Training against genetic muscle shape/insertion point

Hi,

First, thanks for all the awesome content and for answering questions like this!

I’ve been lifting for around two years now and have seen lots of great progress. I’m stronger and more muscular than I’ve ever been, but I still have a long way to go towards my goals. Now that I’m seeing more muscle definition, I’ve noticed something strange about my muscle development - some of my muscles seem to have developed really quickly (forearms, calves, and quads), while other muscles seem to be lagging behind (biceps, delts, and hamstrings). For reference, the last few programs I’ve done have been ‘Hypertrophy I’ and ‘General Strength & Conditioning I.’

It’s especially strange since I haven’t done anything to target my forearms or calves, but they seem to have developed faster than anything else (my forearms are almost the same size and my upper arms). Some of this seems to be because my brachioradialis and gastrocnemius attach pretty close to the joints, making them ‘bunch’ and appear larger. Meanwhile, my biceps and delts (and hamstrings) seem to lay pretty close to the bone. I’ve been trying to target my biceps and delts, and they don’t seem to be developing much at all.

How much of this is genetics and something I’ll just have to live with, and how much can I hope to overcome through extra/targeted training? Thanks!

I would be curious to know how much muscle you’ve gained in the past two years, though it’s perfectly normal for different muscles do develop at different rates. These body parts may need different training or more training.

That said, I’m not so sure that I’d be pointing the finger at your insertions, especially given that you can’t change them. What do you weigh, how tall are you, and what’s your waist circumference?

Thanks for the response! It’s hard to say exactly how much muscle I’ve gained, because I lost a lot of fat during the same time period. I’m 5’10", and two years ago I weighed around 200lbs with a 34" waist. Now I’m around 170lbs, and my waist is 31". About two months ago I got down to 160, but I was seriously lacking muscle, so I decided to bulk back up a bit. Like I said, I’ve got a long way to go towards my goals, both in gaining muscle and losing fat, but I want to make sure I’m not creating a muscle imbalance as I go.

Just wanted to follow up on this. Maybe I just need to do more isolation lifts to target the muscles that don’t seem to be growing as fast?