Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kiel DiGiovanni, Co-Founder
FACT CHECKED
Is hitting a muscle from a different angle actually better for muscle growth? This idea has been talked about forever in gyms from old-school bodybuilders, leading some to believe it’s just typical “bro-science”.
However, the answer may surprise you. The idea is that using different exercises to train a muscle at different angles will result in more muscle growth. It sounds like it makes sense, but could something so simple really result in bigger muscles? And if so, how do you use it in your program? This article will let you know.
Hitting A Muscle From Different Angles For Muscle Growth
Hitting a muscle from different angles is a common training method of some within bodybuilding. As mentioned, the basic idea is that this will stress the muscle differently which in turn causes fuller growth.
The most obvious example of this, which almost anyone can relate to, is using the incline bench press and bench press. It’s claimed that performing the incline bench press hits the upper chest to a higher degree, specifically the clavicular head. We can tell you that it very much does but we’ve even heard some say this is not true and that you can’t even target the upper chest!
That’s odd, because this study showed that using an incline bench at incrementally greater inclines (0° < 28° < 44° < 56°) resulted in greater growth resulting in significantly greater activation of the clavicular head1.
Does Using Different Angles Make A Difference?
Even though it seems obvious that a muscle will respond differently to different exercises, there has always been a group that claims it's all just bro-science. For example, a common claim is; "Your body doesn't know what exercise it's doing; it just fires!". We see how that makes sense but it shows misunderstanding of how our muscles operate (we’ll get into that below).
However, if we are to believe that your muscle either fires or doesn't, it would raise many questions. The primary issue is; why do we use more than one exercise for every muscle group?
For example, if your chest doesn't “know”, why do we perform dips, incline bench presses, and bench presses on the same day? Why not just bench press for the rest of your life?
In fact, look at how many variations of the row we have:
- Bent over row
- Seated narrow grip
- Seal row
- Face pulls
- T-Bar row
That's just 5! Now, obviously, these are different exercises, but they all essentially train the same muscles with similar biomechanics. The point is that this begins to shed some light on using angles and that maybe your muscles don't always respond the same.
And let's not mention that researchers use EMG readings to measure muscle activation during different exercises. If angles of an exercise don’t matter, we would expect EMG readings to all be the same.
As we said, we don't need to ask too many questions before we realize that exercises affect how muscles fire. Also, we have quite a few studies that show this is legitimate.
Research That Supports Using Multiple Exercises To Train A Muscle
Now, we're going to review some of the research showing that using different angles to hit a muscle will likely result in more muscle growth.
But before we go further, this does not mean to haphazardly use different exercises every day. We'll get into the actual application towards the end of the article but just keep that in mind.
Regional Hypertrophy And Non-Uniform Muscle Growth
This plays a huge role in understanding why hitting a muscle with different angles could increase growth. When talking about muscle growth, we assume that the whole muscle grows together as if you're blowing up a balloon. However, this would assume that the muscle is one big chunk of meat. It's not.
Your muscle comprises thousands of small muscle fibers that intertwine like a rope. These fibers wrap around each other and contract together, providing strength. What's important to realize is that these fibers fire independently. This should show us that the muscle isn't just a solid piece of muscle that either “contracts or not”.
Still, for a muscle to see uniform growth, we must see uniform growth among every muscle fiber.
But we don't.
Non-Uniform Growth In Research
Research has shown that the muscle fibers of a muscle will vary in hypertrophy depending on the exercise. Different exercises will put the muscle in a different angle which causes different areas to have higher levels of stress. These areas of greater stress generally see greater growth.
What this means is that a muscle may see more growth in the distal portion (point farther away from the body, i.e., the quads near the knee) than in the central portion or proximal portion (point closest to the body, i.e., the quads near the hip,)
A large review, conducted in 2000 by a team of leading sport researchers, was performed to research this phenomenon2. The review analyzed numerous studies and made some pretty significant conclusions that we'll get to. But first, let's look at one of the studies reviewed in this comprehensive review as it clearly demonstrates the topic of uniform growth.
