Are there muscle groups in your body that are lagging behind in size and strength? Try specialization training.
WHAT IS SPECIALIZATION TRAINING?
Specialization training is a training approach focused on growing one specific muscle group (or sometimes multiple) that is lagging behind or needs extra attention. So you tackle your weak points or work on improving your muscle mass ratios.
HOW TO PROGRAM SPECIALIZATION TRAINING?
In specialization training you proceed as follows.
VOLUME
Training volume is the number of sets per muscle group per week. You increase the volume for the target muscle group. For example, if you do 15 sets per week for that, then you make that 20 sets or even more. You are looking for the edges of your Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV) with this.
With this approach you train the other muscle groups for maintenance (Maintenance Volume (MV)). So you reduce the volume for those muscle groups, for example from 15 to 10 sets. That way you can recover sufficiently from the extra volume in the specialization.
FREQUENCY
Higher volume often means you need to increase your training frequency. You can do a maximum of 10 sets of productive volume per muscle group per workout. More sets will not result in any additional muscle growth and will only cause unnecessary fatigue (junk volume).
So if you are going to increase the training volume of a muscle group where you exceed 10 sets, it is best to spread those sets over more training days. So suppose the training volume of a muscle group is 20 sets per week, then you divide those 20 over 2 or 3 workouts, whereby you end up with 10 and 7 sets per workout respectively. Possibly you even do 4 or 5 per week, with even fewer sets per workout.
In all of this, we assume that you perform the sets with sufficient intensity. This means that you train close to muscle failure, but not completely. You keep about 2 reps ‘in the tank’ (2 RIR).
INTENSITY
We prefer to continue training with the same intensity during the specialization training and therefore only increase the intensity of the training via the volume. But it is certainly also possible to specialize by training one or more sets to muscle failure, where you normally train with a few reps in the tank. In that case you do not have to increase the volume and you save time.
However, increasing the volume is more accurate to track and causes less fatigue.
EXERCISES
It is best to do the extra sets using isolation exercises. That way you only train the target muscle that you are doing the specialization training for. So if your specialization is your biceps, do not do extra rows, even if you are also training your biceps.
DURATION
Don’t train that one muscle group endlessly. You also have to give it rest after a while, so that it can recover sufficiently from the extra efforts. Usually train 4-8 weeks max, then again with a more balanced schedule.