How to pump up a beginner's arms at home. How to pump up big arms - select a training program and eliminate mistakes that hinder growth

Many slender women complain that their arms look very thin. Overweight women also have complaints about their hands - the skin on their hands looks flabby. Therefore, such women need to pump up their muscles to improve their appearance. In addition, it is useful to pump up the muscles in the arms for those who are quickly losing weight, so that the skin tightens. Moreover, the correct relief of the hands is beautiful.

Where to begin?

Unlike the male body, which is satiated with testosterone, estrogens predominate in the female body, producing fat deposits in reserve. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to pump up muscles to the level of female bodybuilders. And it’s rare that a woman would want to have this kind of hands, unless she is a master of sports in bodybuilding.

The main task for most women is to pump up their muscles to give their arms more definition and a more attractive shape. And if your arms are thin, in addition to training, include protein foods and carbohydrates from cereals in your diet.

What muscles are we pumping?

There are few muscle groups in the arms, but it is important to know which muscles you are working with. In the shoulder area there is a biceps, which bends the arm at the elbow, and a triceps, which extends it. In the forearm area, muscles help work the fingers and wrist, swing and rotate the palm.

Important!

Each exercise is aimed at primarily training a specific muscle group. This must be taken into account when compiling sets of exercises, calculating the number of approaches and the degree of severity of the exercises, so as not to overtrain the muscles.

1. Any effort to bend the arm (in all training options) primarily trains the biceps.
2. Any extension exercise will primarily stress the triceps.
3. Holding implements in different positions, rotating the hand, clenching and unclenching the fist, and gripping in different positions train the forearm muscles.

Hand exercises

In order for the body to look harmonious, it is necessary to evenly develop the muscles of the arms themselves, as well as the shoulder girdle, back and chest.

Power complexes exercises for arms do it twice a week, not more often. Working out more often can make you look like a bodybuilder. Pay special attention to the weight of the loads that you will use in the complex. If the dumbbells are heavy and you choose a large number of approaches, you can injure your ligaments. And such injuries will take several months to heal.

Watch your sensations, do not allow discomfort in the joint area - especially the elbows and wrists. Do exercises to strengthen the shoulder area and forearm.

Set of exercises

Exercises for the arms are not difficult to perform and do not require special equipment.

• Hold the weight in your hand, bend and straighten your arms at a slow pace, then at a medium pace and finally at a high pace for 10 approaches. Dumbbells or plastic containers with water or sand weighing up to one kilogram can be used as weights.
• Clench your fingers into fists and rotate them 40-60 times in each direction. This exercise is great for training your wrist muscles.
• Wave your palm as if saying goodbye. Perform the exercise 50 times in two or three passes.
• Snake exercises: Move your arm to imitate the movements of a snake.
• Exercise with a fitball - a large ball: lean on it, try to push it. This exercise uses all the muscles in your arms.
• Exercise on the bar: hang on it and twist your torso left and right. This exercise is relaxing spine , but do it carefully so as not to damage the ligaments of the wrists and shoulder.
• And finally – the well-known push-ups. If you find it difficult, do push-ups on your knees against a wall or chair. When doing push-ups, the chest muscles pump in parallel with the arms, which helps to increase its tone. For greater effectiveness, turn your palms inward, perpendicular to your body.

In any case, do not try to make your arms sculpted in one or two sessions. Intensify your training gradually, but do the exercises regularly.

Alena PARETSKAYA

None of the men will refuse beautiful hands with prominent muscles, because hands are the visible part of the body, which can most often be demonstrated to others. It’s good when the muscles are given by nature, in all other cases the question becomes relevant: how to pump up your arms at home quickly and effectively?

Professionals have given enough recommendations on how to pump up your arms at home. All that remains is to listen to the advice and start training. Experts say that if you train correctly, then in a month or two you can get beautiful, sculpted arms while simultaneously working out your pectoral muscles.

Exercises with which you can quickly pump up sculpted arm muscles at home:

• Flexion and extension. Perhaps the simplest exercises, which will not be difficult to perform correctly. At home, to quickly pump up your arms, it is recommended to use a barbell from available means. A few simple rules regarding the question of how to quickly pump up your arms with a barbell:

1. Decide on weight. To quickly pump up your arms at home, you should not immediately take on prohibitive weights, this will lead to a violation of your technique. During the first month of training, you need to learn how to do the exercises correctly, and after that add weight.
2. Before extensions and flexions, a warm-up is always necessary, with which the athlete will stretch a little, warm up the muscles and improve blood flow.

