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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?

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  • Do whatever you want. There is no right or wrong here. Do what you want to do and live with the consequences. If you don't train your upper body, you don't have the benefits of a trained upper body. I mean that's basic logic. If you don't care (many women don't), then don't do it. If you have any sensible program for your lower body, you will have squats and deadlifts. Especially the deadlift will also work your back, arms and even shoulders. There are thousands of mean that only curl and bench press which is way more extreme, you don't die from that. A bit of back pain and that's it – Raditz_35 Jan 11 at 12:23
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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.

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