LIFT
TRAINING STYLES
BY GREG MERRITT
SHOULDER ROUTINE
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GET YOUR
PRIORITIES
RIGHT
PRIORITIZATION IS
CRUCIAL FOR A
SYMMETRICAL PHYSIQUE.
EVERYONE HAS
a weakness. In the beginning,
everything is lagging. But the
more you grow, the more your
own unique liabilities emerge.
Your body parts don’t all
expand at the same rate, nor
do all areas of individual muscles.
So everyone has a weakness.
The key to successful
bodybuilding is eliminating, to
the best of your abilities, lagging
areas so all parts are nearly
equally developed. The proven
way to do this is with
prioritization.
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FLEX | JANUARY ’18
The Weakest Links
Prioritization is a fancy word for
emphasizing your weak points
and deemphasizing your strong
points. The first thing you need to
do is determine what those are.
The best way to get an accurate
assessment is to pose in front
of a judge, a competitor, or just
someone who knows physique
symmetry. However, because
most of you either can’t or won’t
ask an expert to watch you flex,
digital photography and mirrors
are invaluable tools for seeing
yourself from multiple angles.
The important thing is to get
or give an objective opinion,
because pinpointing your
shortcomings is the only way
to target them correctly.
Although everyone has a
weakness, sometimes this is
something—like narrow clavicles
or high calves or murky
conditioning—not easily corrected
via hoisting metal. You may not
have a flaw that can be addressed
in workouts. If you’re one of
those lucky and rare people,
you can still emphasize specific
areas—such as shoulder width
or leg sweep or back thickness—
for periods of time. Prioritization
is a great motivator. Phil Heath, in
consultation with Hany Rambod,
and Flex Lewis, guided by Neil Hill,
both come up with at least one
physique area on which to focus
their training in preparation for
their annual Olympia defenses.
Sometimes this is not a flaw
but a strength used to fend off
others. By emphasizing its
training, they make certain it
remains a key weapon and never
becomes a vulnerability.
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