Many people think that it is impossible to pump up biceps using horizontal bars, but what if they are wrong? Today we will find out the answer to this question! I will also tell you what biceps exercises you need to do on the horizontal bar to get powerful arms.
People associate a pumped up muscular body with a mandatory visit to the gym. They say that only with the help of exercise machines, barbells and hugging dumbbells can you build an Apollo figure. But why then are there many guys who train on horizontal bars and have pumped up and sculpted bodies? After all, many of them saw the hall only in pictures or heard somewhere out of the corner of their ears? So, after all, the horizontal bar should not be underestimated!
Advantages of the horizontal bar
It would seem like an unremarkable design, two posts and a crossbar, but how many benefits are hidden behind this!
The first advantage follows from the simplicity of its design and the variety of designs. It will not be difficult for you to build this projectile in your yard. You can also make it at home in a doorway or attach it to a wall. And if you have a little extra money, then take a walk to a sports store and buy something for every taste, the prices are quite affordable and start at about 400 rubles.
The second advantage is the wide range of exercises. This may seem like science fiction to you, but on the horizontal bar you can come up with hundreds of exercises for all the muscles of the upper body!
The third quality is accessibility. Training can be done at any time as long as there is a crossbar nearby. There is no need to buy a gym membership and adapt to its operating hours. You already have everything you need for good physical activity!
And fourthly, the horizontal bar is good for the health of the core of your body - the spine. In the hanging position, the load caused by Mother Earth's gravity is removed from the intervertebral discs, and the muscles around the spinal column are stretched. It’s not for nothing that doctors often recommend exercises on the horizontal bar, especially hanging exercises, to correct posture. So, friends, be sure to try this projectile for yourself.
Advantages of parallel bars
Despite the variety of sports equipment, a regular horizontal bar and parallel bars will always be popular among those who want to get their body in shape.
The most important advantages:
- Simplicity of design. The primitive structure of the projectile allows you to quickly learn how to train with it.
- Availability. If you don’t want to exercise in the yard, you can install this equipment in your summer cottage. This design is very cheap and often costs no more than a monthly gym membership. In any case, this projectile can be found on any public sports ground.
- Lots of exercises. On parallel bars you can train your entire body: from the upper shoulder girdle and abs to the back, legs and buttocks!
- Exercises on the uneven bars are very beneficial for the spine. The workout relieves tension from the back muscles, and hanging has a beneficial effect on the condition of the intervertebral discs and cartilage tissue in general. It is not for nothing that such exercises are recommended for poor posture and many diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Other projectiles can also be used. For example, you can pump up your biceps on the horizontal bar.
As with all things, there are nuances to parallel bars training. Warm-up is very important, because when training on a machine, you can easily damage your shoulder joints and get muscle strain.
Warmed muscles are well saturated with arterial blood, which accelerates weight gain and makes the effect visible even at the very beginning of training.
Basically the warm-up includes:
- Joint gymnastics – 1-2 minutes. Particular attention should be paid to the belt of the upper limbs.
- Stretching - you should work on your arms, back, and neck.
- Cardio elements - running in place, jumping rope, jumping jacks, squats and push-ups.
- Hanging on the horizontal bar – 2-3 minutes, so that your hands get used to the load.
- Parallel bar stand on straight arms – 2 minutes. It is advisable to do push-ups several times to prepare for performing exercises on this apparatus.
It is very important to be careful. It is advisable to choose low bars so as not to get seriously injured if you fall.
The area around the projectile must be lined with a special mat, a bitumen-gas carpet, or at least sprinkled with sand.
The pipe should fit completely in the palm of your hand. It is desirable that some of the bars be equipped with soft inserts for standing on the elbows.
You must first learn the technique of performing the exercises in order to practice without fear of injury.
On the uneven bars it is prohibited to make jerks, sudden movements, turns of the body and head without first stretching the muscles.
It is necessary to monitor the integrity of the skin on the palms. The appearance of calluses is undesirable, even if you have a high pain threshold.
Large calluses can make it difficult to perform some exercises, and because of this, the training plan will have to be adjusted, which is especially undesirable if the goal is to achieve results in the shortest possible time. Therefore, it is recommended to wear special training gloves.