In this study, researchers trained the quadriceps for 6 months using knee extensions and then measured the differences in muscle growth in all 4 muscle heads of the quadriceps. A simple study design with some pretty remarkable finding;
- The distal and proximal regions saw 19% growth
- The central region saw a 13% growth
- Vaastus lateralis and rectus femoris showed the greatest hypertrophy in the distal region
- Vastus intermedius and medialis muscles showed greater hypertrophy in the proximal region
What this means is that the quadriceps saw different amounts of growth in different parts of the muscle. But things get even more interesting when looking at the 4 muscle heads. Even though the distal and proximal region saw similar increases in growth, the growth came from different heads!
There are a ton of studies that show this, but the researcher's conclusion is the most telling:
"The author speculates that no single exercise can maximize the hypertrophic response of all regions of a particular muscle. Thus, for maximal hypertrophy of an entire muscle, athletes (particularly bodybuilders) are justified in incorporating various exercises that purportedly stimulate growth in a regional-specific manner."
Slight Variations Can Hit A Different Muscle Head Slightly Different
As we just saw, a single exercise will hit different parts of the muscle differently. That's interesting, but does it mean using slight exercise variations will cause different activation?
Remember, the claim is that your muscle ""doesn't know," so from this viewpoint, it really shouldn't matter. Well, it does. But again, we intuitively know this as we have likely all used different grip widths and back angles when performing the bench press.
We already went over the incline press above but this study goes even further to see how incline and grip width can affect muscle activation3.
Researchers used 12 different variations of the bench press to measure the activity of 4 muscles;
- Pectoralis major sternal head (mid & lower chest)
- Pectoralis major clavicular head (upper chest)
- Pectoralis major abdominal head
- Triceps brachii long head
The 12 combinations were made by using;
- 2 grip widths (wide & close)
- 2 grips (overhand & underhand)
- 3 bench angles (decline, flat, Incline)
When the study was complete, the researchers found that each combination hit each muscle differently. The following are the highest and lowest activity for each muscle;
- Pectoralis major clavicular head
- Highest: Flat / Overhand / Close & Incline / Overhand / Close
- Lowest: Decline / Underhand / Wide & Decline / Overhand / Wide
- Pectoralis major sternocostal head
- Highest: Flat / Overhand / Wide
- Lowest: Incline / Underhand / Close & Incline / Underhand / Wide
- Pectoralis major abdominal head
- Highest: Flat / Overhand / Wide & Decline / Overhand / Wide
- Lowest: Incline / Underhand / Close & Incline / Overhand / Wide
- Triceps brachii long head
- Highest: Flat / Overhand / Close & Decline / Overhand / Close
- Lowest: Flat / Underhand / Wide & Incline / Underhand / Close
Further, the degrees of activation were wildly different. This is a clear example of how slight variations can cause different degrees of activation. Now let’s see how varying your exercise selection can actually result in superior muscle growth.
- CICE: Constant Intensity and Constant Exercise
- CIVE: Constant Intensity and Varied Exercise
- VICE: Varied Intensity and Constant Exercise
- VIVE: Varied Intensity and Varied Exercise
- Control (C): This group does not participate in the experimental training protocols and serves as a baseline to compare the effects of the training regimens.
Multiple Exercise Vs Single Exercise In Muscle Growth
There have been a few studies comparing the use of a single exercise versus multiple exercises to train the same muscle. These exercises
A very telling study was performed in 20144. Researchers had two groups of trainees follow a volume-equated program for 12 weeks to train the legs. The following groups are as follows:
- Squat
- Squat, leg press, lunges
At the end of the 12 weeks, the growth of the total cross-sectional area of the quadriceps was relatively equal. However, when looking at muscle growth in the four heads of the quad, the groups using 3 exercises had fuller growth in all four muscle heads.
In comparison, the squat-only group only saw significant growth in the vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius, while the rectus femoris and vastus medialis failed to hit significant numbers.
Further, using multiple exercises did result in significantly greater strength gains, likely due to higher neural drive. The review concludes,
"...it would be advisable for bodybuilders to engage in different exercises to induce hypertrophy of different regions of a muscle"" and that using multiple exercises to train a muscle should be an "integral part" of a training program."
A similar study was performed training the biceps, and again, the group using varied exercises resulted in fuller muscle growth5. Also keep in mind that it’s likely you'll have a greater difference the longer you train.
How To Hit The Muscle Using Different Angles
So now we got to the part where we apply these findings to training.
This means that hitting a muscle from different angles could include:
- Making slight variations in grip and biomechanics.
- Different exercises are used to hit the muscle from a different angle.
How Frequent Should You Switch Exercises?
