Bodybuilding Myth

[rl3355]

From Flex Sept 1989, Dr. Frederick C. Hatfield, PhD:

BODYBUILDING MYTH
YOU NEED MANY DIFFERENT EXERCISES FOR EACH MUSCLE YOU TRAIN

"In my view, this particular myth has caused many bodybuilders to waste more agonizing hours in the gym than any other practice. The fact is that most of your muscles have nerve supplies that stem from a single root source, then spread noncontiguously throughout the entire muscle. The best way to get maximum stimulation of all the fibers of that total muscle is to pick one or two (never more than three) exercises which cause contracture in a straight line from origin to insertion. All the rest of the exercises just aren't productive, and are best left undone in order to prevent overtraining."

Agree or disagree? What's your take?

 

[Tom]

I've felt that way for years....

Using the biceps as an example and taking the various forms of curls into account I think the following holds true: If you are performing barbell curls, dumbell curls, concentration curls, or whatever other type of curl you can think of, one thing and only one thing is happening....your bicep is contracting under resistance. The bicep does not know which variation of the many types of curl you are doing. Some curls feel different because of the varying stretch you can put on the muscle but the bottom line is by contracting the bicep under resistance no matter what type of curl you are doing it will grow to whatever the predetermined genetic potential will allow. That is the key, resistance and contraction under that resistance. That holds true for any bodypart and the variety of different exercises you can perform in my opinion. Pecs will grow whith bench presses or cable crossovers as long as there is resistance and contraction. That's GROWTH....strength however is a whole different ballgame.

 

[sammarbella]

Interesting subject and what a coincidence!

I was reading something about this, take a look at it:

**broken link removed**

 

[rl3355]

Interesting subject and what a coincidence!

I was reading something about this, take a look at it:

**broken link removed**

good article.

 

[Nytol]

Some muscles have distinct heads such as triceps, and Overhead extensions hit the long inside head more, due to the stretch.

But as a rule I agree, for lats I do chins, and find they hit the whole lat quite nicely.

But for pecs, an incline movement at 45-50 degrees is needed for me to fill out my upper pecs.

 

[LATS]

i have said it in numerous posts.. it just leads to overtraining ..

 

[M21SL]

good post. I have noticed my gains have increased a bit lately since I have gone from using many different exercises for each body part to just using a few basic essential movements for each part. Like Lats said, I was probably just overtraining everything by doing 4 different exercises for each body part. everyones body is different tho, that must always be taken into account.

 

[lucian]

.....

no offense guys but has anyone built a complete physique with only one exercise they use per bodypart?
differtent exercices and angles work different for different people because of bone lengths, leverage factors as well as being able to contract and flex a muscle fully.
i cant do certain exercices because of leverage factors and such so i use different exercises to get the job done.
now if it were true you didnt need seperate exercises to build muscle, then why do a lot of powerlifters and strenght atheletes lack upper chest development? cuase they concentrate on flat bench.
why does jay cutler have a more complete chest than them? he concentraits on multiple angles and exercises.
ronnie does the same thing. and these guys are the best in the world.
different angles.
as far as back goes...there are too many muscles to pick one pulldown and one row and leave it at that. you need the multiple exercises for complete development. im no expert but look through history of the sport...has any top bodybuilder built his physiqe with only one execsise??? many have built size but have polished it in a total different way.
now i cant prove or disprove anything im saying, its just my opinion and what i have noticed since i began training. plus that article is fro when 1989? i took hatfields cert, and went through his training, it had scientific merit on paper but who did he turn into a champion bodybuilder? he knew his shit w power but...bbiing????
lucian

 

[lucian]

i have said it in numerous posts.. it just leads to overtraining ..

yates actualy found a way around overtrainig, he cut his sets down to one set per exercise but kept multiple exercises in his routine.
now he and mentzer tried many different things, dont you think if it were true you only need one exercise mentzer would have had people doing 1 exercise, 1 set 1 time every 14 days?
they were both big on overtraining, but knew to build the "perfect" physique they were after it took multiple exercises.
lucian

 

[lucian]

bottom line...

if you feel like you are over trained, check your sleep and the main thing most people fuck up....DIET!!!!!
if you have the proper nutrition and rest 7-8 hr per nigh, it is very difficult to overtrain especialy if you are on gear. i think it was platz who said so many people are scared to overtrain, they wind up undretraining.
and he was certainly not afraid to overtrain as we all know.
now natural....thats different. still most naturals overtrain because of slacking on diet.
how many people will kill themselves in the gym, but screw up on the all important meal which make the growth possible?
or sleep 3 hr because of work ect...
of course you will overtrain then.
any thoughts guys?????
lucian

 

[birds]

Any one ever read speselized training they say like for quads you should do one or two exersise pr body part and do the ones that work the wole musle for max overload like on quads they say sled presses are the max overload exersise for that musle group so doing all the other focus on heads and stuff like that is no good it just over trains you .

