Isolate Like a Pro

Written by Guy Gustafson
January 26, 2018

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Be stronger, faster and fitter by working the most important muscles that might have flown beneath your radar.

Hero: Rhomboids

These tissue sized muscles connect your shoulder blades to your spine, helping you to stand with perfect posture by pulling your shoulders back and lifting your chest up.

A sign of weakness: Hunched shoulders.

Hero-worship with: face pulls, prone lateral raises.

Hero: Peroneus Longus

They start below your knees and pass down the outside your calves and attach into the bottoms of your feet, acting like shock absorbers for your feet and stabilizing your ankles when running or lifting.

A sign of weakness: pain or swelling on your ankles after running.

Hero-worship with: calf raises, ankle eversion.

Tibialis anterior

This muscle runs down the front of your lower leg and is a part of your shin that starts just below your knee and ends above your ankle.

A sign of weakness: lower back pain and shin splints.

Hero-worship with: anterior calve raises, band resisted foot raises.

Brachioradialis

Forming part of your forearms, they start at your wrist and end at your elbow. They help you grow just about all your muscles by providing the grip stamina to hold onto weights.

A sign of weakness: your grip fails before your target muscles do.

Hero-worship with: seated wrist curls, pull-ups.

Popliteal

This thumb sized muscle starts at the bottom of your thigh bone, crosses over the back of your knees, attaching to your calve bones (tibia) and inside of your knee. It stabilizes your knee so it tracks in the correct position, protecting it against wear and tear.

A sign of weakness: You can’t always fully extend your knee, if one hamstring is stronger than the other or if your quads are significantly more powerful than your hamstrings.

Hero-worship with: hamstring curls, glute ham raises.