Working part of a muscle....

[Satanachia]

I was talking with some other guy on another board, and basically his claim is that yes it is possible to work part of a muscle.

His question was mainly on how he wanted to focus on his lower abs.

It then went on talk about how it is apparently possible to work and sculpt specific parts of a muscle to emphasise or work different parts. Say the bicep for instance. He says apparently you can work it somehow to sculpt it differently or focus on one half of it.

My question is, is this true, and if so how?
And how would you focus on the lower abs?
Apparently its in bodybuilding/sculpting magazines/sites.

And if it isn't true, why isn't it true, and could you still give some advice for targeting the abs.

[Sharky]

i asked this question a while ago in the health and fitness forum:

here's the link: http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=10328

[Kumkuat]

"His question was mainly on how he wanted to focus on his lower abs."

no such thing as lower abs


"My question is, is this true, and if so how?"

no

"And how would you focus on the lower abs?"

you can't since there is no such thing as lower abs.

"Apparently its in bodybuilding/sculpting magazines/sites."

probably in really crappy ones

"And if it isn't true, why isn't it true, and could you still give some advice for targeting the abs. "

because there is no such thing as lower abs. You can't completely single out your abs (except with maybe Janda situps). There is always going to be some hip flexors involved. The shape of your muslce also depends on your genetics. You can't work half your biceps. You can't chage the peak of your biceps. You are stuck with what you're born with unless you get surgery.

[Satanachia]

Ok, read that other thread and now i'm even more confused than before.

One side seems to say it is impossible to fire more of a muscle than something else. Ie, you can't target your upper or lower abs more than either since their just the one muscle.

But someone else says, you can focus on different heads of the same muscle or something. AHHH!!!!!!

"You can't work half your biceps"

From my original talk with this guy though:
"he preacher curl can be done either sitting or standing. Go for 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 repetitions. Get someone to spot you.
This is an excellent overall mass builder for the biceps, particularly adding mass to the lower biceps near the elbow"

Is this true, is this possible, if so/not, why?

[Kumkuat]

"One side seems to say it is impossible to fire more of a muscle than something else. Ie, you can't target your upper or lower abs more than either since their just the one muscle.

But someone else says, you can focus on different heads of the same muscle or something. AHHH!!!!!!"

So what are you confused about?


"From my original talk with this guy though:
"he preacher curl can be done either sitting or standing. Go for 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 repetitions. Get someone to spot you.
This is an excellent overall mass builder for the biceps, particularly adding mass to the lower biceps near the elbow"

Is this true, is this possible, if so/not, why?"

he's probably talking about a section of the bicep area called the brachialis. The bicep area consists of the actual biceps (which consists of 2 heads the long and the short head) and the brachialis. You can focus more on the brachialis (the "lower" biceps if you want to call it that) using preacher curls but you will not be able to isolate it. The 2 bicep head will be worked along with the brachialis.

Go look at a muscle chart. The abs is one muscle. There are no heads. Just one muscle called the rectus abdominis. And you CANNOT focus on nor isolate a specific part of one muscle such as the lower or upper part of a muscle. But you are able to focus a little more on a head of a muscle like the clavicular head or the sternal head of the pecs-- which people call "upper" and "lower" pecs.

[Satanachia]

Kumkuat, i love you, and want to have your babies.:D

Which is my way of saying thankyou.

[Satanachia]

The abs are just one muscle right?

What is it that makes them look like 6 seperate sections? Ie. the sixpack.

The bicep is composed of two head?
What exactly are heads?

[respectmankind]

actually, as far as the bicep thing goes, (i am no doctor so i am not possotive but i am told by many strength trainers) you can train certain parts of your biceps over the other

[fa_jing]

Yeah, Kumkuat pretty much answered the question. I was the one who brought up that you can work the 3 heads of the deltoids seperately, even though it's one muscle, or so I've read. I don't really know what a head is either, it's obviously more than a connection point because every muscle has at least two of those.

-FJ

[Satanachia]

ttt - still want to know exactly what a head is....