At home, the complex is correctly performed as follows:

1. The man should stand against the wall, while his back remains straight.
2. The bar is taken with a wide grip, the hand clasps the bar from below.
3. Raise and lower the barbell to and from the chest without moving your elbows.
4. At the lowest point, we do not fully extend our elbows.
5. After several approaches, the grip is changed. The hand is positioned above the bar and the bar is pulled towards the chest.

During the exercise, not only the shoulders work, but also the man’s back.

• Exercises with dumbbells. It differs from the previous method. Below we will tell you how to pump up your arms with dumbbells yourself at home in three ways:

1. Lifting dumbbells one at a time. The technique is simple: a man, sitting on a bench or stool, raises and lowers his hand from the dumbbells. At the top point you need to stop and count to 3-4, then smoothly lower your hand.
2. The second method is called "hammer". Both hands work simultaneously. The technique is no different from the previous one.
3. Dumbbell rows to tone the back of the shoulder. We are talking about the rear delta, which even some professional athletes forget about during training. Meanwhile, pumping up the back of the delta is not difficult. The man should lie on the bench with his stomach, while inhaling, the dumbbells rise up to chest level, and the elbows spread to the side. As you exhale, your arms gently lower.

Any of the proposed techniques allows you to pump up your arms and get beautiful shoulders after a month or two of training with increasing weight at home. The advantage of training with dumbbells is the ability to put different loads on your arms, taking into account the anatomical features of a man. It’s difficult to say how much weight each individual man can take to pump up his arms. It all depends on the degree of training and ability to tolerate physical activity.

• Many people are interested in how to pump up their arms at home with push-ups and whether it’s realistic to do it. The answer is that it is quite possible to pump up your arms in this way. With the help of push-ups, you can strengthen your arm muscles and pectoral muscles. Moreover, there is more than one exercise of a similar plan that can be performed at home. Push-up technique:

1. Classic. The man takes an emphasis lying on slightly bent elbows. Palms are placed chest-width apart. We begin to do push-ups. Please note that at the lowest point the shoulders form a right angle with the forearms. The chest does not touch the floor.
2. Narrow grip push-up technique. The difference from the previous one is that the thumb and index fingers of both hands should touch. A narrow grip allows you to work the back of your arms.
3. Wide grip push-up technique. Hands are placed wider than shoulders. During the exercise, not only the arms work, but also the pectoral muscles.

There is also a technique of push-ups from the floor with cotton, with legs thrown back. Such a large number of different ways to perform the exercise allows you to pump up different muscle groups exclusively with push-ups. How many push-ups a man should do at a time is not specified. Everything will depend on the training and the final goal of the athlete.

• Exercises on parallel bars. They allow you to quickly work out the muscles of your back, pectoral muscles and arms at home. To properly train on the uneven bars, you need to learn some rules:

1. Before training on the uneven bars, be sure to warm up. It is important that the muscles stretch and become more flexible. Warming up will prevent possible injuries.
2. For beginners, it is better to use a standard grip on the parallel bars. Excessively wide arm position increases the risk of injury.
3. Regular performance of the parallel bars exercise will be the key to successful training.
4. The ideal number of approaches is 4-5, with repetitions - from 8 to 15.
5. It is important to maintain tension in all muscle groups both during lowering and lifting the body. Failure to follow this simple rule can cause the pectoral muscles to become overstretched and cause injury.
6. Exercises on the uneven bars are performed quickly, but without jerking.

If a man wants to give additional stress to the pectoral muscles, then the bars need to be placed wider. Also, when putting stress on the pectoralis major muscles, you need to make sure that your legs do not touch the floor, but are bent at the knees and pulled up to the body. The elbows should be apart and the back should be slightly rounded. Equipment is often posted on video on the Internet.

• Exercises on the horizontal bar. You can easily pump up your arms on the horizontal bar. In addition, this method has one big advantage - training on the horizontal bar does not require any material costs and the technique is often quite simple. Basic techniques that allow you to quickly pump up your arms on the horizontal bar:

1. Pull-ups with reverse grip. To do the exercise correctly, place your hands shoulder-width apart. The palms should face the athlete. At the top point, the chin touches the bar or rises above it.
2. Pull-ups on the horizontal bar using a straight grip. The palms are facing away from the athlete. The technique is identical to that described above.
3. Pull-ups on the horizontal bar with different grips. To carry them out, your hands must look in different directions. You should change your grip every 5-7 times.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar also have their own trick. For the training to be most successful, the first approach must be done to the maximum. The second approach is less intense. After all the repetitions and a break of a few minutes, the man must do push-ups as many times as possible. During the first week, it is preferable to exercise every other day or two. Each type of pull-up can be found on video on the Internet.

