Hey Guys!
A lot of people have difficulty building up their calves, traps, shoulders, and forearms. These are the 4 muscles that people have the most trouble on. Some people are gifted and easily build up these areas, while many others struggle to get the results they want.
I will break down my experience and knowledge on how to build these areas up, but you will see me repeat one statement throughout this post -- that you need to be patient and work hard. Pay attention to that.
Let's get started!
The calves. This muscle group gives most people trouble. Though some people have naturally big calves, many people have to work hard to build them up.
The first mistake you are probably making with calves is that you are not lifting heavy enough. Your calves possess much greater strength and endurance than most other muscles -- they have to support your body-weight all day long.
So the first thing you need to do when you perform calf raises is make sure the weight on the barbell weighs at least twice as much as your body-weight. You may need to work up to that, but your calves will not grow much before you use heavy enough weight during this exercise. So if you weigh 160, your barbell needs to weigh at least 320.
And with calves you need to be patient. You will have to spend at least a year to see good results. There are no shortcuts. I'm sorry, but calves will be calves. Next!
The Traps. Some people expect these to grow overnight. But they fail to realize they are attempting to add inches to their traps. That is going to take a while. You can't expect to add a few inches to your arms, or your chest, or even your legs overnight. Like calves, you will have to spend time on this muscle.
Also, despite what some people say, shrugs are the best exercise for growing your traps. There is no exercise that comes close to isolating the traps while allowing you to use heavy weight.
Now there are a couple variations of the shrug that I would like to share with you. The first is using dumbbells with your arms at your sides. This variation provides the best range-of-motion to help build up those traps.
The second variation requires you to hold the barbell behind your back, which allows you to build up the rest of your trapezius. For those who do not know, the trapezius stretches all the way from your neck to your middle back. Behind-the-back barbell shrugs are excellent for targeting this muscle fully.
Onto the next muscle group -- shoulders. Most people see results for a while with shoulders, only to see them suddenly die out. There is not much you can do at this point considering that you are performing a variety of shoulder exercises.
The one thing you do not want to do is use the same weight for weeks on end. Either increase the weight and decrease the sets and reps, or decrease the weight and add more sets and reps.
Shoulders can be tough. Make sure that you have a good mass builder in your arsenal such as Shoulder or Arnold Press. Also, make sure you are performing enough reps. Remember that your shoulders are used in many upper body movements. They have great endurance so it will take a lot to completely fatigue them and promote muscle growth.
Finally we come to Forearms. Some people do not work forearms because they see no need as they are used in virtually every barbell and dumbbell exercise. They will get bigger naturally, but they will not get as big as they could with this mentality. Bodybuilders want to look proportionate, so they focus on every muscle.
And having strong forearms will help you with all your heavy lifts. You do not want your forearms giving out first.
With that said, forearms are a lot like calves. They have above average strength and endurance. Focus on performing enough exercises, sets, and reps. Also, make sure you use enough weight during your exercises.
So what you should take from this post is that it will take time for these muscles to grow, and you need to work them especially hard. Good luck everyone!
That's all I got for this week. If you have any questions let me know in the comments section below, and be sure to check out an all-new exercise routine later this week.
Get Stronger!
-Nas
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