Only gaining muscle in certain areas.

[paperfist]

So I’ve been at the gym 4-5 months now 3x a week. 25 min cardio warmup then 45 mins weight with a split of lower body, upper body and core on those 3 days.

I’m an endomorph, but still perplexed that not only have I gone from 218 to 223, but my legs are exploding with muscle and veins and my upper body is still jelly.

I know legs are stronger to begin with, but is this normal? Is there something I can do to balance out?

 

[mike8675309]

Genetics my man, genetics. What part of your upper body is the problem? Arms, Shoulders, Back, Chest? For me my chest is the trailer. Shoulders, arms and particularly my back respond really well to volume. My chest just says "is that all you got?". Genetics.

Want the weak areas to grow more. More volume. Think you are doing enough? You're not, more volume. And make sure you are eating enough to support the growth.

 

[killster1]

why not work out what you want to grow? i do each part separate days arms one day, legs one day, chest etc, shoulders, back, rest one day or two then repeat. no cardio needed until after work out and only to lose weight.

 

[paperfist]

Genetics my man, genetics. What part of your upper body is the problem? Arms, Shoulders, Back, Chest? For me my chest is the trailer. Shoulders, arms and particularly my back respond really well to volume. My chest just says "is that all you got?". Genetics.

Want the weak areas to grow more. More volume. Think you are doing enough? You're not, more volume. And make sure you are eating enough to support the growth.

Thanks!

Mainly chest, back and arms. I was going to say at least you didn’t say diet, but you did at the end so I’m screwed on that and genetics

I dunno I’m toast on those muscles after I work them out. Not sure how much more I can do other than adding another day?

why not work out what you want to grow? i do each part separate days arms one day, legs one day, chest etc, shoulders, back, rest one day or two then repeat. no cardio needed until after work out and only to lose weight.

Maybe it’s old school thought, but in the past the experts said you couldn’t isolate and work out 1 muscle.

I don’t think I can make 5 days a week work, maybe longer sessions.

I dunno using the cardio as a core warmup seems to limit my injuries. When I was younger I was always tweaking this or that and missing a month here and there at the gym. Now I’m a lot more consistent.

 

[Riverhound777]

Do some more work at home? Pullups, pushups? That way you wont feel like you're going to the gym 5 days a week, but you'll still get some more volume in. I know people say you need rest, but you really don't need 4 days a week rest. Only real negative is it will increase risk of injury the more you workout. That's the balancing act.

I'm the opposite, I don't go to the gym, I only workout at home. I know I need to go to get in some heavier weights, but I just talk myself out of it, tired from work, traffic, whatever. It's always a struggle, haha.

 

[ArchAngel777]

The legs hide a lot of fat due to the large muscles in them. Most people think their legs are lean, but they really aren't. The larger the muscle group, the more fat can be present without looking the part. Diameter * 3.14 - Remember that. Average legs are 22-24" circumference, arms are probably 13-14". A world of difference when it comes to how much fat each can hold while looking lean.

Additionally, because the legs and glutes are the largest muscle group (besides the back), they hold a lot more glycogen. If you never really worked out before both upper and lower body had small glycogen stores. Once you started working out, they both enlarged. The legs hold a lot more glycogen because they are so much larger. You would be amazed at how much the legs shrink when you drop body fat. They don't "look" like they shrink as much, but they actually do. Even at approximately 10% BF, my thighs are surrounded by approximately 5mm (10mm diameter) of fat. That means, if I were to lose all that fat, my legs would shrink 1.23inches in circumference. Obviously you can't lose all that fat or you would be dead... However, when I was heavier at 20% BF, my legs still appeared lean, but they were around 22mm. So they shrunk approximately 1.5 inches. It is important to note that even at 22mm thigh measurement, my legs appeared "lean", yet they were far from it in reality. Then again, everyone has a different idea of what lean is, because it is somewhat subjective.

TLDR - Provided you are doing full body work outs properly, it would be impossible for your legs to grow, but your upper body to not grow. Whatever you see here is an illusion and is likely obscured by body fat. Again, assuming you are sufficiently stimulating growth.

 

[ArchAngel777]

On another note, if you do cardio before lifting weights as a warmup, I recommend cutting it down 10 minutes to 15, and making sure your HR is sub ~100. You don't really want to be in the "cardio" zone prior to your resistance training. So I do agree with the idea of warming up properly to avoid injury, but I'd suggest you make sure it isn't anything more than a very low intensity cardio. A few minutes in the cardio zone at the end wouldn't be terrible, you just don't want to hit it too hard. You want to be fresh when you hit the weights.

So cut that warmup down to 15minutes, and then add 15-20 minutes of actual cardio at the end of some sessions (probably for the upper body splits and ignore it on the lower body split).

Just my suggestion. A lot of this stuff is quite debatable overall, so it isn't something to get dogmatic about.

 

[purbeast0]

If you're trying to bulk up, cut out all of that cardio. Maybe do like 10 minutes or so but 25 minutes doesn't really seem necessary since you are trying to gain weight.

And just FYI, the shoulders are part of your arms. I'm not talking directly to you OP but many people in here say they workout "arms" which IMO is a terrible idea if you are trying to work out biceps, triceps, and shoulders all in the same day. You aren't going to get a great workout trying to do 3 muscle groups in 1 workout. Split it up. For some odd reason people think "arms" just means biceps and triceps.

I personally am a fan of doing push or pull muscle groups together. I'm not a fan of doing tricep and biceps together. I did that for years and once I stopped doing that and instead did back then biceps afterwards, my gains were much larger. Same with doing chest then triceps afterwards.

 

[killster1]

Thanks!

