Genetics As An Excuse
For many decades in bodybuilding the top athletes have claimed that genetics truly determine your potential to develop muscle. For aspiring bodybuilders this information could discourage motivation to continue training after failing to see any significant progress after the first couple of years of training.
When first introduced to a weight training or strength conditioning program, you might have chosen one with too many exercises or a wide array of isolation movements that added little to no size to your frame. It takes some trial and error to find out what works for your body.
Other weightlifters experience plateaus from their obsession ofdeveloping one particular muscle group while disregarding the other parts of their frame. Overtraining one set of muscles while disregarding others can cause muscle imbalances or a less aesthetic appearance to your physique.
The days that you train are separated into either upper/lower body days or split into different specific muscle groups (back, leg, shoulder, chest/triceps, etc.). The problem with this basic training routine is that the body has a tendency to adapt to most stressors in life, which applies to exercising or any conditioning of the body (see What is the Adaptation Principle).
Without regarding the adaptation principle, a trainee could come to the conclusion that their growth plateau is caused by their genetics or outside factors that they have very little control over.
Genetics can be limiting factor for some, but there are methods that can be used to continue progress in muscle groups that are more stubborn to grow for your particular body type. For many (including myself) legs have been a challenge to grow over the years.
How to Develop Your Thigh Muscle According to Your Genes
Whenever you have limits or doubts on what you could accomplish, it forms a mental paralysis that stops you fromtaking any further action on what you want. Goals that you once may have strived to achieve start to seem unrealistic and it’s easy to second guess what you think is possible for yourself.
This limit is the real untapped potential that lies waiting for many trainees that have started lifting or m doing bodyweight exercises. Bodybuilding is a field that requires true understanding of the subject to reach the upper echelon of success.
Without creating an environment in the body that has been minor cellular damage created a stressor, the body will eventually adapt to its conditions and circumstances. And that muscle adaptation is what leads to plateaus and stagnation of muscular growth in the body.
Cells within muscle tissue have a tendency to turnover quickly when subject to higher stress levels from exercise. This process is also known as muscle remodeling, or the exchange of damaged cells for newer ones in the body.
This is ultimately why genetic expression is only a fraction of what determines the physical attributes of any individual. In a challenging environment, your muscle cells will rearrange themselves and form a stronger structure that can withstand stressors.
With knowledge of this information, you can supersede the genetics given by your parents and create a phenomenal physique for yourself.
As an example, if you’ve been working to develop your thigh muscle over a period of time there’s a general shape to your upper legs.
An individual that has had proper leg training for a couple of years with slow to moderate growth may have an ‘athletic’ shape, while another individual with faster development may have much wider upper thigh muscles (‘tree trunk’):
In order for a trainee to reach new stages of growth within any muscle group, intensity is the name of the game. As the legs are the biggest muscle group of the body, heightened intensity is key for hypertrophy of the upper thigh.
Ways to Improve Thigh Muscle Development
To make lasting changes to the aesthetics of the upper thigh muscle, whether you have ‘athletic’ or ‘tree trunk’ legs, requires growth of both the quadriceps and the hamstrings. The former is located towards the front the upper leg and the latter residing in the back.
For individuals with ‘athletic’ musculature in the leg, the quadriceps will most likely appear much more narrower in appearance with a ‘tear drop’ formation at the knee joint (vastus medialis) (see How to Develop The 3 Heads of the Leg Muscle: The Tear Drops).
Exercises that target the legs need to be modified to isolate the quadriceps to improve their growth more effectively.
The best way this can be done is to change your placement of your feet while performing compound lift exercises for legs. For example, this can be done on the leg press exercises by lowering your feet 2-3 inches lower on the platform to emphasize the quads while lowering and raising the weight.
By doing this, you increase the angle of the shin in relation to the ground, which directly effects the tension on the quadriceps during a leg exercise. The more positive the shin angle, the greater force or tension placed on the front thigh throughout the movement.
While technique is important while executing compound exercises for the legs, the amount of repetitions performed is just as important. Many trainees also fail to completely develop the leg muscles by not getting close enough to failure on exercises.
Consistently reaching failure on your sets is often frowned upon in the fitness/bodybuilding community, however it’s critical to get within the last 3 reps of your set for your leg movements. Getting to failure with this muscle group is a challenge but is necessary if you want to see significant results over time from training.
To properly isolate the various fibers of the quadriceps or hamstring muscles you must also perform exercises with a full range of motion. By completing a full range of motion, you’re able to keep more time over tension on the targeted muscles.
Slow down the tempo of the movement while performing them and focus on the mind/muscle connection as you move through each phase of the exercise. This will deliver results.
The Wrap Up
It’s easy to get frustrated if you’re attempting to lasting improvements to your physique without understanding genetic potential. Genetics can place limitation in the mind for what’s possible, but however there’s an opportunity to adapt a training routine that will be most effective for physique. As a student of the art of bodybuilding, it’s important to know what works best for your body and how to careful observe your own results to make lasting improvements.
What else do you want to know?
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