Changing the Shape of a Physique
This is something I have noticed amongst some competitors - the desire to change the shape of their physique. This begs the question - is this at all possible?
To answer this we need to think about what changing the shape of one's physique could mean:
- It could mean changing the global size of a muscle or muscle group (make it get bigger or smaller) in relation to other muscles/muscle groups.
- It could mean changing the size of individual heads or regions of a muscle
- It could mean changing the actual shape of a muscle eg changing a rectangular quad sweep to a round quad sweep
- It could mean changing skeletal structure
- It could mean changing "width" or "thickness"
Changing global muscle size (proportion)
This is something we can certainly work on. If for example you have lagging biceps there are things you can do to change their size. It largely comes down to manipulating training variables to achieve progressive overload. Increasing one or more of: volume, frequency or intensity can help to achieve this if increasing load specifically is not an option. Other variables like exercise selection, time under tension (part of volume), "intensity techniques" (generally transiently increase volume), rest period length etc may have an effect also.
Changing the size of regions of a muscle
There is actually a lot of evidence to support compartmentalisation, functional subdivisions, and regional differences when it comes to damage, activation, metabolic stress and hypertrophy. Further we do have evidence for different exercises activating certain regions of muscle tissue. So the final piece is "does activation of a region equal hypertrophy of that region?". And we have evidence for that too. In fact Bret Contreras wrote a brilliant article detailing all these things in the September 2014 edition of the AARR. Check it out if you are interested.
So what does this mean? It means you can change the size of regions of a muscle to some degree (I would argue to a limited degree) by using exercises that put more emphasis on activation of that region of tissue. To achieve this a good start would be training using a variety of exercises for a given body part. Beyond that you could look into evidence for what exercises tend to activate which regions. Luckily the article I mentioned above contains some of this information as well.
Changing the actual shape of a muscle
Beyond changing the size of certain regions or heads of a muscle this just isn't going to happen. Muscle shape is determined by genetics. If you have a bicep which is long and full with short tendons, no amount of manipulation of anything is going to change it into a short, round muscle belly with a high peak and longer tendons. That is genetic, it cannot be changed!
Changing skeletal structure
It is quite obvious that there is no training method that is going to alter your skeletal structure. If you have narrow clavicles, guess what? You are always going to have narrow clavicles! If you have a thick waist, guess what? You are always going to have a thick waist! Get over it and move on.
Changing "width" or "thickness"
Width and thickness are terms used in bodybuilding to denote or describe qualities of a physique. Width is referring to how wide you are or you appear from side to side. Thickness is referring to that same thing but from front to back. In this case if someone has told you that you are lacking in width or thickness you really have to break it down and figure out exactly what that means and then apply the information above to determine whether that is something you can change. What is contributing to your lack of apparent width/thickness? Skeletal size/shape? Absolute and/or relative muscle size? Size of specific regions/heads of a muscle(s)?
If you wish to change the "shape" of your physique you should now be able to start analysing what you need to work on, how you might approach working on it and whether you can actually do anything about it. If you can't do anything about it, stop wasting your time and start working on the things you have some actual influence over.
Coming soon: an account of my final weeks of contest prep, my pro competitions, my two week vacation in the USA and the beginning of my off season. Stay tuned!
Announcement: Season A 2015 is fast approaching. I have recently opened up new coaching spots for competitors but places are limited. To secure your coaching position contact me at Muscle Academy. Details below:
Email - evansmuscleacademy@gmail.com
Website - www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon
Thankyou for your continued support
- Evan
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