Should you exercise your whole body or can you just focus on certain areas?

Question

I am trying to build muscle and I want to focus on increasing the size of my thighs and glutes and possibly slim down my waist. However, I was wondering whether I should exercise other parts of my body a little as well. I am happy with other parts of my body, but I was wondering if there were any health benefits from ensuring my whole body maintains a certain level of fitness or if I can just ignore other parts of my body and focus on the areas I want. My body is in a healthy shape, but I could do with being a bit healthier, as I often get out of breath quickly.

Can I just focus on certain body parts and ignore other parts completely or should I maintain a minimum level of overall fitness?

Answer 1

If your goal is mass building then I would suggest you work your whole body.

• Compound movements tend to increase your testosterone. I think this is because with a larger amount of muscle damaged the body gets to work more intensely.
• Muscle/strength imbalances. These seem to be largely ignored by beginners (including myself) but as time moves on we see some of the effects. Stronger triceps tend to hurt my elbows, etc.
• If your goal is in anyway related to fitness and not solely aesthetic then you should benefit from all round healthy and maintained muscles. Body movements are more complex than they appear and rely on many muscles performing a dynamic (force + position) dance in sync.

All that said we tend to have inherent preferences. Some people have huge calves, some has mosquito legs, some are 60% arms. Where you are starting and how you choose to design your workout will affect how you look in the future. I like to start my week with the areas you I to focus (Legs) and do work the other muscles in later in the week as you need them. Also a healthy amount of daily cardio (10 min) has done wonders to slim down the mid section.

~from the point of view of a 30+ yr old male.