When a personal trainer wouldn't hurt

It is not always possible to achieve the desired result by working out at home, so when the question arises of how to pump up big arms, professional athletes advise working out in the gym. It wouldn’t hurt to seek advice from a personal trainer even if the technique seems correct, but you can’t achieve the required volumes. Professionals give the following advice regarding the question of how to pump up huge arms:

• Training exclusively the arm muscles is unproductive.
• To achieve impressive results, especially in the initial stages, be sure to perform all the basic exercises: squats with a barbell, deadlifts, bench presses.
• Knowledge of anatomy is a plus. To work the different arm muscles, you need to know how they work and where they are located.

When asked how to pump up big arms, professionals answer that it is best to do the following exercises:

1. Give the load simultaneously to the biceps and back, as well as the pectoral muscles and triceps. This combination is considered a bodybuilding classic. The complexes can be seen in training videos.
2. A combination of biceps with pectoral muscles and triceps with back. Exercises can be done every other day. This will allow individual muscles to rest and begin training with renewed vigor.
3. Simultaneous training of biceps and triceps. The good thing about this method is that it allows you to train both muscle groups at the same time, but you will have to set aside a separate day a week for this workout.

Some athletes, when asked how to quickly pump up their arms, answer - do supersets. The easiest way to do them is in the gym, since the concept of a superset implies an almost non-stop training process involving different muscle groups in turn. However, professionals warn against misuse of this method. Supersets can be 1-2 workouts per week or 5-6 per month.

Instantly or slowly

And finally, we will highlight the issue regarding the frequency of training. Many men think that daily exercise will give a more significant effect. This statement is not entirely correct. Muscles do not grow during training, but only between them. Therefore, it is not worth training every day for a whole month. When asked how much exercise per month, professional athletes say the following:

• The ideal training schedule is a purely personal matter. Only a personal trainer can advise how much a man needs to train after assessing the athlete’s preparedness.
• If it is not possible to train in the gym and a personal trainer is not available, then the advice is this: it is better to work out 9-12 times a month, taking a break between workouts of 2-3 days.

Sometimes it happens that you can’t build muscle mass in your arms. The size and definition of the muscles remain for a long time - a month or two - without dynamics. In such a situation, you should think: is the training structured correctly? In this case, professionals advise watching a training video, analyzing the workouts of other athletes in the gym, and asking for help from a personal trainer. A radical change in the training scheme, a fresh look at the usual set of exercises will allow you to “stir up” the sleepy arm muscles and make them work.

In this article you will learn how to pump up your arm muscles and how to eliminate mistakes that slow down the growth of your biceps and triceps. Most biceps workouts are very poorly designed. Let's identify the 4 main arm day training mistakes so you can achieve impressive results.

To pump up big arms, you need to understand that size is influenced not only by the volume of the biceps. They become larger when training the biceps on the Scott bench and the triceps with the French and close-grip bench press. Most weightlifters don't have a set workout plan other than doing as many biceps reps as possible.

Below are the mistakes that prevent you from pumping up big arms. Immediately watch the video on how to pump up your arms if there is no progress in them, but the rest of the muscles are growing.

Below are 4 main mistakes that prevent you from pumping up your biceps and triceps. Let's correct the mistakes and create a biceps training program that will give great results!

Mistake1: Assuming that any arm exercise can be used first at the beginning of a workout.

Not sure how exactly to start training your arms? By preferring isolated biceps curls and triceps extensions in the machine as exercises for building mass, you you're making a big mistake.

Bug fix

Exercises to gain muscle mass should be done at the beginning of your workout, when you still have a lot of energy. What movements are there for gaining mass? Good question. These are usually the ones you can handle more weight with. Multi-joint exercises increase the strength of all minor muscle groups in this area (a reason to start training your chest with presses and training your hips with squats). There are many multi-joint exercises for the triceps, but not for the biceps. Basic standing barbell curls allow you to pump your biceps with heavy weight.

“Basic standing barbell curls allow you to pump your biceps with heavy weights.”

Error 2: Muscles are not pumped at different angles

When training arms, "angles" refer to the position of the arms relative to the torso, that is, different grip widths on the barbell. If you always do bicep curls or triceps extensions with your arms locked at your sides, you are limiting your growth.

