Balanced Training
Today we want to approach the concept of balancing your training. No, we’re not talking about the number of days that you workout or anything like that. What we’re talking about is making sure that in your workout plan you’re giving attention to ALL of the main body parts.
For some strange reason it seems that different people tend to neglect different parts of the body. People sort of play favorites with their own body. One person may just love their chest workout day, but dread their leg day. Or vice versa. Whatever the situation may be, its very important if you’re planning on developing a good physique to give attention to all the main body parts. In other words, you want to gain muscle all over in a balanced fashion, not just a few parts at a time!
Have you ever been at the gym, beach, pool, or anywhere and you’ve seen someone that you think looks like they have a good build, but then you notice that their legs are really small? This is a perfect example of someone who has probably been working out properly on their upper body, but has been constantly neglecting their leg workouts. And over time it shows! Not only that, but the longer a person goes without correcting the problem it will either hold back their overall development (the body naturally likes to stay balanced) or they will be completely off balance and have a big upper body but chicken legs. This is not an optimal physique.
So how do you correct this? Here are some ideas:
* Don’t play favorites! Think of your body as a whole, not as your favorite body parts and less favorite body parts. This is a recipe for disaster since we all tend to procrastinate the things we don’t like as much.
* Strategically plan your time. If you find that you really don’t like your leg workouts for example, don’t plan them on the day that you are most likely to miss your workout. Instead, put your “favorite” part on one of those days because you’re more likely to make sure you get that workout in. Instead, put that less favorite body part on the day that you have no excuse to miss. But again, you shouldn’t be playing favorites!
* Get an honest friends opinion from time to time. Whether its your wife, training partner, or someone else that you trust have them be honest with you in your development. And don’t take it too personally, just take it as another person’s eyes to help you improve what you’re doing!
Go for balance, go for a whole body transformation. In then end you’ll be a lot more proud of the physique that you’ve developed because it will actually look like a winning physique.For another great article by Tom Venuto on a similar topic, check out this link:
Symmetry, How to Develop a Classical Body Shape
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I was interested by your article and agree entirely. It’s human nature to cherry-pick and take the path of least resistance. As we know cetain muscle groups respond better and more quickly to exercise and there can be a tendency to concentrate on these gains, to the detriment of others.
I’ll be sure to come back and check out future articles.
Great post, I actually just sent it to my husband. He is a classic example of someone who has an amazing upper physique, but neglects to work legs — and as much as it pains me to say, it looks bad. Hopefully this will give him the motivation to round out his routine a bit more.
I like your article and i have a few opinions about this subject, though.
I think that it’s kind of strange if you have a good upper physique but don’t work on your legs.
Like in jen’s post.
I have a friend who has this body figure and it is kind of, just kind of strange when we play football.
Also i think that you have to be balanced about your body physique. I think that you shouldn’t have too much muscles. However, i like this idea in your article
* Don’t play favorites! Think of your body as a whole, not as your favorite body parts and less favorite body parts. This is a recipe for disaster since we all tend to procrastinate the things we don’t like as much.
I agree, I hate leg workouts, but the chest and arms are easy for me.