Muscle Up

We need strong arms for any number of physical and psychological reasons.  In terms of health, being well-armed can save you from the kind of back pain that so often plagues men late in life, simply by virtue of the fact that, the more lifting your arms do, the less your back will have to deal with.  Arms also serve as the strongmen that back up your hands, powering your grip while putting thrust behind a well-aimed throw or blow.

Arm the Man. Next to the chest, the arms are about the single biggest area of the body where men want big muscles.  Biceps allow you to bend your arm, not only so you can actually make a muscle for your girlfriend, but also so you can cock your arm for a throw or pull your weight in a tug-of-war.

While the biceps are the high profile muscles on the arms, they’d be pretty useless without the triceps, which run beneath the biceps and make up about 60% of the muscles in your arms.  If you were to flex to show off your bulging biceps, and you didn’t have triceps, you’d be stuck in that position.  The triceps are what allow you to extend your arm at the elbow; they are the opposite of the biceps.  The triceps are the muscles that will provide the power behind a punch.

The forearms are the muscles that provide essential grip strength, keeping them in top condition is what makes us strong to the finish in any sport or activity involving our arms.

The Arms Race.  One problem most people encounter is that the arm muscles are deceptively hard to develop.  You might work your arms on every second day at the start and, noticing that they quickly look better and feel stronger; think that the muscles are getting bigger.  What you are seeing is in fact what most people refer to as toning.  The muscles are not getting bigger at all, the amount of body fat lying between the skin and the muscle has reduced, making the muscle more defined.

It can take quite some time to stimulate muscle growth to the point where you can see, and measure, the increases.

Save Your Arms.  As a general rule of thumb, save your serious arm workouts for the end of your weight lifting routine.  You use your arms for a lot of exercises, especially back, chest and shoulder exercises.  If you work your arms first, they will be exhausted when it’s time to work those other muscle groups.  You will end up not working the larger muscle groups as well as you could and will end up cheating yourself.

Avoid Biceps Bias.  As nice as they might look, bulging biceps alone do not make a strong arm.  Try not to focus too much on the biceps.  You need to work them but not to the point where you have no time to work the triceps, which is what a lot of guys do.  If you don’t work out both sets of muscles equally, you will end up with an imbalance in the arm which will make it weaker and more prone to injury.

Don’t Stress about Forearms.  Forearms are an important part of your arm strength; they are the link in channeling upper arm power to both your hands and whatever sporting implement you are using.  Forearms also have major muscular responsibilities in their own right.  They are the secret to a strong grip, and they also help you pilot and aim whatever you are throwing or swinging.

The location of the forearm gives them a distinct workout advantage.  They get a workout from virtually every exercise involving your arms.  They also get a workout during chest, shoulder and back exercises when you are gripping a bar, or dumbbell.  So, don’t trouble yourself with doing specific exercises for the forearms, they get a great work out, and the more your upper arm strength increases, the greater the load they will be required to help hold, making them stronger along with your upper arms.

One more very important note before we begin.  Do not attempt to do all of these exercises in the one session, particularly if you are not a seasoned lifter.  Choose a couple of exercises that work the biceps and the same for the triceps and see how you go with that.

Arm Exercises

Barbell Curls

This is the basic lift that everyone knows but it’s absolutely essential for crafting strong biceps.

Stand, and grab the barbell to that your palms are facing up; your hands should be about shoulder-width apart.  In the starting position, your arms should be extended, so the barbell will be at about thigh level.

With your back straight and your elbows close to your sides, lift the barbell, curling it up toward you collarbone.  Lower the barbell back to the starting position.  That is one repetition.

Keep your wrists straight and do the curl slowly; if you move too fast, your body will start rocking and momentum will be doing all the work.  That’s cheating.

Preacher Curls

As arm exercises go, the so called Preacher Curl is a tough one since it isolates your arms for some serious lifting and makes it almost impossible for you to cheat by letting your shoulder or back muscles help with the lift.

To perform the exercise, you need to use a preacher curl platform, found in most gyms. Place your arms over the platform, with the upper edge of the platform up under your armpits.  Hold the barbell with your palms facing up, hands about shoulder-width apart.

Raise the barbell toward your chin.  Don’t raise your elbows and keep your wrists locked.  Start out with a lighter weight than you would use with the barbell curl, this is a tough exercise and you don’t want to overdo it.

Hammer Curls

Sit at the end of a bench, knees bent, feet firmly planted on the floor and, shoulder-width apart.  Using one dumbbell in each hand, curl the weight up toward your shoulder, in the same way you would lift a hammer to drive a nail.  Don’t rotate your wrists, keep your shoulders back and down, chest up and back straight.  You can either curl both arms at once or, the preferred method, alternate the exercise, first curl with your right hand and then with your left.

Concentration Curls

Sitting at the end of the bench with your feet firmly planted on the floor and, shoulder-width apart, lean forward and place your right arm between your legs.  Your elbow and upper arm should be resting against the inside of your thigh.  Keep your free hand on your other knee.  Extend your arm, holding a dumbbell with the palm facing up.

Slowly lift the dumbbell

Variation:  Using a weight that is almost too heavy to curl, adopt the same position but this time, use your free hand to help lift the dumbbell to the shoulder.  Allow the weight to return to the starting position very slowly, using the biceps to slow its movement.  This is called a negative set and will give you a fantastic workout.

Dumbbell Kickbacks

Dumbbell kickbacks will target your triceps.  Hold a dumbbell in your right hand, palm facing your body.  Rest your left knee and hand on a bench, then raise the dumbbell up toward your chest.  Your
elbow should now be pointing toward the ceiling and your back should be straight.  This is the starting and finishing position.

Straighten your arm out behind you, extending the weight away from your body.  Keep extending the arm until you can feel the triceps fully contract, then bend your arm and return the weight to the starting position.  It is important to ensure you keep your elbow firmly anchored to your side during this exercise, to eliminate any lateral movement.

Seated Triceps Press

Sit sideways on a bench and hold a dumbbell behind your head, with the fingers of both hands interlaced around one end of the dumbbell, under the weight.

Extend your arms and push the dumbbell straight up.  Keep your back straight, and lift slowly.  Then bend your arms to lower the weight to the starting position.  Make certain your elbows remain close to your head, and pointing up, at all times.

Overhead Triceps Extension

Lay flat on your back on the weight bench, with your knees bent and feet resting on the bench.  This will help ensure your back is flat and in full contact with the bench at all times.  Hold a barbell above your chest, arms extended.  Your hands should be only 15 cms apart, palms facing away from you.  Slowly lower the weight toward the top of your head, bending your arms at the elbows.  Extend your arms fully to return to the starting position.  Make sure you keep your elbows still, and pointed toward the ceiling, throughout the exercise.

One Arm Cable Pulldown

Stand facing the cable machine, gripping the middle of the handle with your right hand, palm facing down and forearm parallel to the ground.  Pull down on the handle and straighten your arm, keeping the elbow close to your body, wrist locked and straight.

Slowly raise your hand to the starting position to complete the rep.

 

Next time we look at the all-important Shoulders and Neck.