Hand Workout: 9 Most Underrated Tips
Does the sleeve of the T-shirt hang loosely around the shoulder? Use expert advice on arm training days and pump up the volume of biceps and triceps!
If you follow the rule “know less, sleep better” in your arm training, you are most likely not drawn to learn something new and find a way to pump your biceps and triceps even more. You can walk around the gym with 35 cm cans, not realizing that armed with a minimum of knowledge, and with a little effort, you could pump your biceps up to 40-43 centimeters, or even to large sizes!
If such a prospect seems tempting to you, it's time to forget about old habits and take up books. First, check out the nine most underrated tips for training biceps and triceps. You'll find that when building quality muscle is at stake, knowledge is just as important as hard work. So let's go!
1. Set aside a separate day for arm training
One of the most popular approaches to organizing a training split is to combine large and small muscle groups on deadlift and bench days. As a result, triceps are often trained with chest muscles, and biceps are often trained on back day. For many bodybuilders, this approach works, but over time, people begin to notice that the second muscle group - the arms in each example - does not receive the same training load as the first.
The problem is solved by allocating a special training for the hands. Without heavy or pulling exercises that debilitate you ahead of time, you will be able to approach training with full tanks, which will help you to work with maximum efficiency. Since you will be able to lift more weight, the muscles will have new incentives to grow.
2. Start with the maximum weight
I often point this out, but it's really important: start your arm training with exercises where you can take the maximum working weight. It is not necessary to start or immediately after the warm-up. You can give the muscles twice or even three times the load in the simulator for or in.
If we are talking about biceps, it is silly to start with or when you can give the muscles a much greater load in or. The exercise that you do first on the day of the arm training has the greatest impact on the final result, so think carefully about where you want to start your workout.
Once you've found the right exercise to start your arm workout, don't miss your chance by going too light. If you're building mass, don't be afraid to work with a weight that will stop you after 6-8 reps. This way you will get more incentives to increase strength and mass than if you rely on light weight for high-rep training with a pumping effect.
3. Train your biceps by thinking about "angles"
Elbows-by-sides grip-at-shoulder-width - this should be your starting position for biceps curls. But, as with the basic bench press and , it makes sense to explore different options that can spur the development of the muscles of the hands.
When the arms are in front of the plane of the torso, such as in Scott Bench curls, the long head of the biceps cannot be fully extended and the emphasis shifts to the short head. By analogy, when the arms are behind the plane of the body, as in the incline dumbbell raise, the long head is fully extended and can contract more, making it the main target of the movement.
To shift the focus, you can change the position of the hands while lifting the barbell. The long head of the biceps is located outside of the short head, therefore, with a narrower grip on the bar (relative to the width of the shoulders), you work it out more efficiently. Conversely, by using a wider grip, you focus primarily on the short head.
4. To pump the long head of the triceps, raise your arms above your head
For each body part, there are one or two tricks that you need to master for pumping muscles in an advanced style. One of the main tricks for developing horseshoe triceps is to transfer the training to a plane above your head. The fact is that the fleshy long head is attached above the shoulder joint, which means that it is fully stretched only when we raise our arms above our heads. Remember that the muscle contracts with maximum effort only after full stretch. Therefore, when the elbows are located on the sides of the body, the lion's share of the load is taken by the outer head of the triceps.
Any exercise for triceps, in which the arms are above the head, changes the layout. and, or extension of the arms above the head on the block transfers the load to the long head. A similar trick can be done in some simulators. It is worth noting that if the arms are perpendicular to the body, for example, in, the long head is already stretched to some extent. But once you raise your arms above your head, for example, during the same exercise on, and you get even more activation of the long head of the triceps.
5. Use different grips for maximum growth
With a lower grip, biceps curls are reduced to a simple lifting of the projectile due to muscle contraction. Of course, this is a great way to build muscle, but far from the only one. The fact is that the flexors of the arms consist not only of the biceps of the shoulder, that is, the biceps muscle. Under it lies the shoulder muscle, pumping which will significantly increase the total volume of the arm.