Recommendations for conducting the training process
As with any sport, results will only come if you take a systematic approach to training. That is, you must have a clear plan, following which you will train daily, increase the load in training, eat right, follow a sleep and rest schedule. Remember that sport loves the disciplined!
And as usual, a couple of standard recommendations. However, failure to comply may result in injury:
- Thorough warm-up and cool-down, since exercises on the horizontal bar involve the shoulder joint, which is very vulnerable
- Perform the exercises without jerking, under control and with the correct technique, which videos and photos will help you understand
- Use special training gloves. This is not necessary, but if you do not need calluses, it is advisable
And before starting a lesson, it is better to carefully study which muscles work with different types of pull-ups.
How to do dips on parallel bars correctly
1. Jump onto the bars and lower your shoulders.
Photo: Alexander Starostin
2. Make sure that your shoulders do not rise throughout the exercise.
3. Straighten your arms, but do not lock your elbow joint. The elbow should remain slightly bent - this will keep the muscles under tension throughout the entire approach.
Photo: Alexander Starostin
4. Lower yourself down until your shoulders are parallel to the floor.
Photo: Alexander Starostin
5. Make sure your elbows go back and not to the sides. This mistake puts stress on the shoulders and elbows and can lead to inflammation and pain.
Photo: Alexander Starostin
This exercise is quite difficult, so it may take you months to complete your first dip.
For the horizontal bar
Below, for you beginner workout athletes, I will give a training program for the development of the biceps muscle (biceps):
- Close grip pull-ups: 3 sets of 8-12 reps. It will serve as an excellent start to training, since the long head of the biceps often lags behind in development. So why not start your workout with it?
- Wide grip pull-ups: 3 sets of 8-12 reps. Now you can shift the focus to the short head. Don't let him get too bored
- Medium grip pull-ups: 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps. The number of repetitions will be less, since your arms will probably get tired. But now is the time to finish off your biceps to give them a boost to further growth
If this complex is given to you with great difficulty or even turns out to be impossible for you, then start training with medium-grip pull-ups and do only them: 3-4 sets will be enough. In the last set you have to give your best. Try to increase the number of repetitions at each workout and as soon as you can overcome 12 repetitions in all sets, proceed to a complex of 3 exercises.
That very day will come and this program will seem like a child's prank to you. This is where you can start putting weights on yourself! A backpack is a convenient option, because we all went to school, and some of the readers may still be going there now. So everyone should have this thing in their bins. By loading it with textbooks and a diary with deuces (as you know, such a diary is heavier) you can properly load your biceps!
How to learn to do dips
Strengthening exercises will help you strengthen your muscles and get used to the correct movements. Choose one that suits your fitness level and do it 3-4 times a week, with a one-day break between workouts. Do 5 sets of 8-10 reps.
Reverse push-ups
Unlike the parallel bars exercise, reverse push-ups have your feet on the floor, making them easier to perform. However, this puts more strain on the shoulders because the elbows are bent behind the back rather than at the sides of the body.
To protect your shoulders, turn your wrists out to the sides. This will limit your range of motion and protect your joints from hyperextension.
Make sure that your body moves close to the support; at the top point, do not lift your shoulders towards your ears.
When these push-ups become easy for you, move on to the next option.
Reverse push-ups with legs raised
Place your legs straight on a raised platform. You can start with a small stand and gradually increase the height. The higher the stand, the more difficult the exercise.
The rules of execution are the same: at the top point, lower your shoulders, try to move close to the support.
Push-ups with an expander band
This exercise exactly repeats the classic dips, but the elastic expander under your feet pushes upward and relieves some of the load.
Select the resistance of the expander so that you can perform 8-10 reps per set. As you pump up your muscles, change the tape to a thinner one.
Eccentric dips
If you don't have an expander band, try the eccentric version. Jump onto the bars and lower yourself down as slowly as possible.
When the muscles get stronger, switch to the classic version of dips, but watch the technique. It’s better to do less, but correctly, than to spread your elbows and jerk your legs, trying to push yourself up.
For bars
In addition to training on the horizontal bar, you can use parallel bars. Often on sites, the horizontal bar and parallel bars are located next door, and even among purchased equipment you can find 2 in 1 ones. What are the benefits of parallel bars for your biceps?
