“No matter what I do, it just won’t grow.” A statement that makes any man cringe and makes every bodybuilder frustrated. In the gym it’s the general frustration by lifters with that one body part that just won’t develop, denying the flawless, total physique. Every new trainee to the weight room has their favorite body part to train and for the lucky few, their genetic gifts are apparent when certain body parts grow easily with whatever training is applied. Many though are left with certain muscles that just won’t respond no matter how hard they lift or how intense they train them. Well there's hope for those lagging bodyparts....

Going for the Burn
Using Burnouts for Stubborn Muscles

“No matter what I do, it just won’t grow.” A statement that makes any man cringe and makes every bodybuilder frustrated. In the gym it’s the general frustration by lifters with that one body part that just won’t develop, denying the flawless, total physique. Every new trainee to the weight room has their favorite body part to train and for the lucky few, their genetic gifts are apparent when certain body parts grow easily with whatever training is applied. Many though are left with certain muscles that just won’t respond no matter how hard they lift or how intense they train them. With the young athletes I train that also want to look good, I hear it over and over… “What can I do to bring up my chest,” “no matter how hard I try, my legs won’t grow.”

Well there is hope for those cursed with lagging body parts. With every curse, pain and suffering ensues. The following plan of attack is that pain and suffering, one that targets every fiber in the muscle and results in new growth. How is this accomplished after “I’ve done everything, nothing works,” statements have been made? Well first we have to look at how the typical workout schemes have been applied. The number of repetitions used in any workout is determined by the goal of strength, size or endurance. Most struggling to bring up a lagging body part go for the balls out, heavy weight, low rep scheme. That should work right? 1-3 reps build neural strength, 6-8 build strength and size, and 8-12 is best for hypertrophy.

So lift heavy and get big, but little Johnny still has no chest. Even in the perfect rep range and heavy weight, usually only about 60% of muscle fibers are recruited in that chosen range. Just adding more sets or reps to the same exercise, just hits the same 60% of dominant fibers in the muscle, never targeting the reserve fibers. You still want to lift in the heavier rep ranges since they do recruit the fast-fatiguing (Type II), high-threshold motor units that have the greatest potential for size and strength increases, but that’s just the beginning.

All muscles are some mixture of fast Type II and slow Type I depending on the person’s genetic make-up. So many trainees never hit the deeper fibers that are held in reserve or target both types to truly recruit 100% of fibers in the muscle, which would account for certain body parts resisting the multitude of training techniques out there to instill growth. So how do you hit every fiber you have in that muscle that just won’t grow???

Stubborn body parts are usually caused by a fiber make-up resistant to normal training loads, which only recruit the one fiber type. This is where burnout sets come in. By using supersets and varying rep ranges within the same set, you’re able to hit both types of muscle fibers, while continuing to recruit the most fibers in the muscle. It’s also about making sure you but the greatest stress on the muscle and the right time to truly stimulate every fiber.

The typical set taken to positive failure is caused by a lactic-acid build-up fatigue rather then 100% fiber exhaustion. So a typical set only recruits a certain amount of fibers and each successive set recruits the same amount. Using drop sets is a step in the right direction, allowing a longer set before failure recruiting more fibers, but lactic-acid fatigue sets in by the second drop set, making the remaining drops inefficient in recruiting more fibers. This leads us to focus on the superset.

We all know using compound exercises are the way to grow size, since they recruit the bulk of muscle fibers with the muscle synergy of a group of muscles, which allow for maximum weights. In preparing for burnout sets for that lagging muscle, using a compound exercise that uses that muscle pre-exhausts the bulk 60%, creating an environment to more easily target the remaining 40%. Using exercises that create the most stretch on the muscle can stimulate the myotatic reflex, a protective mechanism that causes an extra burst of strength recruiting a very large proportion of muscle fibers as well as an array of other growth benefits. To truly take advantage of a stretch-position exercise, 1 1/4 reps will be used to really stimulate the reflex.

This is the core part of the burnout superset, which is then followed by a lighter weight isolation exercise with a high-rep burnout set to target the slower twitch muscle fibers and burning out the muscle since the dominant fibers have all been fatigued by this point. The lighter weight and higher rep scheme allow you to continue to recruit more fibers before lactic-acid fatigue sets in ending the superset and forcing a lot of blood into the muscle to help incur growth.

So lots of physiology and a lot of varying techniques, even I have to reread what I just wrote, but here’s a sample routine for everyone’s favorite biceps muscle group with a few suggestions for a few other body parts. Remember this is a truly intense routine when done properly and DOMS will be high due to the exercises that create a large stretch stimulus on the muscle, so adequate rest and recovery is essential as always and a good dose of vitamin C an hour before your workout will help with recovery. The great thing about this type of workout is you can choose a large mass-building exercise and also be able to pick a small specific isolation exercise that can bring out whatever shape that is lacking in the chosen muscle group. Have fun frying those lagging stubborn body parts.

Day 1 (Maximal Strength)
Sets: 5
Reps: 3
Rest: 60 seconds between antagonist supersets
Load: 5 rep max (The extra two reps are kept "in the hole" so you won't train to failure.)
Tempo: Perform concentric (lifting) fast; perform eccentric (lowering) under control.

Day 2 (Endurance Strength)
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 90 seconds between antagonist supersets
Load: 27RM
Tempo: Same as Day 1

The compound exercise is done in straight sets before moving on to the burnout supersets.

Pre-exhaust Compound Exercise

A. Barbell Curls 4 x 6

30-60 second rest

Burnout Supersets

B1. Incline DB Curls 3 x 8 (1 ¼ reps)
B2. Concentration Curls 3x 20-30 reps

90-120 second rest

Other Burnout suggestions:
Chest: Bench / Incline Flyes+Cable Crossovers
Triceps: Close-grip Bench /Overhead Extension+Kickbacks
Lats: Chins / DB Pullovers+Stiff-arm Pulldowns
Delts: Overhead Presses/Incline 1-arm Laterals+Laterals
Hamstrings: Glute-Ham Raises/Stiff-legged Deadlifts+Leg Curls

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