| It’s the first thing you obsess about when you wake up in the morning. Well, if your Testosterone levels are where they should be, maybe it’s the second. But it’s definitely the first thing you think about when you head for the pool on a hot summer day. What are all of those bikini-wearin' tazzies going to think when they see your underdeveloped, out of proportion, boy-scout caliber ______ (fill in the blank)? That’s right; you’ve got a stubborn muscle. That *#@$! just won’t grow no matter what you do. Everybody’s got one; even the great Arnold had calves comparable with Calista Flockhart’s at one point in his bodybuilding career. The following is my top 12 ways to deal with this quandary; tried and tested ways to overcome the one thing keeping your would-be ego at bay. They range from requiring barely any effort at all, to a full on re-appraisal of your values, morals, and views on international peacekeeping. Keep in mind that these tricks apply to your stubborn muscle group and should not be treated as universal solutions to hypertrophy in any and all circumstances. They need not all be used simultaneously, but if you’ve got the huevos, most of them can be incorporated together. Finally, ensure that the muscle you select is ONE specific muscle, as in quads, not "legs." Let’s just get this one out of the way right off the bat. If you have significant deviations in your posture, you may be wasting your time trying any of the other solutions. Do yourself a favor and don’t skip this one (you hunchback). As an example that appeals to the masses, let's discuss the most common posture deviation in the gym-going sect; the anterior pelvic tilt. This means that the top of your pelvis is angled forward and down, and the bottom of your pelvis is displaced backward and up. An easy way to spot this one is by looking at the direction your belt buckle is pointing.  |  | | Anterior Pelvic Tilt | Neutral Pelvic Tilt |  |  | | Anterior Pelvic Tilt | Neutral Pelvic Tilt | This shifting of your pelvis causes a compression of your lumbar vertebrae due to a condition called lordosis (or hyperlordosis). Your intervertebral discs on the posterior aspect of the spine are now experiencing a degree of inhibition, causing nerve impingement, and therefore decreasing motor unit activation to all of the innervated muscles. Let’s say you're experiencing significant impingement at your L5/S1 articulation (also extremely common when dealing with an anterior pelvic tilt). The nerves exiting the dorsal aspect are responsible for activating your hip extensors, i.e. hamstrings. Is this a coincidence that the hamstrings are typically the most underdeveloped muscle on bodybuilders at any level? While this may not be the case for everyone with small yams, it can sure be a contributing factor for many people. This scenario is akin with trying to water your lawn with a kink in the hose; that grass is never going to soak up enough water to grow! Simply by alleviating the impingement through proper stretching and strengthening of the affected soft tissue, the hamstrings will be getting all the "water" they need. Often times, this particular situation can be remedied just by stretching the hip flexors and strengthening the abdominals. This is just one example; any muscle in your body can be affected by postural deviations. Check the following common posture deviations and see if you're indeed guilty:  |  | | Internal Rotation | Neutral Humerus | Stretch the pecs and lats, strengthen the rotator cuff  |  | | Caveman | Optimal | Stretch the pecs and anterior delts; strengthen the rhomboids, mid-traps, and posterior delts
This can manifest on one or both sides. Have someone look at you from behind to see if one side is higher than the other. However, this can be hard to eyeball, and bodybuilders tend to have an abundance of shoulder problems, so it’s worth checking out. You can do a quick hack job by taking three measurements:
Distance from tip of middle finger to floor (relaxed) Distance from tip of middle finger to floor (scapula elevated as if doing a shrug) Distance from tip of middle finger to floor (scapula depressed, slide your middle finger down your pant leg as far as you can without bending at the waist) It is; however, absolutely imperative that you have an attractive female take this measurement for you. I cannot be responsible for any skewed results due to non-compliance with this issue. Add up #2 and #3, and take the average. This number should be within 1/2 to 1 inch of your value for #1. If your relaxed scapula measurement is out of this range on the high side, your shoulder is elevated. A series of impingements can result and could theoretically cause inhibition to just about any upper body muscle on that side of your body. Step one is stretching your upper traps and levator scapulae on the affected side(s). The issue of Dynamic Posture has a strong influence as well, but requires more hands on knowledge to spot. This topic in itself could require an entire article, so I’ll leave it at that…for now. Now that you’ve got yourself all lined up, it’s time to get to the good stuff. In 1995 Beth and Oscar Rothenberg released a book detailing a system called Systematic Touch Training (STT), which involves touching the muscle during its contraction (or having your training partner do it for you). Theoretically, the nervous system becomes more aware of the muscle being used when being touched. "The use of Touch Training has a stimulating influence on the neuromuscular system that may lead to modifications in the signals sent from the brain to a muscle during contraction."