You will focus on building a balanced body when using the WLC System.
There is no other option.
If you only want to work your upper body, sorry.
We cannot and will not recommend only working a portion of your body.
Focus on working the entire body or you're asking for BIG trouble.
If you only want to work your chest, you can't do that either on this program. You will focus on building a balanced body that is strong and healthy as an entire unit.
Warning: Do Not EVER Focus on Just a Few Muscles
I cannot and will not recommend that you workout for any other reason except building a strong and balanced body.
If you want big arms, the fastest way to get there is by working your entire body.
The same is true for all muscle groups within the body. I say that you must build a balanced body for very important reasons…
By focusing on all of the major muscle groups, you build a strong, powerful, muscular, healthy, and balanced physique. If you ignore any muscle group in your body, you are setting yourself up for future injury.
You will look better and feel better by focusing on every major muscle group in your body.
Let's take a look at the major muscle groups you will be focusing on during your weight lifting workouts. Each and every one of them are very important to building a balanced body.
Major Muscle Groups for a Balanced Body
Please remember when looking at the muscle groups below that these are only the “major muscle groups” and each of the muscle groups listed below have many other smaller muscle groups included:
1. Quadriceps
2. Hamstrings
3. Calves
4. Chest
5. Back
6. Shoulders
7. Triceps
8. Biceps
9. Forearms
10. Trapezius
11. Abs
You will find that every workout program from Weight Lifting Complete will focus on each and every major muscle group shown above.
All of our programs use compound weightlifting exercises for each muscle group, which means that you will be working multiple major muscle groups during any given exercise.
You won't see many specific abdominal exercises, but that doesn't mean the abdominals aren't being worked during every single exercise. The abs play a big part in stabilizing the body during every exercise.
For example, squats work the entire body but will be classified as a quadriceps exercise because the quadriceps play a major role in the squat movement. The hamstrings also play a huge role along with the glutes and back.
The weight lifting programs you will receive take all of this into account so you don't have to worry about anything. The workouts you will be performing are designed to build a balanced physique.
A HUGE Misunderstanding Concerning the Lower Body
I want to comment on a huge misunderstanding that most people have when it comes to working the lower body muscle groups.
Many people believe that aerobic exercises such as running, jogging, playing sports, and biking work the legs enough that weight lifting isn't needed to build strength and muscle in your legs.
This belief is absolutely, without a doubt, wrong. Aerobic activities do not build muscle and strength in the legs the same as weight lifting.
There's actually no comparison at all. You must lift weights to build muscle and strength in your legs.
Some of you may believe that your legs are already big and strong. You might think that you can get by without working your legs on this program. Wrong. You must work your legs on any of our programs.
Your results will be much faster and much better when you work your entire body as a unit. Your body was designed to work as a unit. Let's keep it that way.
What About the Abs? How Do They Fit In?
I also want to mention that the abdominals are the most overworked and hyped muscle group in existence. The abdominals are THE ONLU muscle group focused on by many people.
Many people never attempt to work anything else but their abdominals — this is because they really believe that ab exercises will burn fat from their bellies.
The abdominals should be treated like any other muscle group. When you lift weights, you lift weights to build muscle. When you perform abdominal exercises, you will be focusing on building muscle. You aren't burning fat and getting a six pack by doing ab exercises.
In order to see your abdominals and get a six pack, you have to lose fat in that area. You can not do any exercise that targets fat loss in any specific area. So, crunches, sit ups, and any other ab exercise is not going to give you a six pack and won't burn fat in that area.
You won't be doing many abdominal exercises on ANY of our programs simply because you won't need the extra abdominal work. The compound exercises you will be performing in the workouts give the abs plenty of stimulation and help you develop a strong and muscular core.
You've got to trust me on this one.
If you have to do ab exercises, fit them in before or after your cardiovascular workouts but don't overdo the amount of work on your abs.
You do not want sore abs interfering with your weight training workouts.
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Tess says
atHello,
thanks so much for making this available! May God bless you and your family. Quick question about the muscle groups you’ve shown here: Do we not focus on the glutes please? As a lady, having a firm glute is important! Also, I notice a lot of ladies who weight train seem to lose their hour glass figure. How can I weight train but still keep my feminine shape?
Thanks again..and God bless you and your family.
Tess
Germantown MD
Josh from WLC says
atHello Tess, it’s very difficult to isolate the glutes and work them on their own. I know they aren’t mentioned as a specific muscle group to work but they are worked very well during many of the quadriceps and hamstring exercises. Plus there are a few more you can do that will really build the glutes.
For example…
Squats of all types including sumo style, back squats, wide stance, zercher, split, bulgarian, etc
Lunges of all types including forward, reverse, side, etc
Stiff legged deadlifts and romanian deadlifts where you focus on squeezing the glutes at the top of the movement
One of the exercises you’ll really want to focus on for the glutes if you have the right equipment to use is cable kickbacks where you can continuously add weight to the exercise. Focus on using the glutes to move the weight in reverse and “kickback.”