This is important as you may be inclined to change exercises every day to promote more gain. Don't do this!
This ultimately amounts to the practice of "muscle confusion”, where lifters change exercises constantly. Doing this will result in less progress, as the basic tenets of progressive overload still apply! Your body needs time to adjust to exercise, and you must then allow yourself to make progress. This is especially true for your major exercises.
The minimum time you should use a single exercise is 4 weeks but 6-8 weeks is likely better for the majority of people.
When it comes to accessory work and smaller exercise, most people should still stick with the 4-week time frame. However, if planned properly, you could go shorter. Sometimes, we even perform a different biceps curl at the end of every pulling session. Our goal with these is to simply perform to failure.
Still, this should be done systematically. For example, maybe rotate through 4 biceps curls weekly in the same order. To be clear, this is just an example of how to use the rotation of exercises systematically; we are not saying you do this. The primary principle is you need a plan and reason for what you’re doing. Randomly changing exercises will get you nowhere.
Don't Replicate Similar Biomechanics!
This may be the most directly applicable method for many people. Have you ever seen someone perform the bench press, dumbbell bench press, and push-ups in the same training session?
Sure, these are differences between these chest exercises, but they all use very similar biomechanics.
We could easily use slight variations to these exercises and likely see better results. For example:
- Barbell bench press
- Incline dumbbell press
- Close grip push-up
You see how we use the same exercises but with some variation. Then in 6 weeks, you could just change these 3 exercises and keep moving.
- Incline barbell bench press
- Decline dumbbell press
- Push-up
Will Using Different Angles Of The Same Exercise Increase Muscle Growth?
We wanted to touch on this in case there is any confusion. Some people who ask; “should I use different angles to train muscle”, may be referring to doing something like doing a cable bicep at different heights or using a close grip or wide grip.
The answer again is “yes.” Even though many of the studies used different exercises, many of the studies did in fact just use different angles such as the incline bench press or altering the grip. At the same time, consider that using a different exercise essentially just trains the muscle from a different angle.
So again, the answer is yes; using different exercises will likely result in fuller growth and hitting the muscle from different exercises will likely result in full growth.
Related:
- Bench Press Grip: Underhand, Overhand, Wide & Narrow
- Barbell Row Grip: Underhand, Overhand, Wide & Narrow
Final Analysis On Using Variation To Improve Muscle Growth
As it turns out, there seems to be plenty of research to support the advice of hitting a muscle from different angles.However, this does not mean you randomly use different exercises and constantly change your training. If you've been using the same exercise to hit a muscle for 6 months, you should probably make some alterations. Further, it means using as much variation as possible with your chosen exercises for a specific muscle; performing biceps curls with a barbell, dumbbells, and cable machine doesn't make much sense! In short, use a variation of exercises in a systematic manner to maximize muscle growth.
References:
- Trebs, A. A., Brandenburg, J. P., & Pitney, W. A. (2010). An Electromyography Analysis of 3 Muscles Surrounding the Shoulder Joint During the Performance of a Chest Press Exercise at Several Angles. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(7), 1925–1930. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181ddfae7
- Antonio, J. (2000). Nonuniform Response of Skeletal Muscle to Heavy Resistance Training: Can Bodybuilders Induce Regional Muscle Hypertrophy? The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 14(1), 102–113. https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2000/02000/Nonuniform_Response_of_Skeletal_Muscle_to_Heavy.18.aspx
- Roy, X., Arseneault, K., & Sercia, P. (2021). The Effect of 12 variations of the bench press exercise on the EMG activity of three heads of the pectoralis major. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v1i1.39
- Fonseca, R. M., Roschel, H., Tricoli, V., de Souza, E. O., Wilson, J. M., Laurentino, G. C., Aihara, A. Y., de Souza Leão, A. R., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2014). Changes in Exercises Are More Effective Than in Loading Schemes to Improve Muscle Strength. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 28(11), 3085–3092. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000539
- Costa, B. D. de V., Kassiano, W., Nunes, J. P., Kunevaliki, G., Castro-E-Souza, P., Rodacki, A., Cyrino, L. T., Cyrino, E. S., & Fortes, L. de S. (2021). Does Performing Different Resistance Exercises for the Same Muscle Group Induce Non-homogeneous Hypertrophy? International Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(09), 803–811. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1308-3674
Garett Reid
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