“The most obvious difference [between the upper and lower body] Is the size of the muscle, and the lower body contains the largest muscle in the body, especially the gluteus maximus, “says Pierce. , And frequently complete daily tasks such as sitting and standing. The load on the upper body is reduced, especially when lifting objects. This is not very frequent. It makes sense. Walking around all day can strengthen the muscles of the upper body, but evolution has not (yet) led us all to the handstand of life, so their gluteal muscles, quadriceps, thighs and calves The strongest.
If you’re doing strength training, you’ve probably noticed that this strength imbalance means that your lower body can lift much heavier than your upper body. “Unless you lift a particularly heavy upper body weight for a long time and ignore the lower body, it is quite normal to be able to lift more weights with the lower body compared to what you can lift with the upper body.” To do. Earrings.Generally speaking, she says you can expect to lift double Lower body weight compared to upper body. So you might be rocking a 15-pound dumbbell for a biceps curl, but you might be rocking a 30-pound or more dumbbell for a sumo squat.
Having leveled up expectations for the upper and lower body, we are ready to train both areas to be the strongest and most mobile. “There are several ways to apply a gradual overload to your muscles to strengthen and build them,” says Pierce. The following describes the basic steps for training your whole body, while respecting the important differences between different muscle groups.
1. Establish basic upper and lower body strength levels
“”First, we achieve the basic level of strength to lift higher rep (15-20 rep in 3 rounds) and get used to movement patterns and range of motion with lighter loads, “says Pierce. Obviously, this base level is different. For lower and upper body muscles.
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2. Apply progress
You can make progress in two ways, says Pierce. First, you can choose higher personnel (8-12) and more sets (3-5) to improve your fitness with a 2-3 minute break. Second, you can change your exercise so that your muscles have to adapt. “You can switch the equipment you use from dumbbells to cables to barbells to change the stimulus,” explains Pierce.
3. Super set
“”Supersetting the exercise in question with antagonistic muscle movements (for example, a triceps kickback superset with biceps curl) can challenge the muscles to become stronger. You can, “says Pierce. You can lift more weight.
4. Stay consistent
Make sure you give equal affection to your upper and lower body. “For full-body workouts, complete arm and leg workouts, or combine both, such as burpees, squats, and overhead presses. If you’re training different body parts on different days,“ Leg Day. “There are” arm days “and so on,” says Pearce.
Try this full body workout at home:
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