Let's all be honest for one moment. When you look into the mirror, what do you see? Do you see such mind-boggling symmetry, definition, and muscularity which is nothing short of perfection or do you see a body with distinct weak points? If you chose the latter over the former than congratulations. You are the one being completely honest. Sure, you may think that your body is perfect but let me be the first to reiterate that the chances of that are the same as me winning the lottery two times in a row. Sure, it can happen, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
As an avid weightlifter for 25 years, I have come to the realization that each and everyone of us have been blessed with different body types. What may work for one person may not work for another person. One thing I had to take into consideration is that everyone has weak body parts. Weak can entail both strength and development. You be your own worst critic. If you train regularly at a gym, then you will know what I am talking about when I say weak or lagging body parts. I'm certain you've seen that group of tag team bench pressers who do nothing but bench for two hours and gab during and in-between sets. Yes, that's them alright. In some instances, they have above average pectoral development, sloping traps, and maybe some biceps but THAT IS ALL!
If you fall into this category, then I'm sorry but all I'm doing is telling it like it is. I mean, what do these guys see when they look in the mirror? They must notice that they have a non-existent back, sticks for legs, triceps which aren't even worth mentioning, and shoulder development which is the antithesis of the term "cannonball delts." Now let's examine this scenario logically. If you had several weaker body parts in comparison to your stronger body parts, wouldn't it be logical to train the weaker ones with the utmost intensity and first in the workout rotation? Sounds logical but you would be surprised at how many people train their stronger body parts first only because their ego is tied to their so-called performance in the gym.
Personally, I find ego lifters to be strikingly hilarious. It makes a set of heavy, butt-to-the-ground squats worthwhile to see some ego lifters trying to squat more than you because they cannot bear the thought of seeing someone squat more than them only to do quarter rep squats. I know it is human nature, especially among men, to want to compete in the gym but let me save you the trouble and embarrassment by saying: Train for the pain in your muscles and not because you must be bigger and/or stronger than everyone else. Train for fun. If you can't enjoy it, don't train at all. You're probably thinking that you do train for fun and that your muscles do hurt when you train and that you do enjoy your training. Well, let me ask you this: would you train in an empty gym by yourself or with your training partner late at night? Most people I know would NOT. Why? They need to have others around so they can show off and feed their ego. Fortunately for me, I transcended that mentality long ago and I believe you, too, can do the same. It just takes some mental discipline, and you must accept the fact that you are in it for YOU and no one else. Do it because you love it not because everyone else is doing it or because you need to fuel your ever-growing ego.
Now that we've agreed that we all have weak points, how does one go about improving upon them? Simple. When you design your training split, just place more emphasis on those body parts over your stronger ones. For example, if you have excellent lower chest development but a no upper chest, do not spend all your time in the gym performing flat or decline presses and/or flyes. Rather, concentrate more on the incline movements such as incline press, incline dumbbell press, incline flyes, etc. Sure, your ego may take a bruising initially because you are unable to move the same amount of weight as you were with your stronger and better developed lower pectorals but trust me. In time, your upper pecs will catch up to your lower pecs. Only then will you have complete pectoral development worthy of a second and possibly third glance. Now all you must do is bring up the rest of your body parts to match your newly acquired total chest development. However, you know as well as I do that this is easier said than done.
Another bit of information that is worth mentioning is if you do have weak points or body parts that are lacking in development. These imbalances can cause other biomechanical issues when performing different body part exercises. For example, if you have underdeveloped triceps, shoulders, or back muscles then your bench press will suffer. My suggestion is making your weak points a priority and perform exercise that develop them first.
So, the take home message from this blog is that we all have weak body parts and that you be your own worst critic and judge yourself honestly. Determine which parts need more work and work on them even harder. I know this sounds cliché but if you keep at it long enough, perhaps one day you may reach what is considered utter physical perfection. Personally, I know I will never reach physical perfection but it's the beauty of the journey for something which I know I will never attain which fuels my fight in the gym daily. Whether you choose to believe it or not, the fire burns deep within all of us. All you must do is find it and think logically.
You should train all your body parts with the utmost intensity regardless, but you need to pay extreme attention to your weaker ones.