Target The Brachialis Muscle For Thicker Arms

May 10, 2008 on 2:12 am | In Weight Training Exercises, Biceps, Arms, Triceps, Build Muscle | No Comments

  If you’re trying to build bigger arms through weight training you obviously need to do biceps and triceps workouts. However, there is a small muscle called the brachialis that lies between the bis and tris that you also need to train for optimal arm muscle size. Targeting the brachialis with a few sets during your biceps training will help give your arms a thicker look.

  While most biceps exercises will hit the brachialis indirectly, there are some exercises that you can do that will target it more specifically. Hammer curls are the best exercise for building the brachialis. To do them you take a dumbbell in each hand with the palms facing you and your thumbs forward like you were going to do normal dumbbell curls, but instead of rotating your wrists on the way up you keep your hands in a fixed position as you do the reps. At the end of a repitition your hands should be in a position like if you were using a hammer. Some gyms have curls bars with grips that allow you to do hammer curls with both arms at the same time. Do some sets of hammer curls during your biceps workout to target the brachialis.

  Another exercise that will hit the brachialis is the reverse grip barbell curl. You basically do a normal barbell curl but with an overhand grip rather than an underhand one. You won’t be able to use near as much weight while doing reverse curls as you would for normal ones. This exercise will also hit the back of the forearms.

  Make sure to do some exercises targeting the brachialis as part of your weight training routine and you will gain a thicker look in your upper arms.

Weight Training For Bigger Calves

May 7, 2008 on 4:54 am | In Weight Training Routines, Weight Training Exercises, Legs, Calves, Build Muscle | No Comments

  One of the toughest muscle groups to build through weight training are the calves. How big your calves are depends a lot on genetics as you’ve no doubt seen people who never exercise with huge calves and people who exercise constantly with small ones. Take an elite athlete like Evander Holyfield whose calves weren’t more than 13 or 14 inches around when he was in his prime and that should tell you how much of a role genetics plays in how big your calves are. Despite this you can certainly increase the size of your lower leg muscles with intense calf workouts.

  The calves are a very fast recovering muscle group (you use them constantly while walking or running) so you can train them more often than other muscles. This means that while you may do your calf training routine on your leg day, you may also want to train them during another workout as well. Depending how your weight training routine is split up you can do some calf exercises every other day or once every 3 days.

  Another key to building bigger calf muscles is to do high reps on your calf exercises while using as much weight as possible. Since you are always using your calves you need to train them with as much intensity as possible to get an effect. When you start a calf exercise do 15-20 reps with good, full reps where you stretch them at the bottom of a rep and get as high on your toes as possible to finish a rep. Once you get to a point where you can no longer do any more full reps do as many “bouncing” reps as you can stand before finishing your set.

  To gain calf muscle size you need to do both standing and seated calf raises. The standing calf raises will build the gastrocnemius muscle, while seated calf raises will build the soleus muscle. If you want you can throw in some sets of calf raises on the leg press machine. If you focus on training both of major muscles of the lower legs during your calf workouts you’ll get more of muscle size you’ll be on your way to building bigger calves.

Building More Shoulder Width

May 2, 2008 on 5:42 am | In Proper Lifting Form, Weight Training Exercises, Shoulders, Build Muscle | No Comments

  Building wider shoulders is very important to anybody who’s into weight training or bodybuilding. Added shoulder width will help create a Herculean physique to give your body a look of strength and power. It will also give the illusion of a smaller waist, even if you don’t decrease the size of your midsection. Because of this you should focus on building more shoulder width during your deltoid workouts.

  The shoulders are made up of 3 separate muscle attachments, or heads. These are the front, side, and rear heads of the deltoids. To build wider shoulders you need to build the side deltoid head. Most overhead press exercises target the front deltoids more than the side delts. If you use dumbbells to do your overhead presses you’ll involve your side deltoids more because you can lower the weights to the sides of your head. To really isolate the side deltoid heads you need to do side lateral raises. To do them you simply stand, or sit, with a dumbbell in each hand with the palms facing you and raise the weights away from your body in an arcing motion until you arms are parellel to the floor. It sound easy enough, but there are a few things you can do to make them more effective. One is that you should keep the front of your hands tilted downward a bit like if you were pouring from a pitcher. ou should also keep a slight bend in the elbows. ou can do side lateral raises with dumbbells, cables, or machines.

  To really add some intensity to your shoulder workouts you should try some supersets of side lateral raises followed immediately by dumbbell presses. This pre exhaust technique will give you that pump that you need for more muscle growth.

  Since you may get enough work for your front delts from chest exercises you’ll probably want do more sets for your side delts during your workouts. Give it a little time and you’ll build that shoulder width.

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