Bug fix

For biceps with your arms in front (on a Scott bench) you target the short head of the biceps, with your arms behind your torso (incline dumbbell curls) you focus on the long head. By using a neutral grip (dumbbell hammer curls) and taking a close or wide grip on the barbell during standing curls, you change the angle of your arms slightly with each curl.

For the triceps, you engage the long head better when your arms are overhead, and when you change to an underhand grip (pull down), the emphasis shifts from the lateral to the medial head.

By using different grips and hand positions, the different heads of the biceps and triceps are better emphasized, which contributes to their fuller development.

Mistake 3 Constantly training with the same weight and the same number of repetitions

In order for muscles to grow, they need constant progression of loads. If you perform 10 reps with the same weight each time, then you are making a mistake.

Bug fix

Performing exercises with heavy weights and a small number of repetitions (no more than 6) helps increase muscle strength. Training with a weight that allows you to perform 8-12 reps per set until failure is the best option for building muscle mass.

Working muscle groups quickly get used to the same sequence of repetitions and weights. If you've already gotten stronger during your training, then it's time to load your muscles with more weight in exercises to build muscle mass.

For the first exercise, choose a weight that you will use to reach muscle failure with a low number of repetitions (6 reps). For the following exercises, choose a slightly lighter weight that you can handle for 8, 10, or 12 reps; this will allow your muscles to work at different intensities. By using heavier weights, you increase strength, and with lighter weights, you will be able to pump more blood into the muscles and pump them better for building mass.

Mistake 4 Training using the same program

Do you do the same workout over and over again and expect new results? This is a common mistake.

Bug fix

Your body will eventually get used to the workout, even if it worked well in the beginning. Most people need to change their workout every 6-8 weeks to make consistent progress in their workouts.

The only way to get better is to incorporate advanced training techniques that force you to work beyond muscle failure for 1-2 more sets of the exercise. Methods to try include forced reps, drop sets, rest-pause techniques, and negative reps.

The supersets below force you to perform two exercises in a row without resting in between; you rest only after completing both exercises. You may not consider supersets as a method for building muscle mass. In this workout, you engage opposing muscle groups. Moreover, one of them contracts, and the other stretches, which increases blood flow to these areas.

Research confirms that when you perform a preliminary exercise on the antagonist muscle, the muscle performing the second exercise becomes stronger! Doing a set of cable extensions before a set of biceps curls makes you stronger in the curl. Make sure to modify the first exercise in your next workout.

Another benefit of supersets is the reduction in workout duration by reducing rest periods. Reducing the need to run around the gym, the superset combinations in this arm workout use one piece of equipment for two exercises.

The Giant Arms Workout corrects the four biggest arm day mistakes by combining the best muscle-building movements with a progressive rep sequence.

Accelerated workouts, the best exercises for gaining muscle mass in your arms, intense methods - all this is provided by one workout that can help you build huge arms!

Workout for giant arms

SUPERSET 1

	1. Close-grip triceps bench press 3 sets of 6-8 reps
	2. Standing barbell curls 3 sets of 6-8 reps

SUPERSET 2

	3. Overhead dumbbell extension 3 sets of 8 reps
	4. Bench curls with a barbell on a Scott bench 3 sets of 8 reps

SUPERSET 3

	5. Extension of one arm in a triceps block 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions
	6. Standing one-arm curl 3 sets of 8-10 reps

1. In your next workout, perform the biceps exercises first in the superset sequence.
2. Warm-up approaches are not taken into account; perform the required number of repetitions, but never do warm-up sets to the point of muscle failure.
3. Choose a weight at which you will reach muscle failure with the desired number of repetitions.

Superset combo for speed

Superset 1

Equipment: Flat bench press, barbell

Superset 2

Equipment: Scott Bench, EZ – barbell, dumbbells

Superset 3

Equipment: Lower block with D handle

Superset 4

Equipment: Rope with adjustable pulley

(4 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

How to pump your arms correctly and why is it so important? Sculpted, powerful arms are a kind of symbol of athletes; this is the first thing a bodybuilder strives to demonstrate in order to focus attention on his achievements.

Achieving harmony between large volumes and ideal proportions is not easy. An excellent result is achievable if you approach the formation of beautiful muscles correctly.

The right approach – great results

How to pump your biceps correctly? If you follow the advice of experts and professional athletes, you can pump up volume and draw relief quickly and without injury. Those muscle groups that the athlete feels during the exercise, controls their work, feels tension, and fatigue are actively growing.

