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12. Why Training Supporting Muscles Builds Strength & Prevents Injury
26 Plays2 months ago
In this episode of The Basics of Balance, we break down why strengthening complementary and accessory muscle groups is essential for getting stronger, building muscle, and avoiding injury.
Using two real client scenarios, we explain how focusing only on the “target” muscle can slow progress—and how training the muscles that support movement leads to better results and safer workouts.
This episode is perfect for anyone looking to tone up, build muscle, and train smarter.
🎧 Subscribe for more strength training tips and injury-prevention insights.
#StrengthTraining #MuscleBuilding #InjuryPrevention #FunctionalTraining #TheBasicsOfBalance
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Transcript
Distinguishing Workouts from Goal-Oriented Training
00:00:00
Speaker
So over the last week, I had a very similar conversation with two very different clients. And I thought, man, this is just a really great opportunity to kind of just like talk about those scenarios and how like contrastly different they are um as it relates to um just understanding that there is always or there should be methodology behind the program that you are following. Okay.
00:00:29
Speaker
When it comes to, you know, getting stronger, when it comes to being consistent in your, your lips and and whatnot, There is more to training than just simply doing random exercises and getting your heart rate up, right? There is a difference between working out and training.
00:00:47
Speaker
And when we have a specific goal, we really want to understand more about the training side of things as it relates to our workouts versus exercising, right? I did ah an episode a while ago um that was basically talking about, um you know, not, or all movement has value, but not all movement is created equal. So, um you know, I would refer you kind of just to listen to that episode just for some more context on, you know, just the difference between training and working out. And, you know, when we're working for a goal, it's really important that we are following a structured strength training program, right? One that is going to help us achieve our goals rather than just doing random workouts that we're not necessarily tracking our our weight that we're lifting over time or how many reps we're doing over time and measuring, are we actually getting stronger? Are we making progress or are are we just simply showing up and going through the motions and getting our heart rate up and feeling like we gave it our all, but without measuring, you know, what we're doing in some way, shape or form, not really having an understanding as to you know, if we're making progress or what that progress looks like, right?
00:01:56
Speaker
So anyways, all that to say, um there are two scenarios.
Evolving Goals and Program Adjustments
00:02:01
Speaker
And scenario number one is a male client of mine um who, he basically came to me, much two years ago at this point, but he basically came to me about two years ago, just simply wanting to get back into a consistent routine of of exercising, right? um You know, getting stronger, wanting to focus on lifting weights.
00:02:22
Speaker
um And so obviously, yes, let's go ahead and make that happen. Right. Well, over time, you know, I kept asking him like, hey, you know, how are we doing touching base as we're touching base? I always want to make sure that we are doing what we need to do to you know help you reach your goals and goals are fluid. And so I regularly ask my clients, um you know, has there been any changes to your goals? Right.
00:02:45
Speaker
And this client specifically, he said, yeah, actually, you know, in in working with you, I do think that I want to focus on um you know, kind of getting back to my old bench numbers from when I was, you know, in really, really good shape. I think that would be a really good goal to to help me stay consistent and, you know, want to show up in the gym to chase that goal.
00:03:07
Speaker
awesome. I'm here for it. Right. So of course I compliment his training, um, to, or no, I, I make changes to his training program to compliment that goal. Right. Um, and so we're working towards that goal. You know, we're seeing his bench numbers increase over and over and over again. um and like most things, you know, the shiny new, exciting, um,
00:03:30
Speaker
you know, phase of starting something new wears off, right? And we they start goals and we're all in and the, you know, are super consistent because we're motivated, right? um And then somewhere along the way, you know, that motivation fizzles, the infatuation, I should say, fizzles. um And also life happens, you know what i mean? Like different phases of life, I feel like, um you know, kind of make it more difficult for us to show up, you know, he has kids and oftentimes his kids are sick and he's got to stay home from work and that affects his training schedule, right?
00:04:02
Speaker
So anyways, very valid reasons as to why, you know, we ebb and we flow um in our consistency and infatuation and motivation and all of that stuff. But um with his, I would say, ebb and flow of consistency, well, his interest, I will say, of, um you know, lifting very regularly has kind of started to like fizzle as well. And so, you know, of course, you know, we're working to overcome that over time. And, um you know, as I'm touching base with him, I'm just getting a feel for
00:04:35
Speaker
Hey, what can I basically do to help you show up? Like, what does that look like? And, you know, over time, hey can you shorten workouts? Yep, totally on it. Make changes, make it happen. Really just adapting, right? Because that's that's basically my job is to support you however you'll allow me to, right? But anyways, all that to say,
00:04:55
Speaker
So you know, over the time, he's ebbing and flowing. We're making changes to his program, really just trying to do whatever we can do to get him to
The Importance of Full-Body Exercises
00:05:03
Speaker
show up. But over time, I started noticing in his workout summaries, because I review every single workout that every individual client does,
00:05:12
Speaker
um he was starting to skip leg lifts and his workouts were becoming shorter and shorter and shorter. And he was starting to skip specific exercises. And he was really only focusing on bench pressing, um ah moderately focusing on shoulder pressing, so overhead pressing.
