To pump up biceps and triceps, each athlete must individually choose the optimal and varied set of exercises for himself. This way he can change the exercises every workout.
If you change your training regimen, you can significantly increase muscle mass. Why? Because the greatest effect from any training program can be obtained only in the very first days. If you continue to use the same exercises for biceps and triceps, they will lose “training stress”, the body will adapt, and muscle mass will stop growing.
Biceps and triceps
There are many types of exercises to increase arm muscle mass. By changing them, through trial and error, you can choose the most effective ones for yourself and develop your own program. For example, one week you can pump up your biceps and triceps separately, the next - together, then you can do ladder exercises to increase weight, and another week - to decrease weight. One week you can do basic exercises, then do standing biceps curls with a regular bar, adding a hammer and an incline Scott, the next week you can use a curved barbell with the addition of seated biceps curls and some other set of exercises.
It is important to know. Many professionals sometimes do a routine workout: do all the biceps exercises, then triceps, alternating between biceps sets and triceps sets.
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Lower biceps curl
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How to properly train arm muscles
There are several secrets here:
- The growth of small muscles directly depends on the size of large ones
In order for the arm volume to grow by 2 cm, you need to add about 5 kg to your total weight.
It is impossible to weigh 60 kg with an arm volume of 50 cm. Such parameters are typical for people weighing 100-110 kg.
If you want big biceps and triceps, pump up your legs, back and chest!
- Less frequent workouts
In order for the arm muscles to steadily increase in volume, it is enough to train them 1-2 times a week.
Many people make the grave mistake of believing that small groups need little rest.
The fact is that the arms are indirectly loaded when pumping large muscles such as the chest and back, helping to perform the movement.
The triceps are involved in all pressing movements as you pump your chest and shoulders. Well, the biceps are responsible for traction while pumping the back muscles.
Excessive training leads to local overtraining, which results in a complete stunting of growth.
- Multi-joint exercises with free weights are the basis of the program.
It is the “base” with a barbell and dumbbells that promotes the production of testosterone, the main hormone that affects muscle growth.
BICEPS EXERCISES
In pursuit of huge pumped up arms, we have already looked at the triceps, up and down. Now you should, so to speak, look at the front, at the biceps. Yes, of course, everyone knows perfectly well how to pump up their biceps, but it’s still not as simple as it seems, and just one or two exercises won’t do it. So let's find out.
By performing pull-ups with your own weight, on the same horizontal bar, you will certainly pump up your biceps (you will also use the latissimus, deltoids, core muscles, stabilizer muscles - which in itself is not bad), but you will not achieve the desired volumes, and here it is worth taking a closer look at the exercises biceps with maximum weights.
Let's consider one of the most important exercises for biceps, which really makes it grow in volume - this is the barbell lift.
Barbell curl
Hold the bar at shoulder level and bend your legs slightly. During the first movement, do not help yourself with your hips, as if pushing the barbell. Bend your arms towards your chest with a small amplitude, making sure that your elbows are not mobile. Inhale as you lift the barbell, exhale as you lower it. Return to the starting position slowly, and do not straighten your arms completely, thereby relieving tension from the muscles. The more you bend in the lower back, the more you remove the load from your biceps; this is only permissible with very heavy weights. But you should start small, and focus on technique. The next exercise is an invaluable assistant to the previous one and together they give colossal results.
Dumbbell biceps curl
The exercise can be performed sitting or standing. In this case, while standing, the lower back will again be involved in performing the exercise, but while sitting, the emphasis is only on the arms and it becomes a little more difficult to perform. Sit on the edge of the bench, back straight, take two weights with a lock grip. Start lifting one kettlebell towards the corresponding shoulder and immediately lower it without pausing, of course slower than you raised it; as soon as you lower it, start lifting with the other hand. Movements in the elbows are excluded, the whole body is static, only the arms bend. For a stronger load, do not wait until you lower one arm, start raising the second as soon as the first one begins to move down. The same option is performed with a rotational movement in the elbow joint, in which case the load will shift to the lower section of the biceps or to its inner section. Consider another exercise, no less different from the previous ones - this is curling your arms with a barbell on a Scott bench.
