For many years I thought it was impossible to change the shape of a muscle.  It was my understanding that you were born with a God-given genetic shape and all you could do was work out to make that muscle bigger.  I’ve heard this from many professional trainers and “gurus” in the business.  They said “you move your arm like this and the bicep contracts. That’s all there is to it.”

Well I have recently spent two years working with Nick Williams, a very talented bodybuilder and trainer, and I can now tell you from personal experience that you CAN, in fact, change the shape of a muscle.  It’s all about ANGLES.

There are a great number of exercises to work any one body part.  Let’s use biceps as our example–everything is basically a variation on a curl.  The bicep is designed to pull the hand toward the shoulder, bending the arm at the elbow.  However, that movement can be accomplished from a great variety of different angles.  As Nick taught me, it’s the choice of angles that influences how the muscle responds and grows.  Do bicep curls laying back on an incline bench with your arms extended toward the floor, and you accentuate the lower bicep.   You can certainly feel that as you execute the movement, but that lower part of the bicep will respond by getting bigger and stronger because of this demand on it.  Certainly there are limits to how much you CAN change your genetic predisposition, but rather dramatic changes are possible.

With Nick’s guidance I have dramatically improved the size and shape of my bicep.  Because of years of training the arm with the same exercise, my bicep was short and off-center.  By adding exercises I had been avoiding like preacher curls and the aforementioned incline bench curl, my arms are definitely more full and balanced.  They’re a long way from my ideal goal, but I’m happy that they are much better.

I encourage you to evaluate the development of each muscle group. (Find a friend who will really tell it like it is.)  Then adjust the exercises you are doing to encourage the muscles to be more balanced and full.  It’s likely that some of the exercises you have always hated to do are the ones that you most definitely NEED to be doing.  Be scientific, read up on all exercises and which part of the muscle they effect, and then get busy perfecting your physique!