00:05:32
Speaker
And i was noticing that it was basically all he was doing. He would do a couple of like bicep curl, you know, isolation lifts here and there. But I noticed he started fizzling out lower body exercises completely. And from whatever he was doing was upper body. Now, here is the thing. Okay. My goal as your coach is obviously to help you reach your goals. However, at the end of the day, my goal is to help you stay consistent. So, you know, you got to pick and choose your battles sometimes. And, you know, not everything is worth, you know, pointing out and having a conversation. I'm happy you're showing up. I'm happy you did a 15 minute workout instead of doing nothing at all. You know what i mean? But these, you know, situations give me an opportunity to help coach you and to help you understand kind of what we're working towards and why I'm giving you the exercises that I'm giving you. Because the more you understand, the more bought in you're going to be, and the better you're going to be able to show up for yourself and AKA, you're going to see more progress as a result. You're showing up with a greater understanding, right? College is power.
00:06:37
Speaker
um So anyways, he started skipping you know lower body exercises and also skipping a lot of accessory lifts. And here is the thing. This is very common with my male clients um where they don't place as much of an emphasis in the interest level um for lower body exercises as they do with their upper body exercises.
00:07:00
Speaker
Similarly speaking with my female clients, it's the opposite, right? So with my female clients, They typically love to focus on the lower body. They love leg day. They don't really love doing chest presses. They don't really love doing pull-ups, you know, things like that. And here's the thing.
00:07:16
Speaker
ah There is always a reason as to why I program the way that I program. But it gave me an opportunity to explain to him the method to my madness and to help him understand whoever is listening here, this also applies to you. We all need lower body specific lifts. Okay. If you are skipping your leg days, if you are skipping your lower body programmed workouts, ah you are doing yourself a big disservice for a couple of different reasons. Okay.
00:07:49
Speaker
Number one, ah your legs, your quads, your hamstrings, your glutes, those are your biggest muscle groups in your body. Okay. And so the biggest muscle groups in your body are going to directly impact to your overall strength.
00:08:06
Speaker
Okay. Meaning the the muscles in your lower body, because they are our largest muscle groups, the stronger we can make those muscles, the more that that is going to transfer into other strength training sessions, right?
00:08:22
Speaker
Stronger your legs are, the more you're going to be able to bench press. The stronger your legs are, the more you're going to be able to shoulder press. The stronger your legs are, the more you're going to be able to handle more weight on insert body part here. Insert lift here. Okay. And so when the goal is to get stronger and, you know, sure. Okay. His consistency has kind of ebbed and flowed, uh, like I said, but the overall goal is still the same. He still really loves to see those numbers on his bench press increase over time. And so, you know, I kind of want, I wanted to explain to him, listen, I understand sometimes we, you know, don't have time, right? We run out of time, life happens, valid.
00:09:06
Speaker
However, when that happens, let's not just automatically skip all lower body exercises, they have a place in your programming, they have a place in your overall goals. And skipping them is basically aye
Communicating Program Designs to Clients
00:09:20
Speaker
hindering your ability to reach those goals or slowing down your progress. You see what I'm saying? So by giving him that knowledge, by just basically saying, hey, I see what you're doing and I understand why you're doing it. I'm not shaming you because we're all humans, not robots, but let's understand why i gave you these exercises. I get that you don't really care about having a bubble book.
00:09:40
Speaker
Valid. I get that you don't care about, you know, having, you know, legs of steel. Valid. However, by skipping those lower body exercises, you are greatly greatly diminishing your overall strength that is directly related to your chest press, which is your goal and the goal that we are working on right now. Okay?
00:10:01
Speaker
um And so just kind of important to understand, no matter what your goal is, if you're working with a coach, first of all, i hope that they're explaining these things to you. But second of all, there should be a reason as to why they are giving you what they are giving you. And I hope that you have a relationship with them that you can either ask them or that they will take initiative and come to you and explain, right? Because they're, like I said there is more to lifting There is more to working out than just doing a bunch of random exercises. It all works together. Okay. And so similarly, in that same line of logic, um you know, seeing that he was skipping some of his accessory lifts of his upper body, Right. um
00:10:45
Speaker
is also going to diminish his gains. It's also not helping him lift to his true potential. Because again, get it. We all don't have endless hours to work out. However, let's talk about it so that I can at least help you close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with the ah with the opportunity that we have and whatever that is.