 

[sammarbella]

i have said it in numerous posts.. it just leads to overtraining ..

(For me) The problem with overtraining is not the number of exercises...is the number of total sets (volume) with high poundages (intensity).

Too much volume at too high intensity leads to overtraining no matter the amount of roids you take.

Is possible to do multiple exercises with high intensity in a moderate volume training and avoid overtraining.

If the Hatfield statements were 100% right there is no reason to do more than the 3 basic:

Squat
Deadlift
Bench press

Good training for powerlifters who don't look for aesthetical look but not so good (effective) for bodybuilders.

If it was the case all powerlifter will look like BB...and it's a fact that is not going to be true in a near future.

 

[Tom]

Lucian....

I gotta wonder about multiple angles VS. genetics. Would the big name pros you refer to attain the development they have with minimal training and doing only a few sets of basics? I think they would. In regards to powerlifters, there are some who do nothing but the basic squat, bench and deads, with few if any other exercises and can rival some of the best bodybuilders in development. Roger Estep (rip) and Jim Cash were extremely muscular and trained primarily for powerlifting. I think thier genetics dictated how thier muscles developed. You are dead on as far as diet and sleep is concerned. If you screw up those factors your genetics don't mean shit! Think about the big picture, I think we can both say we know people who go to the gym faithfully and do everthing right but will never even be able to enter a local competition and on the other hand we see people who can look at a barbell and grow!! Who can say what's right?

 

[lucian]

...

look at the max rep, static contraction, and powerfactor books.
all those guys in it did the one exercise per bodypart...they all looked like crap even for naturals!!!!!!!
no shape what soever, strong...sure but who wants to be strong and look like crap when you are a bodybuilder?
all the pros in the pics in the books i just mentioned did not train that way to look like the way they do, even demayo. im sure they experimented with it when it came time to sign the contracts to promote the books, but......
until this type of training produces some top physiques natural or on gear....theres proof on paper, but i need to see it work in practical aplications.
just look at the track record.
does anyone use the one exercise system and stay with it???
lucian

 

[lucian]

I gotta wonder about multiple angles VS. genetics. Would the big name pros you refer to attain the development they have with minimal training and doing only a few sets of basics? I think they would. In regards to powerlifters, there are some who do nothing but the basic squat, bench and deads, with few if any other exercises and can rival some of the best bodybuilders in development. Roger Estep (rip) and Jim Cash were extremely muscular and trained primarily for powerlifting. I think thier genetics dictated how thier muscles developed. You are dead on as far as diet and sleep is concerned. If you screw up those factors your genetics don't mean shit! Think about the big picture, I think we can both say we know people who go to the gym faithfully and do everthing right but will never even be able to enter a local competition and on the other hand we see people who can look at a barbell and grow!! Who can say what's right?

you are 100 % right. genetics play a big role.
but ronnie was a power lifter. got like 14th place in the olympia, revamped his training and im sure other things, and boom mr. olympia.
jay, he was multi angle training since day one, and he also for his age and all the way through ad one of the most complete phusiques out there.
when he was 20 he could have beaten most of the people on the nationals scene.
trey brewer is an example. he just began adding in new exercises and he is huge but still has an unbalanced physiqe which was built on the basic squat, dead, and bench. now he is evening out his frame, where as jays frame was always filled out pretty evenly from his type of training.

so yes genetics are important, but its not genetics which will ultimitly build the most balanced physique which is what we are all after.

the power lifters you mentioned were muscular? thats not what we are talking about tough, being lean is a genetic thing for some but building a complete physique has more to do with just being lean. how balanced were their physiques?
lucian

 

[oldfella]

The body is composed of so many different muscles, they all work sysnergisticly. You still require certain movements to truely develope each one to it's maximum. So you do need different angles and mulitple exercises. I was a power lifter for years. it wasn't until I trained multi-angles and multi exercises for each group that I started to achieve the look I really wanted and then took it to the stage.