(1) Need more? "Touch may facilitate a muscle contraction through a complex reflexive pathway that terminates on the motor neuron innervating a muscle. Facilitation of the spinal cord can lead to increased frequency of electrochemical activity to a muscle or it may increase the number of motor neurons that are actively involved in a contraction" (2). What's being explained here is that you can theoretically convince more motor units to fire just by touching the muscle! A larger activated motor unit pool ultimately results in more weight used, more reps completed, and more hypertrophy! This principal works through cutaneous receptors of the skin transmitting proprioceptive and kinesthetic feedback to the central nervous system during movement. In short, it works. Some strength training experts, however, write this off as a system benefiting mainly beginners with poor body awareness, as well as sub-par neural drive, which I don’t totally disagree with. You, however, have a muscle that won’t grow, and therefore quite possibly aren't getting enough neural activity in that muscle regardless of your training age. Now, I’m not asking you to have your buddy stand behind you and manhandle your hammies during a set of Romanian Deadlifts; I have a different way to reap the benefits of STT while still maintaining your dignity. Although your Taoist training partner may try to convince you that the reason for the efficacy of the touch system is all-powerful Chi flowing between your bodies, Touch Training works by compressing the cutaneous receptors of the skin, not by some mysterious life force leaching out of your Testosterone laden sweat. What this means for you and your stubborn muscles, is that a simple compression of the skin through the use of athletic tape, gauze, or some other thin non-obtrusive cloth can get the job done. This was demonstrated with a sphygmometer in a recent study where wrapping the arm in a slightly inflated cuff showed significant benefit regarding blood flow and time to fatigue. It's important to wrap the muscle tight enough to slightly compress the skin, however not so tight as to significantly restrict blood flow (or else you would have to remove the compression agent between each set to allow perfusion to occur). Practically speaking, this works better with the muscles of the limbs than the torso, but with a little creativity, just about any muscle can be wrapped. If you feel a bit wanky about it, just wear a long sleeved shirt or workout pants over your wrap of choice. Continuing along with our neural onslaught, why not give your brain a little fuel? If you've been reading Testosterone for more than a week, you’ve probably heard of Power Drive by now (if not tried it yourself). I've been using PD with myself and clients for quite some time now with continued success, and if you haven’t tried it before, this would be a great opportunity. To start, take it with a non-caloric carbonated beverage such as club soda or diet coke on the day you're going to train your stubborn muscle (about 30 minutes before your workout). You may later want to take it before all workout days, but initially this will help you to be psychologically prepared for the battle as we want all of your mental focus on this day. This should be on an empty stomach for maximal efficacy, but feel free to start sipping on your during training beverage when you get to the gym. You may want to consider adding about 10mg of Vinpocetine and 50mcg of Huperzine for a real "how’s your father?" effect. If you plan on performing 2/day workouts (see below), then take PD before each workout. Stretching the agonist or antagonist muscle before a set can lead to increased performance and consequently, increased hypertrophy. This method can be started during your warm up sets, and should be continued throughout the duration of your workout. Do NOT stretch the muscle you will be training that day; instead just use a specific warm up. Below's a list of agonist-antagonist muscular relations, as well as muscles that could cause some force inhibition when tight. Hold stretches for about 20-30 seconds. Find the muscle you're focusing on (your stubborn muscle), and stretch the other side of the equation: Pectorals --> Lats/Rhomboids/Mid-Traps/Teres Minor/Infraspinatus Biceps --> Triceps Anterior Delt --> Posterior Delt/Lats/Subscapularis Medial Delt --> Lats Upper Traps --> Lower Traps Abs --> Spinal Erectors Quads --> Hamstrings/Hip Flexors Calves --> Tibialis Anterior [Obviously, the arrow goes both ways. For example, before working the lats, stretch the pectorals; before working triceps, stretch the biceps, etc.] Chances are, you’ve been neglecting a certain part of the muscle in question. You’ve got small biceps, well how many times have you started your workout with reverse curls? Maybe you throw them in but it’s at the end when your arms barely have enough energy to write in your training log, admit it. Quads get laughed at in the locker room? Try starting off your workout with Full Lunges, which involve no daylight between the hams and the calves at the bottom position, your knee extending way beyond the line of your toe. This will target the Vastus Intermedius like no other exercise will, an often neglected quadriceps muscle. The point is, find a grip width or orientation, a stance, or an exercise that you rarely do, or even one that usually ends up at the end of the workout, and DO IT FIRST! Make a list of your major muscle groups from best developed down to least developed, the last one being your stubborn muscle. You're now going to "buy" some sets from your best body parts and hand them off to your worst. Traditional specialization methods often call for bludgeoning your inadequate muscles with more and more sets, but this can be highly demanding on the body's limited neural and hormonal recovery capacities. Instead, you're