00:11:08
Speaker
Even if you only got 20 minutes, cool, let's make the most out of it, right? But anyways, you know, only focusing on chest presses without also including accessory exercises like chest flies, without also including accessory exercises like tricep extensions, those smaller muscle groups are directly going to affect your ability to max out your lifts in your specific targeted exercises, right? So for example, if he only wants to focus on his chest press, he is going to be able to make more progress. He's going to be able to see more strength over time by including accessory lifts like chest flies, by including accessory lifts like his tricep extensions. And by skipping those, he is stunting his progress. He's he's making it much more difficult to be able to see that progress
00:12:03
Speaker
than he would if he were to at least do a couple of sets, even a couple of light sets, because those smaller muscle groups, they are going to help those larger muscle groups be able to handle more weight over time. And so if we're not also conditioning and training those small muscle groups, well, then we are preventing those big muscle groups from lifting to its true potential. And that's where we see the stunt in progress. That's where we see the stunt in strength. Okay.
00:12:33
Speaker
um And so specifically as it relates to males, if you are a male listening, you need your leg bays. If you do not care about your legs, you still need them. Because even if you only care about your upper body, you still need it. It's directly going to affect that upper body strength. okay So in a different line of logic with a very different client, um this client specifically is a female and Unlike this male client that we had just finished discussing, she wants to focus on her lower body. She wants to focus on building um you know her glutes. However, ah she doesn't want to build her quads. She doesn't want to build her hamstrings.
00:13:15
Speaker
Awesome. Valid. So your body, how can I support you in that, right? But the thing is, is that when she when I was giving her her lower body lifts and I was looking at her workout summaries, I was noticing she was continuing to push herself in glute dominant exercises glute bridges, hip thrusts, RDLs, glute extensions, glute kickbacks, things like that, right?
00:13:39
Speaker
Bulgarians, all of those things. However, anytime I would give her a quad biased exercise, so a hack squat, a goblet squat, a walking lunge, a hamstring dominant exercise, ah you know, hamstring curls, things of that nature, right? She was not lifting to her true potential. And I have been working with this client for years. I know what her true potential is. And so I know when she is giving it her all and when she is not. And there's a time and a place to give it your all. And there's a time and a place to go through the motions. However, um as you learn, you know, your clients over time, you know when to challenge them and you know when to just like be proud of them for just, again, showing up and going through the motions, right?
00:14:23
Speaker
So anyways, she doesn't want to, ah you know, grow her quads. She doesn't want to grow her hamstrings. She does want to grow her glutes. And so that gave me a coaching opportunity to say, listen, valid. However, at the end of the day, similar to... ah um our male client that we had just talked about trying to focus on his his chest, but not focusing on the accessory lifts that would help him lift heavier over time, right?
00:14:51
Speaker
She was basically doing the same thing. And so it was a similar conversation in saying, listen, I get it. However, number one we are limiting our ability to lift to our true potential and therefore see as much progress as possible by either skipping those accessory lifts or not lift into your true potential, right?
00:15:12
Speaker
um And number two, ah that is that is going to increase your risk of injury because we are basically overusing one muscle group without also strengthening those complementary muscle groups. Okay. And so when you are lifting in such high volume as this client was lifting, we definitely don't want her to take a step back because of an injury, because she is is basically not
00:15:46
Speaker
also strengthening those complementary muscle groups, right? And so in a coachable moment, we're able to have that conversation and say, the way that this is programmed, we are not necessarily focused on doing quad or hamstring dominant exercise in an effort to build, right, to build muscle. We are, however, wanting to include these muscle groups in as a way to help us lift to our true potential and the muscle group you wanna see progress in, okay?
00:16:20
Speaker
And there is a difference when we are programming an exercise for general endurance to be able to have a higher you know endurance threshold so that that muscle can handle more capacity and not burn out, right, as much. um That is typically gonna be a higher rep count with a ah a lower rest period between sets, right? Not necessarily pushing to your max effort lift and not necessarily letting that muscle recover completely to keep going and going, right? We're lifting a little bit lighter with more reps. We are not resting as often and therefore we are raising that endurance level in that muscle group, right?
00:17:04
Speaker
Additionally speaking, ah how we program specific exercises as it relates to, are we doing it at the beginning of the or ah beginning of the workout, in the middle of the workout, at the end of the workout, you know, program design matters, right?
00:17:19
Speaker
Again, not just about just doing random exercises.
