When it comes to getting the ultimate in bicep mass you need to do the standing barbell curl and the standing barbell cheat-curl exercises. The cheat curl is the use of a heavy weight that you can't lift correctly so that you need to use the muscles of the upper body to 'swing' the weight up, in other words cheating, but you can just cheat enough so that you are able to complete the curl. The biceps are forced to work maximally throughout the movement, when just cheating enough to complete the curl.
Forcing the issue while cheating is no help at all as what we want to achieve through this exercise to really stretch the biceps and also to get them used to lifting heavier weights, meaning that we can increase our weights when doing strict barbell curls.
The biceps muscle has two muscular 'heads' which need to be trained in specific ways. The outer head is responsible for biceps peak, and you can check this in the following way: with your biceps of one arm contracted as in a front biceps pose, put a finger from your other hand on the peak of the muscle. Then, whilst still keeping your finger in position on the muscle, lower your arm to your side, and you will see that your finger is positioned on the outside of your biceps, on the outer head.
Effective exercises for the outer head include concentration curls that curl inward toward the centre of the chest, narrow grip barbell- and preacher curls, and hammer curls. Hammer curls are performed with dumbbells with the thumb facing upward throughout the movement, and can be performed in a cross-body fashion such that the dumbbell is lifted across the body and finishes with the thumb uppermost, and the dumbbell against the chest. Hammer curls are also excellent for brachialis development, the brachialis being the muscle which lies under the biceps, and can be seen between the biceps and triceps in a rear double biceps pose.
The are three heads in both of our triceps muscles being the inner, medial (or 'lower' triceps) and outer heads. A really good exercise to help improve our lower triceps is weighted dips and dips with the arms straightened three-quarters of the way, but still keeping tension on the triceps throughout the exercise. The outer triceps will respond to movements only with the hands in a 'thumbs-up' position. A few favorable exercises would be triceps pressdowns with a rope, dumbbell kickbacks, dips, one-arm cable and pressdowns with the palm facing up, but there are a lot more to chose from.
The inner triceps will respond to exercises while the thumb is turned inward, including one-arm cable pressdowns (palm downward), lying or standing barbell triceps extensions, triceps pressdowns with a bar (palms facing down), close grip bench presses, as well as a whole list a others.
The arm muscles should never be over trained as these muscles are so important for exercising other parts of our body including the back and chest. While planning your workout routines this point should always be taken into consideration, for example that there are a few days between arms, back and chest workouts. A good tip is to do arms straight after shoulders or just on their own.
The number of sets required to stimulate the muscles of the arm will vary with the individual depending upon how intensely that person can train, how quickly they recover from workouts etc. It is something that you must experiment with for yourself.
Forcing the issue while cheating is no help at all as what we want to achieve through this exercise to really stretch the biceps and also to get them used to lifting heavier weights, meaning that we can increase our weights when doing strict barbell curls.
The biceps muscle has two muscular 'heads' which need to be trained in specific ways. The outer head is responsible for biceps peak, and you can check this in the following way: with your biceps of one arm contracted as in a front biceps pose, put a finger from your other hand on the peak of the muscle. Then, whilst still keeping your finger in position on the muscle, lower your arm to your side, and you will see that your finger is positioned on the outside of your biceps, on the outer head.
Effective exercises for the outer head include concentration curls that curl inward toward the centre of the chest, narrow grip barbell- and preacher curls, and hammer curls. Hammer curls are performed with dumbbells with the thumb facing upward throughout the movement, and can be performed in a cross-body fashion such that the dumbbell is lifted across the body and finishes with the thumb uppermost, and the dumbbell against the chest. Hammer curls are also excellent for brachialis development, the brachialis being the muscle which lies under the biceps, and can be seen between the biceps and triceps in a rear double biceps pose.
The are three heads in both of our triceps muscles being the inner, medial (or 'lower' triceps) and outer heads. A really good exercise to help improve our lower triceps is weighted dips and dips with the arms straightened three-quarters of the way, but still keeping tension on the triceps throughout the exercise. The outer triceps will respond to movements only with the hands in a 'thumbs-up' position. A few favorable exercises would be triceps pressdowns with a rope, dumbbell kickbacks, dips, one-arm cable and pressdowns with the palm facing up, but there are a lot more to chose from.
The inner triceps will respond to exercises while the thumb is turned inward, including one-arm cable pressdowns (palm downward), lying or standing barbell triceps extensions, triceps pressdowns with a bar (palms facing down), close grip bench presses, as well as a whole list a others.
The arm muscles should never be over trained as these muscles are so important for exercising other parts of our body including the back and chest. While planning your workout routines this point should always be taken into consideration, for example that there are a few days between arms, back and chest workouts. A good tip is to do arms straight after shoulders or just on their own.
The number of sets required to stimulate the muscles of the arm will vary with the individual depending upon how intensely that person can train, how quickly they recover from workouts etc. It is something that you must experiment with for yourself.
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