Know your muscles

Muscle building explained:

In this section the basic principles and techniques relating to muscle development will be explained. This elementary knowledge is important and deserves to be studied before you take up weight training.

Putting together a workout on the basis of the Workout manager requires a reasonable knowledge of the muscle-anatomy of your body, particularly of the larger muscles.

A common reaction to this is: ‘Why do I have to know all this? I don’t want to know all the names and locations of my body’s muscles … just tell me what to do and let’s get on with it!’ This rather short-sighted approach will negatively influence your long term development.

 Taking the time to get to know your muscles will increase your understanding, which will prevent many common training errors.

These are some of the advantages of knowing your muscles: It helps you to visualize the relevant muscles while exercising. The ‘mind-to-muscle’ link is improved once you are capable of visualizing the individual muscles you are working on.

The development of this ‘mind-to-muscle’ link will enable you to better isolate your muscles while exercising and to prevent ‘unwanted’ muscles from getting involved in the various exercises.

• This will improve the way in which you perform the exercises.
• You will become aware of how your muscles move during the various exercises. This enables you to correct your performance of the exercises.
• In this way you will at least make technically correct muscle movements.
• It helps you to assess your body and make adjustments.

 Knowledge of muscle­-anatomy will make you become aware of your own (and other people’s!) muscles. 

You will also become aware of how each muscle influences the overall picture. This knowledge will enable you to determine which muscles need more and which need less attention whilst planning your training.

So, now that you know why some knowledge of muscle-anatomy is essential, you will be motivated to learn more about the various muscles.

Author: Tobias van der Avort

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