Can We Target Individual Muscles?
Takeaway Points:
Different exercises for the same muscle groups do work muscles differently, but not in the hyper specific way that people think it’ll tighten, lift, or radically create muscle growth.
Variety in exercises to make sure the entire muscle group is strengthened can be incorporated into workout routines, but more variety doesn’t mean better/more gains.
If you have a good program with a little bit of variety, it’s more important to focus on consistency and adding weight over time, rather than worry about tweaking exercises.
A common belief is that different exercises target different muscles differently, and therefore exercise selection becomes important as a way to optimally target all muscles.
I wanted to dig into this topic today, because I find that it’s one with a lot of surrounding myths and misconceptions.
In General, Yes.
In general, yes, different movements DO target different muscles. For example, a row mostly targets back musculature, while a bench press targets pectoral musculature. This is a pretty evident truth - we don’t do rows to increase our bench press, and vice versa.
However, where it gets more confusing, is when we’re talking about different exercises which target the same muscle group - for example, a bench press and a pushup. Both use roughly the same musculature, at the end of the day, but they may train them in very different loading patterns or very different ways, and then it becomes harder to tell exactly what impact these exercises will have on different muscles used in these movements.
Is a bench press going to target the pectorals more or less than the pushup? How does the use of an incline or decline added to the bench press or the pushup change the equation?
It gets harder to sort out exactly what will do what - and in this area, broscience and mythology tends to thrive.
Some Variety is Good
I’ve written previously about some of the nuances that touch on this topic.
For example, in Muscle Activation Is More Dependent On Load Than Form, I’ve written about how there are endless little “tweaks” people create which are supposed to enhance muscle activation in some area or another, and how this misses the forest for the trees when what really matters is how much load you add into the equation - a small tweak is the equivalent of cutting up the pie differently, while adding load increases the size of the pie, which causes all muscles to get more stimulation in the process. Thus, worrying too much about small tweaks is unlikely to really “supercharge” your workouts and greatly enhance your gains, what matters a lot more is just the fact that you’re progressing well and adding load over time.
I’ve also written previously in No, Squating Alone Isn’t The Best Leg Developer, about how, while we generally need to stick to a limited number of exercises and variations to ensure consistent progression, some variety is required for maximal growth. That article reviews a scientific study which found that lifters gained more overall muscle mass from training with more than one leg exercise, while those who trained with only the squat did NOT gain as much muscle mass.
So, in a general sense, this supports the thesis that some variety in terms of different kinds of exercises, is needed to maximally target all parts of a muscle group, and therefore maximize growth and strength.
The Good, The Bad, And The Broscience
The problem I see, is that a lot of people tend to have incredibly overconfident and baseless assumptions about what kinds of exercises target what kinds of things, based on stuff they’ve heard from a guy at the gym.
I used to hear it all the time when I was starting out as a lifter - “hey man, this variation will target the upper abdominals, while this variation will target the lower abdominals”.
It’s also something that feels like an epidemic on instagram, which is full of little infographics which imply that different exercises target very specific muscles or sections of muscle.
The implication of this kind of precision targeting is that by combining the ideal exercises, you can maximize your physique, bring up lagging body parts, and crush your goals.
The reality is that most of these recommendations aren’t really based on anything at all. Sure, these exercises will generally “work” in that they do, indeed, work the target muscle group - but not necessarily more or less than other, similar variations that use the same muscle.
The reality is that we have SOME research on this topic, and it does tend to validate that certain variations may be better or worse than others for targeting specific muscle groups. For example, we’ve found that squats are a generally great leg developer, but that leg extensions are better at targeting the rectus femoris, one of the heads of the quads. Likewise, we’re naturally well aware that leg curls are better at targeting the hamstrings. The end result is that we do have a partial picture of the reality, but that doesn’t mean that it completely validates every broscience suggestion out there.
My Perspective
I believe that the reality is that a lot of what’s out there is generally garbage. Some variation is good, and helps to cover up weak points, but it’s not great to worry too much about variation to the extent that you’re not nailing down the basics of progression and adherence. Pick a plan, stick with it, and progress it steadily over time, and you’ll see good results regardless.
While there is some research out there that shows that we CAN preferentially target muscles with specific variations, and this is useful when it comes to, say a bodybuilder maximizing their physique, it’s not likely to be important for the average gym exerciser looking to build some strength and size.
So long as you’re following a solid program with a bit of variety, it’s unlikely that you’re going to benefit too much from adding in a ton of extra variety. If, for example, you’re squatting 3x/week with the same form, then you could benefit from variety. If, however, you’re back squatting one day, front squatting another, and doing leg presses/leg extensions on the third - chances are, you’re already covering your bases anyway, and you’re doing more than enough to ensure that you’re semi-optimally targeting all muscles involved.
At that point, worrying about it too much is probably going to do more harm than good.
About Adam Fisher
Adam is an experienced fitness coach and blogger who's been blogging and coaching since 2012, and lifting since 2006. He's written for numerous major health publications, including Personal Trainer Development Center, T-Nation, Bodybuilding.com, Fitocracy, and Juggernaut Training Systems.
During that time he has coached hundreds of individuals of all levels of fitness, including competitive powerlifters and older exercisers regaining the strength to walk up a flight of stairs. His own training revolves around bodybuilding and powerlifting, in which he’s competed.
Adam writes about fitness, health, science, philosophy, personal finance, self-improvement, productivity, the good life, and everything else that interests him. When he's not writing or lifting, he's usually hanging out with his cats or feeding his video game addiction.
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