Posted on September 05, 2014 by Kate Halsall

Ever noticed how when you bench press that you feel it in the front of your shoulders and upper arms rather than your actual chest? How about when you squat, do you feel it more in your quads and very little in your glutes? You’ve even asked people to check your technique and have been told it’s great – so what’s happening? Simply put; your somatotype (body shape) combined with previous workout routines and habits can affect your muscles and how they contract during your work out. The fact of the matter is that if the two examples I’ve mentioned already apply to you, you have weak muscles. Don’t worry, a lot of us are predisposed to this! This blog explains how to target weak muscles by building up your muscle memory in those weak areas, enabling the muscles to “switch on” during your exercises.

So how do we do this? We want those weaker muscles to contract whilst the usually dominant ones take a back seat. The only way to do this is to isolate those specific weaker muscles and target them with low weights and high reps. The repetition of the movement will teach those weaker muscles to contract, and over time they will be able to do this without conscious effort.

One of the most effective ways to do this is via the 100 Rep Method. You’ll select a light weight – something that you could use comfortably for 20-25 reps. Then go for it. If you need to rest, rest for 15 or so seconds and then keep going until you’ve done the move 100 times. It’s a great way to retrain and build up those weaker muscles.

So let’s go back to our bench presses. A lot of chest exercises will work your chest, delts, biceps and triceps. But we need the Pectorals to dominate this work. So once a week for six weeks, we’re going to targeted this specific weak muscle group during our training and we’re going to isolate our pecs to get them to remember how to switch on. We’re going to do 100 reps of Flyes (flat, incline or decline) or even Cable Crossovers. (It should be noted here that when we do this workout, we won’t be doing other chest exercises on that or the following day). After doing this for six weeks, we should see a change in your bench press.

And for that pesky Glute Medius? In a different six week block (we don’t want to be doing 100 reps every workout!), look at using the 100 rep method we could use a external rotation of the thigh during the clam position to isolate the glutei medius

But be warned, whilst there are additional benefits of this method eg it will increase muscle endurance and improve muscle definition…100 reps of any exercise isn’t going to be easy, even if the weight is light! Choose the exercises wisely, i.e use machines rather than free weights. Enjoy your workout!

Further Reading:
http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/learn-how-muscles-build-up-strength
The Strength Training Anatomy Workout II, Volume 2 By Frédéric Delavier, Michael Gundill. Extracts can be found here
http://jap.physiology.org/content/101/6/1766
http://www.cbass.com/Carpinelli.htm