Which Bodypart Do You 'Get'?

Hey, longtime lurker here. Thought I would finally get in on the action.

In sort of a play on the “what didn’t work for you” thread (minus the argument over carbs) my question is what body part/muscle group do you have the greatest ease in training? On the opposite end of that spectrum, what muscle group do you have the least success in training? What has worked for you in getting results from this stubborn area(s)?

For me, back training just clicks. I can go to the gym sick, tired, completely unmotivated and still have an awesome back workout. It’s just something that I “get”. Now, shoulders on the other hand…

I struggled for years with shoulder training and have tried every approach I could think of to get some sort of results out of the damn things. Low volume, high volume, no pressing, all pressing, not training shoulders directly at all (disastrous). Over the last six months or so I think I’ve finally found two things that work. One is a shit load of volume and shorter rest periods, like 45-60 seconds. The second, and probably most important, is proper exercise sequence. For me, starting with my lateral and front raise work then moving to pressing has been the most successful approach thus far. I’m sure this will eventually stop working but I’m riding it out for now and trying to fine tune where I can.

So yeah, that’s my two cents. I’m interested to hear others responses.

Back training always came easily to me.

If leg training came as easily to me, I’d be in heaven.

[quote]VTPower wrote:

If leg training came as easily to me, I’d be in heaven.[/quote]

x2

I got chest, but bad insertion at the sternum…so kinda cancels out.

chest for me, it’ll grow no matter what. Would be a good thing if I didn’t have such a narrow shoulder structure. Means I have to really work on shoulder width.

Legs.

Everything grows pretty much evenly for me but chest and back grow faster I believe without having to focus too much on them. Calves on the other hand are a different story, I think I’ll figure out how to time travel before I figure out how to make them grow

I don’t get lats.

I can speak to them, but they don’t seem to listen.

On the other hand, if I even think about legs, the sound of their growth will interrupt my sleep at night.

[quote]Serge A. Storms wrote:
On the other hand, if I even think about legs, the sound of their growth will interrupt my sleep at night.[/quote]

I hate guys like you

I’ll second calves as well. I know a lot of folks have difficulty getting results with calves but good lord, grow already!

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
chest for me, it’ll grow no matter what. Would be a good thing if I didn’t have such a narrow shoulder structure. Means I have to really work on shoulder width.[/quote]
Same with me. Chest takes away the balance of upper body. What have you found useful for shoulders? I don’t seem to get a pump there even with high rep side raises and partials. OH press just makes my joints go snap, crackle and pop.

I hope one day to get a decent set of wheels

[quote]newtonslaws wrote:

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
chest for me, it’ll grow no matter what. Would be a good thing if I didn’t have such a narrow shoulder structure. Means I have to really work on shoulder width.[/quote]
Same with me. Chest takes away the balance of upper body. What have you found useful for shoulders? I don’t seem to get a pump there even with high rep side raises and partials. OH press just makes my joints go snap, crackle and pop.[/quote]

they’re still a work in progress but high rep rear delt flyes (20 - 30 reps) have been a godsend. I have also shortened my ROM on the movement as well, I don’t actually go up and down very far and since I have started doing this I have been getting lactic acid burn in my delts which I have never had before.

I always thought I needed to really hammer my side delts for shoulder thickness, now looking back I realise I neglected my rear delts for years.

Dropping the OHP (it was hurting my shoulders and back) and giving the rear delts MUCH more love has really changed how my shoulders look.

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

[quote]newtonslaws wrote:

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
chest for me, it’ll grow no matter what. Would be a good thing if I didn’t have such a narrow shoulder structure. Means I have to really work on shoulder width.[/quote]
Same with me. Chest takes away the balance of upper body. What have you found useful for shoulders? I don’t seem to get a pump there even with high rep side raises and partials. OH press just makes my joints go snap, crackle and pop.[/quote]

they’re still a work in progress but high rep rear delt flyes (20 - 30 reps) have been a godsend. I have also shortened my ROM on the movement as well, I don’t actually go up and down very far and since I have started doing this I have been getting lactic acid burn in my delts which I have never had before.

I always thought I needed to really hammer my side delts for shoulder thickness, now looking back I realise I neglected my rear delts for years.

Dropping the OHP (it was hurting my shoulders and back) and giving the rear delts MUCH more love has really changed how my shoulders look.[/quote]

x2, I always thought back work was enough stimulation for rear delts, I was wrong. Shoulders used to be the muscle group I least ‘got’, now it is one of the ones I ‘get’ the most thanks to, you guessed it, JM

[quote]lemony2j wrote:
Shoulders used to be the muscle group I least ‘got’, now it is one of the ones I ‘get’ the most thanks to, you guessed it, JM
[/quote]

lol, does anyone NOT use Meadows shoulder training?

It’s definitely chest for me. I seem to have a pretty easy time growing my pecs, and triceps are really easy for me too. My abs are also pretty good, although I can do so many reps of whatever exercise it is that I’m finding it hard to get a really good ab workout. I’ll do 10 sets of V-ups/bicycle crunches/leg raises and still not be sore the next day (are abs just harder to get sore?).

What I can’t seem to work well at all is lats. I have a hard time isolating them with rows and stuff. Earlier in my lifting I didn’t train them at all - I wish I had - so they’re far behind everything else. But I’m working on it. They’re starting to get bigger and I’m getting to the point I can flex my lats without having to think completely hard on it.

Delts grow very easy for me. Never think too much about how to work them. They have always appeared large. I never do drect trap work. Last delt workout was 70 degree incline DB press and Prone incline rear delt raises superset with L-lateral raises. Thats all I need despite training everything else with a lot more volume and intensity. Partials and high reps meadows style make it even easier.

Biceps have been the worst. This has made me very good at biceps training and they have come a long way, but remain outshined by triceps and delts significantly.

Quads I “get”. Even in the beginning, when all I did for them was leg extensions, they grew alot faster than everything else. Arms on the other hand is a lesson in futility for me. Dont think I will ever be happy with them.

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

[quote]lemony2j wrote:
Shoulders used to be the muscle group I least ‘got’, now it is one of the ones I ‘get’ the most thanks to, you guessed it, JM
[/quote]

lol, does anyone NOT use Meadows shoulder training?[/quote]

I don’t, I posted on it a while ago but the system ate it and I didn’t want to post it all again…but I use variations of CT’s thoughts haha.

Both work really well and I like both! I’m just in a sort of “performance” training mode right now, rather than isolation work. Just not feeling it. Combination of CT and Meadow’s thoughts on shoulders added 3" to one of my client’s shoulder circumference in 8 weeks…at age 64. I wish I’d had access to shoulder calipers to measure true width, but he definitely was visually wider ( I was hired to only bring his shoulders up, not chest or back). He was ecstatic haha.

As for what I “get” it has been back for years…it seems I just find the perfect solutions for what I need at the time. Now I’m pretty much not training it much except for snatch and high pull, so I am sure that the "bodybuilder"ness of my back isn’t as good as it was a couple years ago, but I’m stronger than before and also still not losing bodyweight, so I am fine with that.

That and calves I suppose, since I don’t ever train them at all and they are decent. But I don’t train them directly so I don’t care.

[quote]myself1992 wrote:
Everything grows pretty much evenly for me but chest and back grow faster I believe without having to focus too much on them. Calves on the other hand are a different story, I think I’ll figure out how to time travel before I figure out how to make them grow[/quote]

Try this for a month. Really.

1.5 inches of growth in a month. Started with just bodyweight, now I hold a 45 pound plate for the duration of the 10 minutes.

The beauty of this one is its simplicity - you tack an extra 10 minutes to the end of each workout and focus on one movement