Because they make it possible to use a neutral grip and thereby load the muscle that always remains in the background, namely the brachialis. The brachial muscle (brachialis) is located under the biceps and, as it were, pushes it out, it also runs along the forearm and is the most powerful muscle that flexes the arm at the elbow joint, imagine, even more powerful than the biceps, and its developed appearance gives the arm a truly monstrous appearance.
To train the brachialis, I would recommend supplementing the complex with neutral grip pull-ups and performing 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions.
When your level approaches the master mark, and the weights do not fit in your backpack, you can switch to pull-ups with a neutral grip with one hand. That's right, you heard right! After all, I don’t know what kind of unique people there will be among you, maybe someone will be able to handle it, so I’m considering all options.
Set of exercises
Building biceps on the parallel bars is not difficult if you have a little patience and hard work.
In addition, during such training the muscles of the entire upper body are worked out. It is recommended to practice on other equipment.
Using the horizontal bar you can pump up your biceps and shoulders in the same amount of time. The most recommended exercises for quickly gaining weight are dips.
To avoid damaging the shoulder joint, you must follow a number of rules.
Push ups
Push-up pattern:
- Pulling the pelvis back while bending forward on the apparatus.
- Arch your back to maintain your balance.
- Tension of the muscles of the chest and back so as not to fall to either side.
- The correct position of the shoulders is that they should be pulled back, down, and relatively relaxed. The blades must be connected.
- The emphasis is on lowering down, while it is better not to reduce the angle at the elbows to less than 90° in order to avoid injuries to joints and ligaments.
- You need to keep your toes pulled up to give your calves a good stretch. This creates a double effect during push-ups.
- The neck should be in line with the body.
The minimum number of push-ups is 2-3 sets of 15 times.
Pull-ups
Pull-ups on uneven bars are no less effective.
The effect is similar to doing pull-ups on a horizontal bar with a medium grip - rapid growth of the biceps, pumping up the muscles of the shoulders and back. On parallel bars you can also train with a neutral grip, with your palms facing each other.
In this case, the head of the biceps is well worked out. It is necessary to do 3-4 approaches.
The number of repetitions is 10-12 times per set. When such a load seems insufficient, you can do pull-ups with one arm.
A few final words
You can and should train on the horizontal bar; it will make your body functional and strong. Which may well come in handy in everyday life.
Friends, support our group on Facebook, share this post with your friends or click the “Like” button! and you will always be aware of the latest news from the “Duty Rocking Chair”!
For you, we collect the best workouts, recommendations for proper nutrition and, of course, humor from the world of beautiful, energetic and healthy people - like you and me!
Source
What are the benefits of dips?
- Excellent load A COMPARATIVE ELECTROMYOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATION OF TRICEPS BRACHII AND PECTORALIS MAJOR DURING FOUR DIFFERENT FREEHAND EXERCISES triceps - the muscle on the back of the shoulder, which largely determines how your arms look.
- If you add weights, Inside the Muscles: Best Chest and Triceps Exercises will work your lower pectoral muscles better than any other exercise.
- Many muscle groups are involved. In addition to the chest and triceps, dips involve the muscles of the shoulders and back - deltoids, trapezius and rhomboids, as well as the muscles of the forearms.
- They teach your body to function more efficiently. Dips are a closed kinetic Inside the Muscles: Best Chest and Triceps Exercises chain exercise. Such movements pump up neuromuscular coordination - the ability to tense and relax the right muscles in time for the most effective work.
- No need to go to the gym. You can buy a horizontal bar with parallel bars and perform exercises without leaving your home.
How to Incorporate Dips into Your Workout
- If you work out at the gym, add dips to your routine on triceps and chest day. Perform 3–5 sets of 6–12 reps.
- Keep in mind that the last few times of the approach should be difficult for you. If you need to use a belt with a weight plate to do this, do push-ups with the belt.
- If you work out at home or outside, do dips 2-3 times a week, resting at least 48 hours between workouts. Perform 3-5 sets, repetitions - as many as you can.
- If you can do more than 15 reps per set, consider purchasing a weighted vest.
