Swoll: The Upper Versus Lower Body Conundrum

You are not alone if you feel awkward or out-of-sorts at the gym. The fitness experience is plagued by doubts and questions for the average person, mostly about posture or form. While everyone knows exercise is crucial to a developed body, how to create the body you want can be confusing, especially when you notice significant differences between upper and lower body capabilities — here’s looking at you, legs.

The lower body houses some of the most “attractive” muscles on the human figure, but it can often feel impossible to create a balance between these beauties and the upper body. You will notice your lower half will almost always look more beefed up than your upper half unless you commit to purposeful and long-term training to reverse it; however, why would you want to?

Muscle Size Makes a Difference

The lower body muscles are larger than those of the upper body. Because of the size discrepancy, it is natural for the lower muscles to appear more “swoll” than the upper muscles.

You use the lower half of your body more often than the upper half. The dependency on leg muscles for walking, standing, climbing, squatting, etc., means you are continuously working out these muscles. You do not have the same reliance on the upper muscle groups. Sure, you use these muscles throughout the day, but not at the same rate or consistency as your lower body muscles.

Evolution and Normalcy

Evolution is primarily responsible for the development of larger and stronger lower bodies. As humans evolved to become bipeds, the necessity for balance, mobility, and maneuverability became dependent on the legs.

You could imagine if people evolved to walk on their hands rather than their feet, the upper body — as we see it now — would be larger, more defined, and stronger. Alternatively, if humans had evolved to be quadrupeds, there would be more of an even distribution of muscle size and capability between the upper and lower half of the body.

Therefore, while it might seem strange for one half of the body to lift double or more than the other half, it is entirely normal. The lower body gets more work in every day because of how humans move and function.

Strength Training With Purpose

While evolution led to the development of a more substantial lower body, you can potentially change the dynamic. It is possible to alter the strength pattern, to create a more muscular upper body than the lower body, but there is minimal purpose in such training.

To achieve a stronger upper half, you need to focus on weight training those muscles while neglecting the lower half. Neglect is usually never a good idea. When it comes to exercise and weight training, the typical goal is to achieve optimum strength and physical appearance, which involves the deliberate training of each muscle group.

Your exercise routine should be balanced and executed with a purpose. If you are unsure how to achieve the results you want or perform specific exercises, you might want to work with a trainer. Ultimately, your training should:

• Establish a base strength level

• Ensure progression

• Engage in supersets

• Encourage consistency

With routine weight training, you will notice a discrepancy between the muscle growth and capabilities of the lower and upper half of the body. The difference does not indicate anything wrong; it is natural and evolutionary, so there is no need to worry or second guess your progress.