Mainly chest, back and arms. I was going to say at least you didn’t say diet, but you did at the end so I’m screwed on that and genetics

I dunno I’m toast on those muscles after I work them out. Not sure how much more I can do other than adding another day?



Maybe it’s old school thought, but in the past the experts said you couldn’t isolate and work out 1 muscle.

I don’t think I can make 5 days a week work, maybe longer sessions.

I dunno using the cardio as a core warmup seems to limit my injuries. When I was younger I was always tweaking this or that and missing a month here and there at the gym. Now I’m a lot more consistent.

5 days a week but only 30 mins in the gym,, 5 mins of warm up with the same exercise you will be doing. (like for ARM day start with really light reps curls) Then set your timer every 1 min do another rep, after your 3-5 reps move to the next exercise, 3 or 4 sets and your done. Of course you can work out 1 body part a day what they say is compound exercises seem to build muscle better. But most of all is diet. If i take weight gainer and eat as much meat and rice / potato as i can then my muscles grow 10x faster.

Me personally my shoulders are not part of my arms more part my torso / neck / back hehe

 

[purbeast0]

Me personally my shoulders are not part of my arms more part my torso / neck / back hehe

Ummm, that's not your shoulders. That's your traps.

 

[killster1]

Ummm, that's not your shoulders. That's your traps.

traps are what stabilize your shoulder blades, and are the last thing worked out on a SHOULDER WORKOUT!

 

[paperfist]

If you're trying to bulk up, cut out all of that cardio. Maybe do like 10 minutes or so but 25 minutes doesn't really seem necessary since you are trying to gain weight.

And just FYI, the shoulders are part of your arms. I'm not talking directly to you OP but many people in here say they workout "arms" which IMO is a terrible idea if you are trying to work out biceps, triceps, and shoulders all in the same day. You aren't going to get a great workout trying to do 3 muscle groups in 1 workout. Split it up. For some odd reason people think "arms" just means biceps and triceps.

I personally am a fan of doing push or pull muscle groups together. I'm not a fan of doing tricep and biceps together. I did that for years and once I stopped doing that and instead did back then biceps afterwards, my gains were much larger. Same with doing chest then triceps afterwards.

I think I’m too old to bulk up. My intital intent was just maintain flexibility as I’m mid 40s, but damn who doesn’t want a pair of guns.

Hmm that’s what I’ve been doing, bicep, triceps, shoulders, back 1 day. Core, abs, lower back 1 day. Lower body 1 day.

Also doing push pull on triceps, biceps. Chest, back. I think I’ll try it your way as it seems like I exhaust push muscles faster than pull.

 

[purbeast0]

I think I’m too old to bulk up. My intital intent was just maintain flexibility as I’m mid 40s, but damn who doesn’t want a pair of guns.

Hmm that’s what I’ve been doing, bicep, triceps, shoulders, back 1 day. Core, abs, lower back 1 day. Lower body 1 day.

Also doing push pull on triceps, biceps. Chest, back. I think I’ll try it your way as it seems like I exhaust push muscles faster than pull.

You're not too old to bulk up if you want to, but it's just up to what you want. I'm turning 37 in a couple weeks and am bulking up right now. I understand about flexibility though, I always gain some flexibility back when I lean up. I actually feel I've gotten more flexible as I've gotten older due to how I train and I'm constantly stretching while working out. I don't remember being able to touch my toes in my late 20's but now it's easy peasy.

IMO you are over training and doing too much in one day with that first day. But then again I've always been more of a body building routine guy (well once I realized how wrong I was doing stuff with over training and doing the routine I mentioned in my previous post) so I'm more in favor of doing 2 muscle groups per workout.

My own routine is shoulders/traps, abs/legs, back/bicep, and chest/tricep. I try to spread out shoulder and chest as far as I possibly can because I lift pretty heavy on those days and I don't want my shoulders or chest to be sore on the other muscle groups day. I pretty much workout out Monday - Thursday and take off Friday - Sunday.

 

[paperfist]

You're not too old to bulk up if you want to, but it's just up to what you want. I'm turning 37 in a couple weeks and am bulking up right now. I understand about flexibility though, I always gain some flexibility back when I lean up. I actually feel I've gotten more flexible as I've gotten older due to how I train and I'm constantly stretching while working out. I don't remember being able to touch my toes in my late 20's but now it's easy peasy.

IMO you are over training and doing too much in one day with that first day. But then again I've always been more of a body building routine guy (well once I realized how wrong I was doing stuff with over training and doing the routine I mentioned in my previous post) so I'm more in favor of doing 2 muscle groups per workout.

My own routine is shoulders/traps, abs/legs, back/bicep, and chest/tricep. I try to spread out shoulder and chest as far as I possibly can because I lift pretty heavy on those days and I don't want my shoulders or chest to be sore on the other muscle groups day. I pretty much workout out Monday - Thursday and take off Friday - Sunday.

I too have gained a lot of flexibility, can touch toes, do a full sit up, stretch the legs into unchartered territory.

That’s an interesting routine you have. I’m going to have to borrow it

I forgot all about doing the same exercises over and over again as that’s not productive to muscle gain. So time to change it up and see what happens.

 

[Builder1977]

I think its very normal. Many people have the same problem, where some part of the body just grow faster than other. It will most likely even out with time.
I dont think you have to worry about it, because you've "only" worked out for less than half a year. Be patient.

 

[paperfist]

I think its very normal. Many people have the same problem, where some part of the body just grow faster than other. It will most likely even out with time.
I dont think you have to worry about it, because you've "only" worked out for less than half a year. Be patient.

Funny though how easy and fast it is to wreck your body’s healthy, but not so easy or fast to undo and improve it.