going to back down on sets from the muscles that don’t need any help, giving them only enough to maintain where they are. Your growth will come much quicker this way, as your body is now able to focus its limited energical substrates and caloric surpluses on the important task at hand. On the day of your stubborn body part workout, increase your calorie intake an additional 10% above where you're currently at (which should already be hypercaloric on a hypertrophy program). This additional caloric intake should be made up of entirely carbohydrate and protein, and divided evenly between the workout shake you drink during your workout (which is absolutely vital to this program), your post workout shake, and your 2nd post workout meal. Keep the carb to protein ratios the same, just up the totals. This takes advantage of the times of the day when insulin sensitivity is highest, and your stubborn muscles are most hungry. Current research suggests that insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake can differ in certain muscles, and may not necessarily be the same throughout the body as previously suspected (3). For those of you that ride the short bus to the gym and can only add and subtract in 45lb increments, here is an example: Carbs: 36g Protein: 18g Ratio: (2:1) Carbs: 36g Protein: 18g Ratio: (2:1) Carbs: 105g Protein: 80g Ratio: (1.3:1)
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Carbs: 55g Protein: 27.5g Ratio: (2:1) Carbs: 55g Protein: 27.5g Ratio: (2:1) Carbs: 125g Protein: 90g Ratio: (1.3:1) These three meals are where you can make the difference between growth and stagnation. They are by far the most important meals of your workout day, so make it happen! The meals involving high carbohydrates (if you're following a "Massive Eating" meal split, this would be your P+C meals) can benefit greatly from a little assistance in the form of Alpha Lipoic Acid in getting the glucose and amino acids into your muscle cells. Research and loads of anecdotal experience with myself and clients involving bloodwork and perceived tolerance leads me to recommend the "r" isomer known as r-ALA (4). Depending on your current insulin sensitivity, your lagging body part may not be getting enough glucose and AA’s into the cells to warrant significant hypertrophy. The specifics of dosage and frequency are highly individual in this case, but I can offer some suggestions and guidelines for you to work with. Poor insulin sensitivity will require a higher dosage of r-ALA, up to about 300mg before meals. If you feel that you tolerate glucose fairly well, you may be able to get by with 100mg pre-meal. If stimulants are present in the bloodstream (caffeine, ephedrine, albuterol, crack, etc.) you'll require an increased amount of r-ALA, usually adding an additional 100mg to your current dosage will suffice. Controversy arises when discussing whether or not to use glucose disposal agents with a during/post workout beverage such as Surge. Again this is highly individual, but more often than not,I'd recommend it for a program like this (especially if you work out on stimulants). From looking at blood glucose readings from various clients during the post workout period, those with less than optimal insulin sensitivity can take as long as 180 minutes for their glucose readings to drop back anywhere close to baseline, thereby signaling time for the next feeding. When adding r-ALA to the equation, the glucose drops back down to a reasonable level within 90 minutes or so, allowing the crucial second post workout feeding to be consumed much earlier. Two-a -day workouts can have tremendous benefits when done properly, and only when done properly. With two workouts, the body now has four (that’s quatro for all of our Tijuana readers) windows of opportunity to inundate the muscle cells with glycogen and growth promoting amino acids when insulin sensitivity is elevated (5); one window during and immediately after each workout, and another window 90 minutes or so after the first. Don’t even bother with 2/day workouts unless you take advantage of all four (IV for the Roman readers) of these windows. In the case of our non-cooperative muscle, each workout will address one of the two main mechanisms for growth, i.e. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and sarcomere hypertrophy. The rules of physiology dictate that we perform the sarcomere based workout (see below) earlier in the day as this workout will be far more taxing to the nervous system and must be performed when fresh. This will also add the benefit of heightening the neural drive to that specific muscle 4-6 hours later when the second workout should be performed. The goal of this workout is to avoid depleting energical substrates to a significant degree while still giving the muscle fibers a good thrashing: 1. 8-10 sets of 3-5 reps. 2. 1-2 exercises per workout (base this on recovery capacities, you should leave this workout feeling fresh, not drained). 3. Tempo: Slow eccentric with explosive concentrics, i.e. (5010). 4. Do not take any set to failure, make the last rep look like the first. 5. Rest periods should be adequate enough to regain full strength and mental focus (90 seconds or more). 6. Exercise selection should involve multi-joint movements with high load potential (Yes even the calves can be trained with multi-joint movements, i.e. bi-articular calf raises, jumping drills, etc.). 7. Stretch the antagonist/inhibitory muscle group between sets, and sip on some Surge. Workout number two, as previously stated, will be completed within 4-6 hours of the first workout. This goal of the second workout is to take it easy on the previously trodden, war-torn nervous system and muscle fibers, and focus more on that mysterious slimy fluid that surrounds the cells known as sarcoplasm: 1. 