Barbell curl on a Scott bench
The main difference between this exercise is that the elbows are clearly fixed and unnecessary movements in them are eliminated. This allows you to work your biceps very precisely and also feel it. Here you can use different grips depending on which part of the biceps you want to work. First of all, you will need a "W" shaped bar. Sit comfortably behind the bench and place your hands on the support, so that it is more comfortable, your hands should not slide down. Take the bar, usually it is on the racks or ask a friend to give it to you. Straining your biceps, lift the bar towards your chin, feeling a certain edge, when the biceps relaxes, end the movement as it is not advisable to go beyond it. Lower the bar slowly to the starting position, almost straightening your arms, but without removing tension from your biceps.
These simple but effective exercises for biceps will help you build impressive biceps, as well as increase the volume of your arms. Also, don't forget to do triceps exercises. If all the emphasis is placed only on the biceps, then the arm will look disproportionate.
BEST TRICEPS EXERCISES
Good old triceps, why have you been forgotten? Everyone wants powerful arms, trains the shoulders, biceps, and very rarely devotes time to the triceps, when it, in turn, creates thickness and volume in the upper arm. How often do you see a picture of a guy showing off his pumped up biceps, while his triceps are a complete “failure”, what to do in this situation?
Hit the triceps with a variety of exercises of varying intensity, from different angles, to fully work them out. And after that you will be able to show off your voluminous and pumped up arms from all sides. When drawing up a high-quality and complete program for working out the triceps, it is necessary to include and take into account:
- complex exercises
- isolated exercises
- weight adjustment
- angle selection
- high and low reps
How do you still build powerful triceps?
The most important thing is not to strive for maximum weights, in order to avoid injuries, but to perform the exercise technique correctly, then the result will appear.
Upper block pull
The classic, time-tested lat pulldown, with a straight bar or “V”-shaped bar, remains today the most popular exercise, which makes an invaluable contribution to achieving pumped-up triceps.
Stand in front of a pulley machine with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grasp the selected bar, press your elbows tightly to your body, without moving your elbows to the sides, squeeze the bar down towards the top of your thighs, fully straightening your arms, thereby engaging the entire triceps.
When returning to the starting position, do not completely turn off the triceps, thereby as if throwing blocks, but easily pass the crossbar, still in the same way, without moving your elbows away from your body. Of course, the most important thing is to maintain a straight body position and maintain posture without bending your back.
In addition, try different grips of the bar; when using a straight grip, the inner long head works, while when using a grip with the thumbs facing up, as when working with a rope end, the outer lateral head works, which gives a clear outline to the triceps.
French press in a lying, sitting and standing position.
This is an exercise for bench press lovers. It is the main exercise for the triceps. Lie on a bench, horizontal or slightly tilted back, take the bar and lift it directly above the line of the shoulder girdle with straight arms. Move your head slightly to the side. This will keep your triceps under constant tension. Next, bend your arms only at the elbows, slowly lowering the bar towards your head, stop the movement 5 cm from the head and squeeze the load back, feel that only the triceps are working. To perform a seated or standing French press, stand or sit, hold a barbell directly overhead and slowly lower it to achieve an intense stretch. Make sure your elbows are pointing up; alternatively, you can move them out to the sides a little, just so that they are not too far apart. When the bar is lowered, straighten your arms above your head, again feel that only the triceps are involved in the work.
Extension of arms overhead with dumbbells or on a block
Extensions with dumbbells or on a block, as in the French overhead press, are aimed at further muscle growth by stretching them. Most likely, it will be more convenient for you to work with dumbbells or on a block, since your wrist and forearm are at a more natural angle.
When performing dumbbell extensions, grab it with both hands from the inside of the plates. Holding the weight directly above your head, lower it slowly behind your head, feeling a stretch in your triceps muscles, then return to the starting position.
WARNING – there is a risk of injury by hitting yourself on the head with a dumbbell.
You can also perform this exercise with one hand, with a lighter weight. In this case, flexion and extension will occur to the side behind the head, the elbow will be directed to the side, outward. When performing pulley extensions, perform the exercise using the technique described above.
Dips.
