Bodybuilding Agonist/Antagonist Muscle Workouts

During each repetition, the brain sends signals down through the Nervous System to the muscles necessary to make the motion which requires actions by more than one muscle. In this very complex and well-orchestrated event some muscles must shorten (contract) & pull others must relax to allow the movement to happen & still others work to stabilise the primary movement. When muscles cause a limb to move through the Joint’s Range Of Motion they usually act in the following cooperating groups:

Agonists:

Create the normal range of movement in a joint by contracting. Agonists are also referred to as prime movers since they are the muscles that are primarily responsible for generating the movement.

 

Antagonists:

Act in opposition to the movement generated by the agonists & are responsible for returning a limb to its initial position.

Chest/Pectorals & Back/Latissimus Dorsi (pecs & lats)

Front/Anterior Shoulder, Back/Posterior Shoulder (front & back deltoids)

Upper-mid Back/Trapezius & Shoulder/Deltoids.

Stomach/Abdominals & Spinal Erectors/Lower-Back.

Left & Right External Obliques (sides of the waist)

Front thigh/Quadriceps & Back Thigh/Hamstrings.

Front-Lower Leg/Shins & Back-Lower Leg/Calves.

Front-Upper Arm/Biceps & Back-Upper Arm/Triceps.

Forearm Flexor & Extensions.

A quality rep is performed by raising and lowering the weight in a deliberate controlled manner. When you perform a typical weight-bearing repetition use a speed at which the movement is completely controlled with no swinging. If you let momentum do some of the work for you, you won’t use as many muscle fibers to lift the weight which makes the exercise less productive & less efficient.

Lifting weight in a rapid, explosive fashion also exposes your muscles, joint structures & connective tissue to potentially dangerous forces which magnify the likelihood of an injury. In most cases, it should take about 2 seconds to lift the weight in the concentric phase and 4 seconds to lower the weight back to the starting/stretched position during the eccentric portion.