Program Diversity for Strength and Injury Prevention
00:17:22
Speaker
And so it, you know, also gave me an opportunity to kind of explain to her just that, right? And just say listen,
00:17:30
Speaker
Now that you understand, we can't just skip these muscle groups. And we also want to give these muscle groups our all when they are programmed. your Understand, i got you. Understand, i know that you don't want to draw these muscle groups, but the way that I have them programmed is going to be able to help you live to your max potential in those muscle groups while mitigating how much growth we're seeing in those muscle groups, right? um And so, you know, by having that conversation, hey, awesome. Now she's on board. Now she's bought in. when she stopped limiting herself in those muscle groups that she was skipping, and behold, her bridges where we have been stuck for a while, in addition to making sure she's getting sleep, in addition to making sure she's fueling her lips and protein all of these things, she's seeing more progress. We're moving the needle forward, right? We were kind of at a standstill for a tiny little bit.
00:18:33
Speaker
She was seeing minimal progress. We were you know increasing our weight slightly, but not as much as she has been, um which can happen. Don't get me wrong. I don't think that it's realistic to be able to lift or I'm sorry, increase our weight week after week after week. That's just not realistic. And if you are doing that, well, you basically weren't lifting to your true potential to begin with. And so you're just basically catching up. But anyways, um and so those are two very specific reasons
00:19:03
Speaker
um as to why program design matters regardless of what your goal is. okay Again, there's a difference between training and working out.
00:19:15
Speaker
We're not just trying to get your heart rate up. There are many times in an upper body workout um where I'm still wearing a sweater and I barely break a sweat. That doesn't mean that it wasn't an effective lip. That doesn't mean that it wasn't an effective
Addressing Fitness Misconceptions
00:19:29
Speaker
workout, right? But we are so conditioned to believe that unless we feel like we are so out of breath, unless we feel like we are drenched in sweat, unless we feel like we're sore after the workout, then the workout was pointless. And none of that means that it was a good workout, right? In fact, you know, if you are sore after every single workout, that's actually a red flag. That's your biofeedback saying something is off. um We should be sore from time to time, right? When we start a new training program, maybe. When we are first introducing new exercises, it's new stimulus on our muscles. Sure, we're probably going to be more sore.
00:20:10
Speaker
ah When we're increasing our weight from from weeks past, again, that's new stimulus. Or maybe doing... um More reps, new stimulus. Sure, we can expect to be a little bit more sore. But if you are sore after every single workout, that actually tells me, number one you are not eating enough to help your body recover from that lift. And if you're not eating enough to help your body recover and your goal is to get stronger and build muscle, you're never gonna be able to build muscle. Because you you can't build muscle if you're not eating enough food and you can't build muscle if you're not eating enough protein. And so if you're constantly sore and you're telling me you want to build muscle, huge red flag, let's have a conversation, right? um So all of that to say, there's there should be a method to um the madness of whatever program you're following, okay? And I hope that that kind of helped shed light a little bit as to...
00:21:03
Speaker
how programming really is an art form and it's very specific um to the person, right? And so following generalized plans, hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If your goal is just to move with body and be consistent,
00:21:19
Speaker
All movement has value. We don't have a problem doing the right kind of movement as much as, generally speaking, moving at all. You know what i mean? So if there's something that has your interest and it's helping you stay consistent and without that program, you wouldn't be consistent,
00:21:36
Speaker
Keep doing it. Let's keep doing it. However, as you progress in your journey and as your goals become fluid and as you realize, hey, there are more specific goals that I am trying to work towards, it might be in your best interest to consider looking at a strength training program that is catered to your goals.
00:21:56
Speaker
I don't know if you can hear my dog barking or not, but that's the choice of working at your house. Real people over here, right? um So I hope that that was helpful for you. I hope that that shed shed light for you. And I'm really trying to get some of this information out before the new year. Because, oh man, I just keep seeing it. There's just so much noise out there in terms of, you know, do this exercise to, you know, lose lose the bat wings and do this exercise or this program to help you lose fat. And it's like none of those things are accurate. You can't spot reduce. um none of And also losing fat is not driven by your exercise. I believe we talked about both of those things a couple of episodes ago. So all that to say, I hope that it was helpful for you.
00:22:40
Speaker
Once again, if there's and ever anything that I say on these episodes where you want to know more about or you have questions about that I can just you know kind of help you growing in your journey, fill out the form in the caption of the episode. I would love to hear from you. This is supposed to be a resource for you. So, you know, whatever we got to do to talk about or whatever we got to talk about to continue it to be a helpful resource for you. I am all for.
00:23:04
Speaker
I hope you got some brain gains out of this episode. And until next time, friends, have a good rest of your day.