Upper arm development is probably one of the
most sought-after bodybuilding goals.
I have yet to meet an elite pro bodybuilder
pleased with his upper arm development, even though that arm development
exceeds the 20-inch circumference.If you've been frustrated recently with
your lack of progress in upper arm development, follow any one of the seven
tips given here and you are surely going to experience new growth in record
time.
1. Don't train biceps with back
and triceps with chest.
Training biceps after doing your back routine and training your triceps
after a chest workout are antiquated training concepts. For example, when
one does a full back workout, there's plenty of residual fatigue in the
elbow flexors from all the chins, rows and pulldown exercises that drastically
reduce the training poundages in all curling exercises, thus falling short
of optimal loading for the elbow flexors. At this point, you are using
loads that fall short of the optimal training zone for overloading properly
the contractile proteins. I strongly suggest that in order to improve the
strength and size of your upper arms, they should be trained alone as a
training unit. That leads us to point number two.
2. Train using the double station
system.
For every elbow flexion exercise, you should alternate an elbow extension
exercise. Even though you may be thinking I'm just talking about supersetting
biceps and triceps, I beg to differ on a subtlety. With a superset, little
or no rest is taken between the agonist and the antagonist muscles. In
the approach I strongly endorse, I prefer to use longer breaks between
the two stations for the following reasons.
By having the antagonistic pairs contracting alternately (e.g. flexion
followed by extension) as opposed to agonist contractions alone (precontraction
of antagonists), the ability of achieving full motor unit activation (MUA)
in a muscle contraction may be enhanced when immediately preceded by a
contraction of the antagonists. This has the added benefit of allowing
you to double the workload per training unit. It is important to alternate
exercises working agonists muscles with exercises working antagonistic
muscles together, while respecting long rest intervals. For example, after
doing a 3RM set of close grip triceps presses, rest two to three minutes,
perform a heavy set for the antagonist muscle (i.e., 3-4RM set of dumbbell
curls for the biceps), rest another two to three minutes and repeat the
procedure for the required number of sets.
With double station training, you get the added benefit of making sure
both sides of the joints are equally loaded with optimal training loads,
while in classic supersets, endurance levels may at times make the trainee
compromise on utilizing the right amount of weight to overload the contractile
proteins.
This is how supersets should never be done? Au contraire, I think they
are very useful for bodybuilding purposes. The subtlety I'm suggesting
here is to use longer rest intervals between the sets, so that greater
loads can be used.
3. To gain arm strength, pause
between reps.
Too often, trainees fail to make mass gains in their upper arms because
their strength in biceps and triceps exercises has been stagnating for
awhile. But, there is another way out. Research by Canadian exercise physiologists
has shown that for a given submaximal force of contraction, motor unit
activation is greater for repeated (intermittent) than for sustained contractions.
Pausing between reps helps offset the oxygen debt associated with sustained
contractions by various mechanisms, one of which is allowing the removal
of waste products from the muscle cell that block the optimal neural drive.
This type of intra-set rest allows for the recruitment of higher threshold
motor units, which is essential for strength gains. Make sure these pauses
are no more than 15 seconds in length and are taken where muscles can rest,
such as when your arms are outstretched. If you have a high fast-twitch
make-up, I recommend going toward 10-15-second breaks between reps, provided
you do not do more than six reps total per set. If you are leaning more
toward having a slow-twitch fiber make-up, pausing three seconds between
reps should suffice, provided you do not do more than 12 reps total per
set.
4. Don't neglect the forearms.
When a bodybuilder complains of stagnation in mass and strength gains
in the elbow flexors, I often recommend adding some direct grip and forearm
work. When you include direct forearm and grip work, your curling poundages
go up because a few forearm muscles, such as flexor carpi radialis, contribute
to elbow flexion; this leads to furthering biceps and brachialis development.
As you know by now, heavier weights mean greater overload on the muscular
structure, and greater overload on the muscular structure means greater
hypertrophy.
Elite bodybuilders of the sixties, Chuck Sipes and Larry Scott, were
known for handling Herculean weights in curling exercises. They were very
strong proponents of complementary forearm training for upper arm development.
The other added benefit is that the aesthetics of your upper arms will
also be enhanced.
Frequently, doing three sets each of wrist flexors work, wrist extensor
work and grip work, jolts one's progress to new levels. A sample tri-set
could look like this:
A-1 EZ-bar handle low palms up - Wrist Curls 3 x 15-20 reps on a 2010
tempo; rest 45 seconds.
A-2 EZ-bar handle low palms down - Wrist Curls 3 x 15-20 reps on a 2010
tempo; rest 45 seconds.
A-3 Gripping Machine 3 x 10-12 reps on a 2013 tempo; rest 45 seconds.
As you can see from the tempo, you'd isometrically hold the contraction
for three seconds when the hands are closed. For the two types of low pulley
wrist curls, the Tribar company makes a very interesting handle with rotating
sleeve. The shape of the grip makes for a more ergonomic and comfortable
position. Recently, Dorian Yates visited my training site for soft tissue
work and he was quite intrigued with the Tribar handles.
When doing grip work, stay away from choppy reps. When you are lowering
the grip handles, make sure on every rep that the handles are at the very
tip of your fingers so it will feel like you're just about to lose your
grip.
This will insure a greater range of motion, thus greater development.
Once the handles are brought back together, squeeze with all your might.
Keep in mind that one of the fastest ways to improve your forearm size
and gripping strength instantly is to forego the use of lifting straps
when training the upper body.
5. Train your traps.
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By Charles Poliquin