How To Overcome “Problem Muscles” When Trying To Build Muscle

As you may know that some muscles are easier to develop than other muscle groups. Some are just stubborn and sometimes take a little extra effort to develop so you can actually like the way they look on your body.

When I starting lifting in my early days I noticed that some muscles were developing way before any of my other muscles, specially my forearms. My forearms looked way disproportional to the rest of my body, to a point where I looked like Popeye.

That was me though; your body maybe completely different and you are able to develop certain muscles easier than others. Every body is different and responds to weight lifting differently. But in the course of my weight lifting experience, there have been the case of these problem muscles all across the board. From Young, old, women, men, skinny people, to fat people.

So to help you overcome these problem muscles I outlined each of them and created a list of the best exercises that can help you as they helped me.

Traps (Trapezius)

For me and many others I know traps are hard to develop, but if you are the small percentage that can actually get these muscles easily, consider yourself lucky. I love these muscles because they compliment my shoulders and chest.

They add to that “Wow” factor that any male is achieving when lifting weight. So this is why it’s important to understand some of the greatest exercises that I have found that truly develops these problem muscles.

Leverage Shrug – This is by far the best exercise for traps. If you have access to this machine at your gym then you definitely need to incorporate this exercise in your workout. But if you don’t have access to this machine then try some of the exercises below.

Standing Dumbbell Upright Row – This is the second best exercise that I recommend you do if you don’t have the machine that allows you do perform the above exercise. All you need are some dumbbells with the appropriate weight. Remember to not to jerk your arms and to just practice slow motions, with a 2-second pause at the top.

Kettlebell Sumo High Pull – If you like kettlebells then this is an excellent alternative to regular weights. This also is a great exercise to help you develop your glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, and quads.

Barbell/Dumbbell/Plate Shrug – Depending on what you like most between the barbell, dumbbells, or a weight to do your shrugs, they all work pretty good.

Abs (rectus abdominis)

Yes, probably the most sought after group of muscles and probably the hardest to develop. But if you can get them, EVERYONE will admire you. So here are my favorite and noticed the biggest results with the least time possible. (The first two exercises I learned while reading The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. If you haven’t already, pick yourself up a copy, you wont be disappointed.)

Myotatic Crunch – This is by far my favorite all-time ab exercise. It produces the best results with the least time invested.

The Cat Vomit Exercise – The name of this exercise is probably not that appealing, but once you perform this exercise a couple of times you will know why I highly recommend it. Even after the first time you perform these you will know that this will give you the abs that you always wanted, because how sore your abs are.

The plank – This is an easy exercise to perform and will work all of your abdominal muscles.

Chest (pectoralis)

Chest muscles are hard to develop expectually with skinny guys. And the truth about building chest muscles is there really are no secrets. Most of the best exercises that build you chest, you are probably already doing.

The secret about the chest isn’t really in the exercises that you do, but the diet you eat, which we’ll talk about a little later. But here are the best chest exercises.

Regular Bench – Mid Chest
Incline Bench – Upper Chest
Decline Bench – Lower Chest
Flys – All chest muscles
Dips – All chest muscles