Getting better results in sport: all there is to know about antagonistic muscles

Note from Charlotte of TheFitnessTheory: After my friend Jérémy who told you how to start running, I said to myself that to have opinions of experts to give you the the best advice on the subjects that I know less, it was a good idea!

So let me introduce you to the author of the day: Alexia. She is an engineer & marketer by day, a bootcamp coach at night, and she wants to help you optimize your training. So I leave you in good hands!

So she explains to us right away what antagonistic muscles are, and what they are used for. ?

Today, it’s not Charlotte but Alexia, a fellow Singaporean food engineer and certified bootcamp coach, who comes with a little athletic explanation about antagonistic muscles. If you optimize your training on these muscles, you will have better muscle definition (aka more visible abs for example), and better performance.

First of all, kezako, antagonistic muscles?

This word is very barbaric, I know. It actually means quite simply the muscles that are opposite to the movement, for example the triceps when you do an extension of the arm as opposed to the biceps which helps bring the hand back up the body. . These muscles will never work at the same time as they may disrupt their mutual work, and complement each other to make the body work efficiently.

Now you’re wondering, yeah, but why work those antagonistic muscles?

There are two main reasons. The number one reason is that you don’t want to hurt yourself and protect your joints. Who has not had tendonitis or contracture raise their hand!

These common injuries can be due to an imbalance which, for proper functioning, will force the muscle to contract excessively, eventually extend the tendons, or muscle. Suddenly, to avoid this kind of misadventures, it is advisable to work at equal times until minimizing the difference between the 2. Indeed, the antagonist will help to slow down the movement and therefore to control it, and that, WE love !

Muscle	& its antagonist muscle
Biceps	Triceps
Abs	Lumbar
Quadriceps	Ischios
Pectorals	Backbones
Calf	Jambier

The second reason is that it will help you gain muscle quickly . Like I told you just before, if you don’t work on them, you create an imbalance and the body, it doesn’t like that imbalance too much. So, you will encourage him to catch up with the other muscle, which will increase your muscle volume , but not only …

What type of exercise to work them during the same session?

This bonus control will help boost strength when the superset method is used ((As a reminder, superset work = alternate 2 exercises that work different muscle groups, with no break in between)

Scientific studies, including that of Robbins et al. (2009) have been carried out and show that you reduce by 2 the training time necessary to progress in strength compared to conventional training . Why ? Well because in general, it is recommended to work in superset when you want to increase your volume in a specific place, because since the recovery time is short there, you will generate a large blood supply in your muscle and promote on the one hand, micro-lesions to increase the size, but also the supply of nutrients.

And then the advantage of working in a superset is that you can chain types exercises, for example for the abdominal / lumbar pair with the superman & crunch exercises. As a result, the muscle rests while the other works.