About losing a feminine shape…
You want to keep your shoulders and upper back wider, your waist smaller, and your hips and butt a little wider if needed. That’s what gives the hour glass shape. Every woman is built differently so you might need a little wider shoulders and larger chest, maybe a smaller waist, and maybe a larger butt. It all depends on what you need to improve your hour glass shape and figure.
Weight training will help you improve your feminine shape 100% without a doubt. The only way the women are losing their feminine shape is by increasing the size of their waist. As long as you follow the WLC System, that will never happen. Waist size is increased through fat gain and some ab exercises may increase the size of the waist. With the WLC System, you always monitor your waist size as that is an indicator of fat loss or fat gain. Your goal is to always decrease waist circumference, and that’s what you will do with the WLC System.
So that means your feminine shape and hour glass figure will only improve through weight lifting.
If you need any help or have further questions, please let me know here on this page. And thank you very much for the blessings. May God bless you and your family as well. Good luck Tess. I’m here to help if you need anything.
Josh from WLC says
atFrom Tess through email:
“Thank you for taking time to respond so thoroughly. I have a bow flex at home, and to be honest, I’m not crazy about weight training but recognize its tremendous benefits, that’s why I’d like to get started. I will have to research all those squats you mentioned! Thanks again and I will be in touch.”
I wanted to elaborate a little more so you know what do with your Bowflex machine going forward.
I believe weight lifting will grow on you. If you have a good plan that helps you make progress fast and gives you goals to strive for, everything changes with weight lifting. Many people never get into it because it is difficult and without the right weight training plan and strategy many people never make real progress. Once you see and feel the progress, you get hooked as I did all the way back in the year 2000. Been going strong ever since.
I wanted to give you some information from the WLC Workouts Manual about all the different types of squat movements that can be used to build the legs and glutes:
– Low Bar Squat
– High Bar Squat
– Zercher Squat
– Hip Belt Squat
– Barbell Hack Squat
– Bulgarian Squat
– Split Squat
– Sumo Squat
– Wide Stance Squat
– Narrow Stance Squat
– Front Squat
– Forward Lunge
– Reverse Lunge
– Goblet Squat
– Jefferson Squat
– Pistol Squat
– Box Squat
– Manta Ray Squat
– Step Ups
– Leg Press
– Machine Hack Squat
– Safety Bar Squat
– Cossack Squats
You then have some hamstring exercises that will also work the glutes very well:
– Stiff Legged Deadlift
– Romanian Deadlift
– Pull Thru
– Glute Bridges
– Good Morning
– Glute Ham Raise
– Sumo Deadlift
– Cable Kickbacks
The glute ham raise is an exercise I previously forgot to mention and it’s an amazing exercise. Would take some figuring out how to do without a machine. You need to place your feet under something stable.
Here’s a very good video showing some of the exercises I listed out above:
Remember that to get the most out of your workouts that you need to focus on building a balanced body as explained in the article above.
For your Bowflex, I have a good starting Bowflex Workout Program you can use here:
Free WLC Bowflex Workout Program
If your glutes need to be targeted, you simply change the exercises around to something like this:
1. Squats
2. Bench Press
3. Romanian Deadlift
4. Rows
5. Glute Bridges
6. Overhead Press
7. Cable Kickbacks
8. Wide Grip Pulldowns
9. Standing Calf Raise
10. Tricep Pushdowns
11. Cable Pull Thru
12. Reverse Curls
And then follow the plan on the Bowflex Workout page with the above exercises instead of the ones listed on the page.
Work hard on all the exercises but add specific focus to the exercises that involve the glutes.
And that’s it! It will take time and effort to build the glutes but always focus on making progress on those exercises and the progress will come. Good luck Tess. Keep in touch.
Tess says
atThanks so much Josh. One quick question please: At which point will I start increasing the weights? For example if I start at 50lbs, when do I increase to the next weight level…after the third week?
Thanks again….
Josh from WLC says
atTess, I recommend increasing the amount of weight every workout. The weight lifting programs I design allow you to increase the weight every workout by decreasing the number of reps over the weeks. For example, you might start with 50 pounds and 15 reps. You would then go to 52.5 pounds for 15 reps, 55 pounds for 15 reps, 57.5 pounds for 12 reps, 60 pounds for 12 reps, 62.5 pounds for 9 reps, and so on… just an example. The guideline I follow is to never lift the same amount of weight for more than 3 consecutive workouts on any exercise. When you reach a point where you have trouble increasing the weight, there are several different paths you can take. One example is decreasing the weight only on the exercise you are having trouble with by 10 to 20 % and then continue increasing again from there. All of the weight lifting programs I design include tactics like this so that you are always moving in the right direction and making progress at all times. Continuous progress leads to amazing changes in your body at a very fast rate.
Josh, President of WLC says
atOne of the biggest mistakes men make is doing bench press all the time so they can say how much they bench press. Weighted push ups from a bench and bar with weight hanging below is a far superior exercise than the bench press. Bench pressing all the time isn’t helping you build a balanced body.