It is important to learn to concentrate during exercise on the work of the target muscle. Muscle control ensures technically correct execution of movements, which is very important for achieving a positive result. To pump up your arms, it is recommended to do a separate workout; they need to be loaded separately from the rest of the muscles of the body.

When work on the arms begins after intense training on other muscle groups, the effectiveness of these efforts is minimal, since the ability for optimal concentration is significantly reduced and the effectiveness of the exercises decreases. Training for pumping up your hands can be considered universal.

Basic training – good results

Select exercises for training arm muscles from the basic set. The role is played not by the quantity of exercises, but by the quality of execution. Mandatory items include: . This approach has a number of positive aspects that work for the result.

First: at the beginning of the movement, the biceps are well stretched, which ensures better contraction. Second: the back is completely excluded from the training process, only the arms work. This type of load is much more effective, which is very popular.

Loads in a sitting position: comfortable and effective

Strength training in a sitting position is a very convenient training option. In addition to convenience, this position has a number of other advantages. For example, the body in this position is more stable, which makes it difficult to use, movements are performed technically and cleanly. While sitting, you can purposefully work on individual bundles, which is very important when they develop unevenly.

Triceps first

After the mandatory warm-up, they begin to load the triceps. This is a powerful muscle that occupies about two-thirds of the arm's volume. From there they move on to the biceps. Many athletes, especially beginners, do the opposite, which is a wrong decision.

It is important to engage and efficiently work all the bundles of the triceps muscle. The horseshoe triceps consists of three bundles (heads): middle, long and lateral. The training consists of exercises () that equally develop each bundle. Only with such a load can you achieve harmonious development and gain volume.

Read other blog articles.

Hello friends! Today we will look at how to pump up your arms quickly, the best exercises for the arms, and also, there will be a lot of cool information about the technique of performing exercises, all sorts of interesting tricks, etc.

Unfortunately, very often even experienced trainers cannot explain the differences between certain forms of performing arm exercises.

To grow arm muscles, like all other muscles, you need to solve only three problems:

1. LOAD PROGRESSION(training volume must increase). Perhaps the main rule, because THERE IS NO SENSE FOR MUSCLES TO INCREASE IF THE LOAD DOES NOT INCREASE.
(you need to learn to feel the muscles you want to develop and EXCLUDE THE REST OF THE MUSCLES FROM WORK).
2. NECESSARY RESTORATION(fractional meals 6-12 times a day + sleep 8-10 hours).

The more strictly you follow these rules, the faster you can pump up your arms. It's not as difficult as it seems.

Most mistakes that prevent you from growing arm muscles are due to incorrect technique.

This is what we will talk about a lot today. After all, by only slightly adjusting the technique of performing the exercises, we can make the load on the target muscle more concentrated and precise.

If we talk about the arms, then you should concentrate on the following muscles:

1. Triceps (triceps brachii muscle).
2. Biceps (biceps brachii).
3. Brachialis (brachial muscle).
4. Forearm muscles.

To be honest, the muscles of the forearm can be excluded from this altogether, due to their small size. But we'll talk about this later.

Let's start with the triceps.

How to pump up your triceps

We talked in detail about the anatomy of the arm muscles, so today we will not focus on the anatomy in detail. Be sure to read, if you haven’t already, the previous article.

We will start with proper training of the triceps, because it is more important than the biceps in terms of size (it has three heads, not two).

(triceps brachii) is a “horseshoe” muscle consisting of three heads intertwined at the elbow into ONE COMMON ligament.

It is thanks to the common attachment (ligament) in the elbow area that during work ALL TRICEPS HEADS are included in the work at the same time!

But despite this, in different exercises, there is a certain emphasis on the load on one of the heads or two heads. That is, it seems that all the heads of the triceps work, but to varying degrees.

• Long head of triceps(internal) – attached to the back of the shoulder blade. Requires maximum abduction of the arm back (ideally, the shoulder joint should also be included in the work, since the long head is involved in its extension).
• Lateral head of triceps + Medial head of triceps- Attached to the humerus. Participate only in EXTENSION OF THE FOREARM. The medial (middle) head of the triceps has a long tendon, so there is a so-called. DEPOT next to the elbow.

Interesting: In mesomorphs and endomorphs, the triceps are often massive and long, while in ectomorphs, on the contrary, they are short, but more PEAK. In the former, muscle mass grows faster, in the latter, the muscles are smaller, but look more aesthetically pleasing.

The next important point concerns the SEQUENCE of including the triceps heads in the work.