2 sets of 12-15 reps. 2. 5-6 exercises per workout (incorporate different limb angles/stances/grips etc.). 3. Set #1: (2020) Set #2: (7171)—prepare to enjoy copious amounts of pain on the second set, you sick, narcissistic, masochistic weirdo. 4. Still avoid failure, keep those reps sparkling clean. 5. Rest periods should be inadequate (30-45 seconds). 6. Exercise selection should involve single-joint isolation movements. 7. Take just enough time between sets to sip on some Surge and ponder how easy the single-handed invasion of a small country will be once this muscle is up to par. Use this only if you'll be sticking to single session workouts, i.e. if you’re going to skip #9 (valid reasons ranging from being a tear-soaked sissy to being a Fortune 500 executive with just enough free time to wipe your own ass). The entire "feeder" session will only take about 10 minutes and can be tacked on to the end of your previously scheduled workout. Try to schedule this about 24 hours after your initial stubborn muscle workout. I don’t want to get overly scientific about the specifics of the feeder, but the premise is to pick an isolation exercise of your choice for the target muscle and fire off 4 quick sets of about 50 reps. Don’t take any of these sets to failure, finish up your final set of 50 at about an 8 out of 10 on your rate of perceived exertion. Take about 30-45 seconds rest between sets. All we're trying to do here is to drive some blood flow to the area to bring in the growth promoting nutrients with full force, hence speeding up recovery. Credit strength coach Charles Staley for giving this method the attention it deserves. For those of you that haven’t partaken in this wonderfully rotten (it’s a love/hate thing, you’ll understand) experience, I demand that you do it. And T.C. has all of your addresses, so if you don’t do it, I’ll find you, and it won’t be pretty (just think soy enema). For those of you that have tried it, well I don’t even have to nudge you, because you already know the benefits. Cryotherapy is a fancy way of saying ice massage, and no, you don’t have to be a C.M.T. to do it. Fill a Dixie cup half full of water, freeze it, and peel away the paper just like the foil off one of those burritos the size of your head that you’re not allowed to eat. Once some ice is exposed, dig it into your troublesome muscle belly, and take long deep strokes running the same direction as the muscle fibers. This should not feel like the "sensual maaasage" from that fitness bunny you tricked into coming home with you by saying "Soo, you wanna be famous?" If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not doing it right. In fact, the last client I did this to ended up squirming around on the floor, screaming and throwing 5lb plates at me while simultaneously pleading with me not to stop. No, wait, my mistake, that was indeed the fitness bunny. But I digress. This procedure should be done right after your workout, for a total of about 10 minutes, or until you throw up in your lap, whichever comes first. If you want to get fancy with it and impress your friends and neighbors, the only choice is the Cryocup from Cryo Therapy, which can be purchased by calling 1-800-ICE-5772. Taking the deep tissue work to the next level, this method can work wonders for those with chronically tight muscles. When a muscle chronically sits at a resting length of partial contraction (due to aforementioned posture deviations, or possibly from your efforts of constantly flexing to impress uninterested bystanders), the fibers begin to shorten and can build up scar tissue and adhesions. Instead of the fibers running parallel to each other like a normal platonic happy family, they start to go backwoods style (cue the banjo) and fuse to one another. That’s right, it’s possible that under a microscope your stubborn muscle might look like an Arkansas family reunion. Don’t let this continue! Get some Active Release Techniques done to break this madness up. The problem with this scenario is that neural impingement is highly likely, therefore decreasing total motor units available in that muscle, and hypertrophy and strength production are both limited. Unfortunately, now you have absolutely no excuses for your stubborn muscles. Quit blaming genetics, and start embracing science! 1. Lacourse, Michael G. (1995). Training With the Right Touch. Fitness Management Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 7, pp. 38-41. 2. Hagbarth, K.E. (1978). Excitatory and inhibitory skin areas for flexor and extensory motoneurons. In O.D. Payton, S. Hirt, & R. Newton (eds.), Scientific Basis for Neurophysioogic Approaches to Therapeutic Exercise: An Anthology. Philadelphia: F.A. Davies Co. 3. Gaudreault N, Santure M, Pitre M, Nadeau A, Marette A, Bachelard H. (Metabolism. 2001 Jan;50(1):65-73). Effects of insulin on regional blood flow and glucose uptake in Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats. Department of Physiology, Laval University Hospital Research Center, Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada. 4. Streeper RS, Henriksen EJ, Jacob S, Hokama JY, Fogt DL, Tritschler HJ.(Am J Physiol. 1997 Jul;273(1 Pt 1):E185-91). Differential effects of lipoic acid stereoisomers on glucose metabolism in insulin-resistant skeletal muscle. Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721-0093. 5. USA.Henriksen EJ. (J Appl Physiol. 2002 Aug;93(2):788-96). Invited review: Effects of acute exercise and exercise training on insulin resistance. Muscle Metabolism Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0093, USA. ejhenrik@u.arizona.edu | 
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