I saw a great video by Omar yesterday. 4 must do exercises to look bigger. I use him as one source of many for information on training, but also for entertainment since his is humorous.
Aesthetics Goal
Looking bigger and aesthetics is a key part of my goal in strength training since I must improve to look better as an example of the whole food-plant based concept. Omar mentions several weight room exercises but also body weight exercises.
- Incline bench press: Upper chest: It can potentially be replaced with a decline pushup.
- Pull-ups: To build Latissimus Dorsi the major back muscle, mentioned in the video are high volume for maximum hypertrophy (muscle growth).
- Pushups: serratus anterior (small muscles on side of chest, below the armpits) . A muscle built by the punching movement, boxers and fighters have this very well developed.
- Overhead press for shoulders: I have this covered with the handstand and handstand pushups.
I do not have access to a pull up bar at this time. On an exclusively body weight routine without a pull-up bar, all muscles are covered.
- Upper chest: decline pushup / wall walks into handstand.
- Latissimus Dorsi : L-sit / handstand / wall walks into handstand.
- Serratus anterior: pushup; decline pushup, wall walks, L-sit.
- Shoulders: handstand pushups.
In summary, a small number of compound body weight exercises can strengthen all muscles mentioned in this aesthetics video effectively.
Health Benefits
A paper on NIH website “Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health” by Westcott WL provides some insight. The articles shows benefits include;
- Improved physical performance
- Movement control, walking speed
- Functional independence
- Cognitive abilities
- Self-esteem.
- Prevention and management of type 2 diabetes
- Enhance cardiovascular health
- Promote bone development
- Reduce low back pain.
- Ease discomfort associated with arthritis and fibromyalgia
- Reverse specific aging factors in skeletal muscle.
Clicking the link ‘Westcott WL‘ will show all the papers by this author published on the NIH site, of which there are many. Interventional studies (one of the best types of studies to show health benefit of activity) are seen here.
Injury Prevention: Squats and dead lifts I would assume as most beneficial because strength and coordination learned during activation of all these muscles will reduce both the chance for falling and severity of fall injuries.
Efficiently building total body muscle mass
See this table of muscle mass of the largest muscles in the body, unsorted.
By far the largest group of muscles in the body are the legs. Working the legs in just one or two movements effectively builds them: the legs, including the quadriceps femoris (front thigh), biceps femoris (hamstring) and gluteus maximus. The legs far and away have the most muscle volume and potential for absolute most muscle gain compared to the entire upper body. In other words ‘don’t skip leg day’ for the purposes of efficient muscle mass growth seems like a key phrase.
The largest muscle groups in the upper body are the chest, the shoulders, triceps and the latissumus dorsi (outer back). The several bicep muscles of the arm appear to come in at last place in the major muscles of the upper body.
I’ve seen in several bodybuilding training videos for beginners that the focus early should be on compound movements to build all muscle groups,and that it should be easier in the first year to build quite a bit to take advantage of these ‘noob gains’ by working all the muscles with compound as opposed to focusing on specified, isolated muscle exercises.
I still find myself watching some videos about isolation movements like this post on AthleanX. It’s tempting to add exercises to my list. I already have done a few that are questionable, like the Nordic curls and elevated pushups. They are a lower priority, but Nordic curls are the only exercise that effectively strengthen the hamstrings, and furthermore prevent pulls of that muscle when performing sports, something I may want to enjoy after sufficient prehab work for the knees, groin, ankles, and hamstrings. Elevated pushups can easily be dropped and I still work the related muscles sufficiently.
Other prehab work for soccer or another running sport will be plyometrics, if I start thinking seriously about that route, but aesthetics and bodybuilding is key, now.
Exercises which hit all of the muscles listed in the video above, and which are on my list to perform:
- Bulgarian split squats: Legs; hamstrings included, but a far better exercise for them is the isolation exercise Nordic Curls.
- Handstand and its many variations: shoulders, back (lats), arms (triceps, biceps) and chest
- L-sits: Triceps, shoulders, pecs, and lats
I have the knowledge, but discipline will be the testing factor for me to be consistent and therefore show results. Stay the course! I hope you also consider performing strength exercises to reap all the health benefits described by Wayne L. Westcott (click his name for link to his bio on WebMD), above. I may do an article about him since he is a major figure in the science of strength training as it relates to the health of average individuals.
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