Dips are one of the most popular and easily accessible exercises today. Timbers can be found in any yard. Moreover, push-ups on the uneven bars involve a number of muscle groups. And they effectively help build muscle mass, since dips can be classified as basic exercises.
Grasp the parallel bars shoulder-width apart, maybe a little wider. Keep your arms straight, elbows pressed to your body, your body as straight as possible, perpendicular to the ground. Try to lower your body as vertically as possible, this will guarantee
that the main load goes to the triceps. If you lean forward or spread your elbows, the load goes to your chest. Lower your body to 90 degrees at the elbow joint. If lower may cause injury to the elbow or shoulder joint.
DO NOT try to immediately put on weights, make sure that you are well prepared and can perform a certain number of times with the appropriate amplitude. Very often they throw themselves at large weights when performing the exercise described, and this ends in injury.
Bench push-ups.
This triceps exercise is ideal for beginner athletes. Sit on one bench and straighten your legs forward to the bottom, rise from the bench onto your hands and lower your pelvis to the bottom, also to 90 degrees at the elbow joint, and rise up, straightening your arms, using only your triceps. You can also perform this triceps exercise at home, doing push-ups from a bed or from a chair.
An option for the more experienced: place your feet not on the floor, but on a bench parallel in height and perform the exercise. When performing push-ups in this way, the load on the triceps increases due to a shift in the center of gravity. The higher your legs are, the harder the exercise will be.
Bench press with a narrow grip.
And let's return again to the bench press lovers. The close-grip press also works multiple muscle groups and works the triceps more intensely, but don't be overconfident by putting huge weights on the bar.
Lie on your back on a flat bench and grab the bar with a shoulder-width grip; a narrower grip puts more stress on your wrist. Remove the bar from the rack while keeping your elbows close to your sides to ensure that most of the load is placed on your triceps rather than your chest. Lower it until it touches your chest or, without bringing it 3-5 cm to your chest, straighten your arms. Squeeze your triceps firmly as the barbell is raised. Repeat the exercise, making sure that your elbows are not pushed out to the sides, keeping them pressed to your torso. You can also try this exercise on a bench with a negative incline, thereby relieving the stress on your shoulders. At the same time, make sure that all safety measures are observed and the weights are accurately calculated for your capabilities, follow the technique of performing the exercise!
Strength fitness basic training rules
Arm training follows the standard rules of strength training: first, large muscle masses are worked out, then attention is focused on individual muscles. The training plan consists mainly of basic exercises
Each of them involves several muscle groups at the same time. “Base” effectively grows muscle mass and increases strength. To successfully build muscle mass, you need to perform 3-4 sets of each exercise, 8-12 reps per set.
The rules of strength fitness strictly regulate not only the choice of exercises, but also the duration of training. It is generally not recommended to exercise for more than 1 hour. With intense power loads, the level of catabolic hormones in the blood gradually increases, and decay processes begin to predominate in the muscles. You need to rest no longer than 90 seconds between exercises, and 30-40 seconds between individual sets.
Basics
For girls and guys who want to pump up their arms, it is important to understand that the best exercises are the basic ones. Many people try to include isolation movements in the program, but this is a serious mistake that can lead to injuries and other unpleasant consequences.
If you are new to strength training and bodybuilding, isolated exercises are contraindicated for you.
Basic exercises that target the triceps include the following:
Push ups. This is a universal and at the same time the most effective basic exercise that allows you to work the entire upper shoulder girdle. There are many variations of doing push-ups - from the floor, on parallel bars, on a bench, on a horizontal bar
It is important to choose a comfortable rhythm and place your hands with a medium grip. Bench press
The exercise is performed with a barbell; you can use a Smith machine. You need to lie down on a bench, with your feet on the floor, take the barbell from the support with a straight grip, and place it at chest level with straight arms. As you inhale, lower the barbell towards your body, lightly touching it, and raise your arms up again. At the maximum point, fix the position for a couple of seconds and repeat the movement.
These two training options are among the TOP exercises that allow you to influence the external and internal bundle of muscles of the arm
Before performing it, it is important to warm up, stretch your joints and muscles. When working with a barbell, it is necessary for someone to insure the athlete
