press.[8] Thus, presses at different bench angles should be included to maximize development of the pectoralis major.
Exercises for a given muscle group can be varied within a session (e.g., performing squats and leg extensions in the same session), between sessions (e.g., performing squats on Monday and leg extensions on Thursday), or cycled throughout the weeks of a resistance training program (e.g., performing squats during weeks 1–3 and leg extensions weeks 3–6).
References
- ^Zabaleta-Korta et alRegional Hypertrophy, the Inhomogeneous Muscle Growth: A systematic reviewStrength and Conditioning Journal.(2020-10)
- ^Fonseca RM, Roschel H, Tricoli V, de Souza EO, Wilson JM, Laurentino GC, Aihara AY, de Souza Leão AR, Ugrinowitsch CChanges in exercises are more effective than in loading schemes to improve muscle strength.J Strength Cond Res.(2014-Nov)
- ^Costa BDV, Kassiano W, Nunes JP, Kunevaliki G, Castro-E-Souza P, Rodacki A, Cyrino LT, Cyrino ES, Fortes LSDoes Performing Different Resistance Exercises for the Same Muscle Group Induce Non-homogeneous Hypertrophy?Int J Sports Med.(2021-Jul)
- ^Lucas Brandão, Vitor de Salles Painelli, Thiago Lasevicius, Carla Silva-Batista, Helderson Brendon, Brad Jon Schoenfeld, André Yui Aihara, Fabiano Nassar Cardoso, Bergson de Almeida Peres, Emerson Luiz TeixeiraVarying the Order of Combinations of Single- and Multi-Joint Exercises Differentially Affects Resistance Training AdaptationsJ Strength Cond Res.(2020 May)
- ^Ema R, Wakahara T, Miyamoto N, Kanehisa H, Kawakami YInhomogeneous architectural changes of the quadriceps femoris induced by resistance training.Eur J Appl Physiol.(2013-Nov)
- ^Kubo K, Ikebukuro T, Yata HEffects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumes.Eur J Appl Physiol.(2019-Sep)
- ^Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Tiryaki-Sonmez G, Wilson JM, Kolber MJ, Peterson MDRegional differences in muscle activation during hamstrings exercise.J Strength Cond Res.(2015-Jan)
- ^Rodríguez-Ridao D, Antequera-Vique JA, Martín-Fuentes I, Muyor JMEffect of Five Bench Inclinations on the Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major, Anterior Deltoid, and Triceps Brachii during the Bench Press Exercise.Int J Environ Res Public Health.(2020-10-08)