10 Types Of Muscles That You Can Bulk Up

When you’re starting out, it is important to know the types of muscles you’re working out if you want to tone or bulk them up with targeted workouts. Being educated about the changes you want to make in your body is always important. Not knowing what you are doing in the gym can lead to strain and injury. It takes time and effort to achieve a chiseled 6 pack and the arm and chest strength you desire. But with our recommended strength workouts and nutritious diet plan, you can achieve your goals. Keep reading for the different types of muscles to target, so you can grow bigger and stronger.

Various Types of Muscles to Bulk Up

1. Chest Muscle

Pectoralis major, commonly known as the chest muscle, is the muscle located in the upper chest fanning across your shoulder to your breastbone.

This is usually visible on men as it bulks up and becomes noticeable with proper exercise. It is also important to keep them strong because you constantly use them to control your arm’s movements.

Ways to Enhance: You can do dumbbell bench press, barbell bench press, chest flyes, chest version dips, or just simply do push-ups to enhance your chest muscles.

2. Abdominal Muscle aka Abs

Your abdominal muscle is placed between the pelvis, fronting your body, and ribs.

When maintained with the right exercise, this muscle shapes into the so-called abs, forming that perfect 6 pack.

Your abdominal muscle supports your trunk and holds your organs, which provides a major foundation of your body.

Ways to Enhance: To help boost your abdominal muscle, you can perform sit-ups, planks, leg lifts, ab bicycles and spider crawl.

3. Traps (The Kite-Shaped Muscle)

The trapezius, aka the kite-shaped muscle, is found at your back, running from the back of your neck to the upper and middle back.

The unique thing about the kite-shaped muscle when enhanced is it makes your back look broader, allowing your lower back to look slender too.

This muscle also supports your movement whenever you’re trying to pull something towards you.

Ways to Enhance: To make it sturdier, you can do lat pull-ups or pull-downs, chest-supported rows, and shrugs.

4. Lower Back Muscle

Your lower back is where your lumbar spine is located, surrounded by your lower back muscles.

The good thing about lower back muscles, when improved by exercise, is that it strengthens your lower back, reducing the risk of lower back pain due to muscle strain and postural issues.

Once this part of your body is strengthened, injuries like spondylolisthesis can also be prevented.

Ways to Enhance: Try doing deadlifts, hyperextensions, bent-over rows, and supermans to train your lower back muscles.

5. Shoulder Muscle

Like other types of muscles, your shoulder muscle consists also of a group of muscles that surround the shoulder area.

If your shoulders are well-maintained with exercise, most likely, your upper body strength is much stronger too.

Lifting objects is also not a problem because stronger shoulders can be more stable in strength.

Ways to Enhance: To gain stronger shoulders, you can perform a shoulder press, upright cable row, lateral raise, and rear delt flyes.

6. Tricep Muscles

Your triceps go hand in hand with your biceps in composing your upper arm muscles and are located on the back of your upper limb.

Regular triceps workouts will also increase upper arm strength and will boost flexibility and posture.

Ways to Enhance: To enhance your triceps, you can perform close-grip barbell bench press, triceps pushdown, and triceps overhead extension with a rope.

7. Bicep Muscles

This two-headed muscle is placed between the elbow and the shoulder. Toning your bicep muscles allows you to display solid toned arms. This muscle type is somewhat related to the shoulder muscle as lifting objects is one of the major functions.

Ways to Enhance: To get those bulky biceps, you can do barbell curl, incline dumbbell curl, and standing biceps cable curl.

8. Forearm Muscles

This muscle is the part of your body covering your upper limb region between your wrist and elbow.

One good thing about your forearm muscle is it allows you to have a stronger grip. This benefit is especially helpful when you are holding dumbbells, the bar on a bench press and a variety of other gym equipment.

Ways to Enhance: You can do a lat pulldown, barbell row, and deadlift to train your forearm muscle.

9. Hip Muscles

Your hip muscles simply support the movement of your hips. Although these muscles primarily improve glute strength with proper exercise, it also enhances leg muscle and lower back strength.

Overall, this muscle type enhances body posture while allowing you to slay deadlifts and squats.

Ways to Enhance: Try doing split squats, lateral squats, and lunge variations to boost your hip muscles.

10. Thigh Muscle

Your thigh muscle is also divided into groups with a single bone connecting these muscle groups.

These muscles can definitely boost your overall strength and muscle gains on leg day if worked out properly.

Ways to Enhance: To achieve that ideal thigh muscle, you can perform squats with a ball, plyometric squats, and lunges with dumbbells.