The triceps are engaged during the exercise, starting from the MEDIAL (middle) head to the LONG head, depending on the severity of the load and the degree of abduction of the arm back.

I repeat:

• IF THE LOAD IS LIGHT = MOST of the load falls on the MEDIAL HEAD (middle).
• IF THE LOAD HAS INCREASED A LITTLE = The SHORT (lateral, external) head is additionally turned on.
• IF THE LOAD IS LARGE = The LONG HEAD of the triceps is turned on. Plus, the long head comes into play if you move your arm BACK (because it attaches to the back of your shoulder blade)!!!

From this we conclude that the MEDIAL and LATERAL heads work in almost ANY triceps exercises, and we will talk about the features of the LONG HEAD a little lower.

Training the long head of the triceps

The fact is that the long head is attached slightly differently than the lateral and medial heads. The long head is attached to the BLADE, so for its active operation the following is required:

For the long head of the triceps, the best exercise options would be:

1. French overhead presses while standing and sitting (with arms raised up).
2. Various types of extensions (the same presses) with free weights, with the possibility of moving the arm back.

I have long adapted to performing overhead arm extensions while sitting IN A CROSSOVER! I really like this version of the exercise because of the ability to quickly change the working weight, as well as the ability to keep the triceps in constant tension.

Try it, friends.

How to avoid injuring your triceps

In general, most injuries in isolated exercises for any pushing muscle group, be it triceps, pectorals, deltoids or quadriceps, occur due to CHEATING WITH LARGE WEIGHTS!

You CANNOT make sudden movements, jerks, helping other muscle groups, when in the movement ONE JOINT is working to break!

Sooner or later, in this situation, you will 100% get injured.

That is why I always advise performing isolation exercises AFTER BASIC exercises (unless, of course, we are talking about preliminary fatigue).

You are better warmed up, nutrients have reached your joints in the right quantities, and you are ready for isolating “finishing” work.

The most traumatic exercise in this “hit parade” is, of course, FRENCH PRESSES with heavy weights (especially without a warm-up). And in general, any triceps exercises that place stress on one joint are very dangerous!

Conclusion: First, load the triceps well with basic exercises (close-grip presses, overhead presses, parallel bars, etc.), and then move on to isolation exercises, because the triceps will already be tired, and therefore will not be able to work with maximum working weights .

The best triceps exercises

Here are the BEST exercises, in my opinion, for training the triceps (in descending order of effectiveness):

1. Bench press with a narrow grip (you can do it in a Smith machine, even better with your head DOWN, but more on that below).
2. Dips.
3. French barbell press upside down.
4. French barbell press standing (or sitting) from behind the head (can be done with dumbbells).
5. Extensions in a crossover or on a vertical block.

Secret: When performing triceps presses, make the bench at a negative angle, this will isolate the triceps even more (the chest and deltoids will be turned off).

I think that there is enough information about training the triceps, now let's move on to training the biceps, friends.

Biceps(biceps brachii) is a large muscle, clearly visible on the front of the shoulder, consisting of two heads (“bi” = two).

In fact, pumping up your biceps is not that difficult, and it usually readily responds to stress for the following reasons:

• The biceps are very easy to FEEL.. This is practically the only muscle that flexes the arm at the elbow joint, so complicating this movement with additional weights, it is difficult not to feel the biceps and “not to hit the target muscle with the load.”
• Biceps – small muscle group, therefore, it grows in the wake of large muscle groups (there is no person with tiny arms, but with impressive chest and legs).

Like the triceps, both bundles are connected into one tendon and are attached to the elbow joint with it.

There is one interesting point. The tendon is not attached strictly straight, but at a slight angle, so the biceps can supinate (rotate) the hand towards the thumb. It is these movements that we must complicate.

Conclusion: To develop the biceps, it is necessary to FLEX and TURN (supinate) the forearm relative to the elbow.

Like the triceps, the biceps brachii muscle can also shift the emphasis of the load to different heads using some clever techniques.

As a rule, with almost any biceps exercise, the SHORT (inner) head of the biceps works.

Usually, the problem arises precisely with the development of the LONG (outer) head of the biceps.

Why is this happening?

Anatomically, the outer (long) head is attached to the shoulder joint in the upper part, so for its active participation in the exercises it is necessary to PULL YOUR ELBOW BACK!

This way you will mechanically stretch the long head of the biceps and force it to work.

There are several interesting techniques that allow you to put the long head of the biceps to work:

• Move your ELBOW BACK. The further behind the back they are, the better the outer biceps work.
• Use a NARROW GRIP. The narrower the grip, the better the external beam is included in the work.

