This article will take you 4 minutes to read. Feel free to leave your questions in the comment section, they will be answered!
In previous training articles, we sometimes mentioned the importance of specialising in bodybuilding and choosing the right exercises for yourself. This article basically brings up the debate of quantity versus quality when it comes to your gym training.
Both are very important. There is no one winner. They should be used together for the best of your gym journey.
What specialising in something means as a whole?
First, specialising just means focusing on what’s best for you to improve. It does not just apply for your bodybuilding routine as we will describe but also in the lifting world in general. You can lift weights but have a totally different approach to training than someone else.
Some people specialise in bodybuilding while others in powerlifting. Others will prefer crossfit training or weight-lifting. Specialising is basically narrowing down to what you like but also what is best for you to perform super well!
If you try to be a cross-fitter, a bodybuilder, and a weight-lifter at the same time… you won’t go very far!
What is specialising in your bodybuilding routine?
If we talk about specializing in your bodybuilding routine, we are talking about choosing the best exercises for yourself to maximize your progress.
To do less but to do well (quality) and a lot/enough (quantity). It’s good to focus on quality and it’s even better if you can apply enough or just the right quantity to it.
Illustrating what specialising in your bodybuilding routine means
Let’s look at this chest bodybuilding routine session:
1-Bench-press
2-Incline bench-press
3-Decline bench-press
4-Flies with dumbbells
5-Cables flies
6-Chest-press on the machine
We often see this type of sessions around the community amongst beginners. The issue with this type of program is that we are doing too much of the same thing.
There are a lot of press exercises and the bench-press and chest press on the machine are basically targeting the exact same thing. The flies with dumbbells are enough there is no need for the cable flies.
Here is what could be done instead:
1- Barbell Bench-press
2- Barbell Decline bench-press
3- Dumbbell Incline chest-flies
We are covering all parts of chest and we are not abusing all the barbell variants. We are focusing on less but still doing as much – just take a few sets off what was in the last program and add it to your now chosen exercises.
This way, you can simply focus on less thing making yourself more productive. You are also targeting your muscle hard. No messing around! A lot of sets in the same angle and hammering it!
Learn about your body-morphology
Try and learn by yourself or get an expert to analyse your body-morphology.If you have been training for a little while and have been developing muscles and are decently lean, you can then start to see what kind of shape you have.
Are your muscles short or long?
This way you can really find the best exercises for yourself and specialise even more. This is by the way how you should look for a personal trainer. These days there are not many personal trainers which will really give you an individualised program to the extent of analysing your body to make you improve.
We talked about personal trainers and how if you want to chose one you have to make sure he will be the right one for you. Imagine if you start narrowing down the exercises you choose according to your body-shape and without repeating the same variants.
That’s the best thing you can do. You focus on less things but you do them well and enough.
Specialising in your bodybuilding routine is the key to become very strong on certain movements
Once you start focusing on a few exercises which are a perfect fit for you, you will improve massively!
Ever heard practice makes perfect? This is why in our article “Stick to your bodybuilding routine to avoid stagnation, here’s why”, we suggest that you should stick to your routine once you have found what works for you.
Get rid of the stereotypes on “shocking the muscle”, this is non-sense. You want to improve on exercises which work for you and which you are good at.
Seriously, any gamers here?
When you choose a character in a video game, you usually do so because he has got unique traits and was created to fit a specific role. You then buy equipment which reinforces those first characteristics. Once you are started with it, you can’t just change the whole character.
He was genetically made for something and you have to feed him or dress him with what will help his genetics and personal natural traits. Don’t buy him equipment or feed him with something that would work for another character.
This is the same here. Get to what you are genetically good at and work as hard as you can! People who have the right body-morphology for deadlifts should probably deadlift! They have a chance to become the best in the world if they pursue.
Conclusion:
If you have come to stagnate in your bodybuilding journey, specialising might be one of the solution to keep improving. In the article on how to train at home, we also advise to specialise within your gym routine because exercise variations are low and it’s better to focus on what’s best.
Start doing less but better and enough. Get to know yourself better to become a real specialist in your bodybuilding routine and an expert in the movements you practice.
Your results will skyrocket!
We hope you learnt a lot from this article and if you enjoyed it don’t hesitate to share.
Any questions? Let us know in the comments!