To train the shoulder muscle, you need to perform, in which the hands are in the so-called neutral position, and the palms look at each other. Hammer grip curls can be performed with dumbbells or on a lower pulley with a rope handle.
The brachioradialis muscle, which forms the volume of the upper forearm from the side of the thumb, is also involved in bending with a hammer grip. You can also work it out by bending your arms with a barbell with a reverse grip.
6. Don't swing your elbows
It seems that there is nothing easier than extending your arms at the elbow joints in triceps exercises. However, on your way, you may stumble upon a small obstacle in the form of leaving the elbows to the sides. In any exercise, from the French bench press or standing and the extension on the upper block to the bench press with a close grip, press your elbows to the body to maximize the load on the triceps.
This is easier said than done - especially for big guys - because the elbows go out to the sides on their own. With this movement of the elbows, the muscles of the chest and shoulder are included in the work, and this reduces the effectiveness of the exercise. To increase triceps isolation, keep your elbows close to your torso.
7. In biceps curls, don't lift the projectile too high.
Without a doubt, the most common mistake in bicep exercises is the desire to raise the projectile as high as possible in an attempt to go through the maximum range of motion. With both hands, I am FOR full range training, but in this case, you do not need to lift the barbell too high. Most often, the front deltas are included in such a movement.
Let me explain. When the elbows are pressed to the sides, by bending the arms, you can raise the barbell to about shoulder height. But years of bad habits take their toll, and for many bodybuilders, moving the elbows forward in an effort to lift the projectile even higher becomes second nature.
When the elbows go forward, the single-joint movement turns into a multi-joint movement, in which the front deltas participate. This not only connects another muscle group, but also creates a comfortable rest zone for the biceps in the upper phase of the movement. The hands are directly above the elbows, which means that the load on the biceps is drastically reduced.
For better isolation, stay true to the single-joint nature of bicep exercises. Remember that it is common for the elbows to move forward during the lifting of the projectile. Keep them pressed to your sides throughout the movement.
8. Don't focus on the pump
There is a persistent and popular belief that in order to be successful on arm training days, you need (substitute one of the epithets: killer, monstrous, incredible) muscle. The problem is that pumping is more suitable for high-rep training, in which blood fills the target muscle and stretches the muscle fascia by increasing volume.
Yes, this is one of the muscle growth mechanisms known as sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. However, I think it's better to save the pump for the final stage of the workout, when heavy exercises are over.
Heavy weight training activates myofibrillar hypertrophy, in which there is real damage to the structure of muscle fibers. Relatively light weight fills the cells with fluid, but does not necessarily lead to a profound disruption of the cellular structure.
The question arises: why not use both options? This is possible if you work with large weights at the beginning of the training session, and use the pumping effect at the end of it. Rule of thumb: Save the killer pump for the end of your workout.
9. Train your arms more often
Large muscle masses, such as legs, require grueling workouts, after which you have to recover for several days, so one session per week is enough. With small muscle groups, things are a little different, which is why many athletes train the calf and abdominal muscles up to three times a week. As for the biceps and triceps, they represent the golden mean of muscle groups and are somewhere between the first and second.
If you have the energy, time and desire, adding a second round of arm training to the end of a weekly split is easy, provided that your split is planned correctly. Here is a chart I used a few years ago (does not include abs and calves).
- Day 1: Chest and triceps
- Day 2: Back and biceps
- Day 3: Shoulders
- Day 4: Legs
- Day 5: Biceps and triceps
- Day 6-7: Relaxation
If you're going to train arms twice a week, I suggest adding variety and making your workouts completely different in terms of exercise choice and approach. Let one be harder than the other, with an emphasis on working out weak points and increasing the number of one-sided (one-handed) exercises. Try various intensity-raising techniques, such as (blood restriction training) and eccentric phase training ().