And vice versa. We brought our elbows forward and took the bar wider - we included the INNER biceps bundle in the work.

The best exercises for developing biceps

There are exercises with dumbbells for biceps, with various barbells and types of power equipment, exercises for biceps on a horizontal bar, etc. But the most effective, in my opinion, are these four exercises:

• Barbell curls (with straight or EZ bar).
• Lifting dumbbells while lying on an incline bench (long head works).
• Pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a narrow reverse grip.
• Lifting dumbbells with supination.

By the way, here is my short video about lifting the barbell for biceps with an EZ bar.

In fact, the variety of different exercises is huge, but for the vast majority these exercises will be enough to develop impressive biceps.

Secret: If your forearms get clogged before your biceps, then do exercises with an EZ bar! This takes the stress off your forearms.

Brachialis. How to pump up, and what is it all about?

Brachialis(brachial muscle) - a muscle that is located UNDER THE BICEPS (like a lining), but directly performs FLEXION (does not participate in the process of turning the hand, because it is attached strictly evenly, and not to the side, like the biceps).

It is the brachialis that allows you to lift heavy weights on your biceps, because... it takes on 65-70% of the load in bending.

The brachialis mechanically PULLS your biceps outward, making your biceps more peaked.

Judge for yourself, if the lining below (brachialis) is larger, then what is located above (biceps) will also stick out more.

The best exercises to develop brachialis

The best and most accessible exercises for brachialis, in my opinion:

• Raising the barbell for biceps with a REVERSE GRIP.
• “Standing hammers” (hammer curls).

Secret: When performing barbell curls with a reverse grip, FIX YOUR ELBOWS IN ONE POSITION! Take a weight that will allow you to perform this exercise WITHOUT PUSHING WEIGHT from the bottom to the top. Remember, TECHNIQUE is above all.

How to pump up your forearms

I will have a separate interesting article about the forearms, but now I will say a couple of main points.

You know, as a rule, if a person asks me about how to pump up his forearms, then his level of fitness leaves much to be desired.

The lower a person’s level of fitness, the more concerned he is with the issue of training small muscle groups.

Friends, understand that if you grow large muscle groups, then your forearms WILL GROW THEMSELVES! The vast majority DO NOT NEED any special exercises for the forearms!

It's like trying to build a skyscraper on the foundation of a cowshed.

When performing ANY EXERCISES on your arms, your forearms ALWAYS work.

If you still want to know how to train your forearms, then here is a set of the most effective exercises:

• Wrist curls with a barbell.
• Reverse grip barbell curls.
• Pronation and supination (turning the hands outward and inward).
• Squeezing the expander.

How to pump up your arms quickly

Now, I propose to move on to the most interesting thing, how to pump up your arms quickly and competently, and in general, how to organize effective arm training, what exercises to use, what techniques, etc.

But first, I will list the main mistakes beginners make when training their hands:

1. The desire to pump up your arms separately from large muscle groups. Almost everyone who starts training thinks that they only need to train their biceps and abs, and everything will be “fire,” but this is a mistake. Training small muscle groups does not contribute to the production of large amounts of anabolic hormones, which are so necessary for high-quality growth, so you can forget about the impressive size of your arms and body with this approach.
2. Undeveloped muscle sense. I have already written about him in many articles. If you don't feel the muscles you are training, then the load will fly by.
3. Too heavy and high volume arm workouts. The arms are a small muscle group and are very easy to overtrain. If you do a bunch of arm exercises with a lot of sets, then this will most likely limit your progress (unless, of course, you are using anabolic steroids). The rule: “take more, throw further...” does not work here.
4. No load progression. The arm muscles follow the same growth rules as other muscles. There is no increase in load - there is no point in increasing the energy-consuming muscles for the body, it’s simple.

Proper layout for training arm muscles

There are simply a huge number of options for arranging arm muscles with other muscles. Each method has its pros and cons.

Here are the most popular split schemes for arm training:

1. Back + Biceps, Chest + Triceps. T.N. “Push-pull” split, one day you train the pulling muscle groups (back and biceps), and the other the pushing ones (chest and triceps). While the pullers are working, the pushers are resting. Not a bad combination, but it has the following disadvantages: you load a large muscle group (back or chest), after which the smaller synergist (biceps or triceps) is already tired and cannot work at full strength.
2. Back + Triceps, Chest + Biceps. I like this option a little more, because by training a large muscle group, we do not affect the “small antagonist”. When training the back, the triceps do not work, just as when training the chest, the biceps do not work. There are disadvantages, but not the same as in the first case, and they relate to the frequency of training. For example, today you train your back and triceps, and tomorrow you decide to go train your chest and biceps. Your biceps are already partially tired today (because you had a back workout), and instead of rest, it gets a workout the next day. Although, despite this, I like this layout method more than the first, as I said.
3. Biceps + Triceps. It seems to be the most logical layout for training arm muscles. Benefits: You set aside a separate day for training your arms, so you focus only on your arms and direct all your strength there. But, with this method of arrangement, as elsewhere, there are disadvantages. A separate day for arm training, in my opinion, is good for an athlete using anabolic steroids, but not for a straight person. Why? Yes, because for a natural, the ANABOLIC SURGE (production) of HORMONES after training is important, and after training a small muscle group it is minimal, and accordingly, growth will most likely be small. For example, I trained 5 times a week all last year, training my arms separately. Do you know what's most amazing? I added almost no volume to my hands!!! Why? Yes, because my arms already work in almost every workout of any muscle group, and I also finished them off with 5-7 exercises of 6-7 approaches once a week. Accordingly, the recovery potential, which is somewhat limited in natural, was not enough for proper recovery.

Super techniques for training arm muscles

There are a huge number of super moves! These include dropsets, forced repetitions, cheating, negative repetitions, etc. BUT! We must remember that the arms are a SMALL muscle group that can be easily killed by heavy loads.

In my opinion, the most optimal option for complicating the load would be to use SUPERSERIES (supersets).

Superset– this is performing two or more exercises in a row on antagonist muscles without rest.

Antagonist muscles- these are muscles that perform opposite functions (like biceps and triceps, or chest and back, or abs and spinal extensors, etc.).

We can perform supersets in two modes:

1. Alternating exercises(several sets of biceps exercises, then several sets of triceps exercises).
2. Alternating approaches in the exercise(set for biceps, then rest for 30-90 seconds, then set for triceps, then rest for 30-90 seconds...).

Why do supersets work well?

For three reasons:

1. More rest between sets. We give the muscle a little more rest after an approach or exercise, because... after this comes work for the antagonist. A resting muscle recovers better due to more time between sets and is able to generate more force.
2. Active recovery. While one of the antagonist muscles is resting, the second is at work. Due to the fact that our blood flows into the working muscle, we thus arrange active recovery for the resting antagonist (the nutrients in the blood contribute to better recovery).
3. Pumping. Blood supply to the muscles is constantly increasing, and this effect has a lot of useful properties, which Arnold Schwarzenegger and other famous athletes always spoke about with great enthusiasm. In addition, pumping promotes the development of slow muscle fibers. Pumping improves tissue capillarization, activates growth factors, gives the muscle a more aesthetic appearance, etc.

What to train first: biceps or triceps?

You can often hear a clear opinion on this matter: if you train the triceps first, then the residual tension in this muscle will not allow the biceps to be properly loaded.

But, we must take into account that in bodybuilding there are no 100% schemes that work equally for all people. Everyone has different genetic capabilities, body structure, attachments, muscle shape, etc.

Usually, yes, you need to start with the biceps, but this is just a theory. If you feel that by training the triceps before the biceps you are putting unfamiliar, additional stress on the muscle, then do exactly as your intuition tells you.

Conclusion: For beginners, it’s better to train the biceps before the triceps; experienced athletes rely on how they feel.

Hand muscle training. Sequence of exercises

Now, specific examples of the sequence of exercises when training arm muscles.

I even have a detailed article on this topic.

To train the triceps, the main basic exercises are:

• Barbell press with a narrow grip (can be done on a Smith machine).
• Dips.

Conditionally basic (isolating) exercises for triceps:

• French bench press.
• French press behind the head of a barbell/dumbbell while standing/sitting.
• Extensions at a vertical block or crossover.

For biceps, the basic exercises will be:

• Standing biceps curl (one of the best biceps exercises).
• Raising the barbell for biceps with a reverse grip (brachialis).
• Hammer curls with dumbbells.

Conditionally basic (isolating) biceps exercises:

• Lifting dumbbells for biceps while sitting or lying down.
• Larry Scott Bench Curls.
• Concentrated lifts.

There are a huge number of options for training programs for arm muscles.

I trained my arms in different ways.

And he stuck them into full-body training, and to individual muscle groups as part of a split, and trained them separately, and trained both the slow muscle fibers of the arms and the fast ones.