Weight Training Tips and Articles

Building Bigger Pecs

Building bigger pecs is something that most men who weight train want to do. Thick, powerful looking chest muscles are a must for an optimal muscular physique. Most weight trainers also enjoy doing chest exercises. However, to succeed at building bigger pectorals there are some things you must do.

You must focus on compound chest exercises for building bigger pecs. They’re the exercises that will help you build the most strength and size. This means that bench pressing exercises (flat, incline, and decline) and dips should make up the majority of your chest workouts. Save flyes and cable crossovers for the end of your workouts. You must actually build bigger pecs before you try to add shape to the muscles with isolation chest exercises.

Another great tip for building bigger pecs is to use proper form on your exercises. The bench press is, without a doubt, one of the most abused weight training exercises there are. So many weight trainers will do anything to lift more weight when they bench press. However, constantly cheating will only lead to joint pain or an injury. On the bench press and all other chest exercises you must focus on doing full repetitions with complete control of the weight. You will build chest strength if you perform these exercises the right way. This gain in strength will lead to you building bigger pectorals.

You must train with high intensity to build bigger pecs. If you always stop short of failure your chest won’t be forced to adapt and grow. Try to get as much as you can out of every single set you do. For most chest exercises this means that you’ll need somebody to spot you for safety. Have your spotter assist you for an extra rep when you reach positive failure.

Another key to building bigger pecs is to regularly switch things up. If you always do the same exercises for the same amount of sets and reps your body will get used to it and you’ll hit a plateau. Try a chest weight training routine where you do a workout with high reps and light weights, one with medium reps and medium weights, and one with low reps and heavy weights. Your chest muscles won’t get used to always doing 8 to 12 reps on every set and you’ll build bigger pecs. You should also regularly switch the exercises you do. Switch between decline bench presses and dips every other workout. You can also do dumbbell bench presses on a core ball every now and then.

To succeed at building bigger pecs you also need to avoid overtraining. Doing 20 or 30 sets per chest workout is just too much. You can actually get a great workout from 10 total sets for chest or even less if you work hard enough during each set. You also need to give your chest enough time between workouts to recover and grow. Training the pecs every 5 to 7 days depending on how much you do per workout should be enough.

As long as you follow these rules, you’ll be on your way to building bigger pectoral muscles.

Best Triceps Exercises

When it comes to building bigger arms, the biceps seem to be king. Many weight trainers focus most of their arm building efforts on biceps exercises. However, the triceps actually make up more of the upper arms size. Because of this, you need to do the best triceps exercises for optimal arm size.

The close grip bench is considered one of the best triceps weight training exercises. It will certainly work your triceps muscles hard. However, you will be working the inner pecs when you do close grip benches, and you may feel pain in your wrists if you lower the bar all of the way down to your chest. If you want to avoid these things, you can try another one of the best triceps exercises - reverse grip bench presses. It’s basically a bench press done with an underhand grip on the bar. Once you learn how to do these right, you won’t feel it as much in the chest or the wrists.

Triceps extensions are among the best triceps exercises and can be done many different ways. The most popular form of triceps extensions are called “skull crushers”. These are basically lying triceps extensions. They get their name from the fact that you have to lower the bar to your head. Overhead triceps extensions done with a barbell, dumbbell, or cable are also very popular.

Some of the best triceps exercises involve cables. You’ll see many weight trainers doing triceps pushdowns, usually with a straight bar. Another popular variation is to do them with a rope. Both of these exercises will allow you to contract the triceps muscles hard at the end of a rep. They make great finishers to a triceps workout.

Many of the best triceps exercises can be done one arm at a time. Overhead triceps extensions with a dumbbell in one hand and kickbacks are the most popular. You can also do cable exercises one arm at a time.

Once you start doing the best triceps exercises, you’ll certainly notice an overall increase in the size of the upper arms. Do these exercises with high intensity to coax them into more growth.

Best Biceps Exercises

There isn’t a male weight trainer alive who doesn’t want to build bigger biceps. Big arms will give you a powerful look, especially when wearing a short sleeved shirt. Anyone who wants to build bigger and thicker arms needs to do the best biceps exercises.

All of the best biceps exercises involve curling a weight using the upper arm muscles. You can use a lot of variety in how you perform exercises for the biceps, with the ability to change the angles and grip with which you lift the weight.

The most popular of the best biceps exercises is the basic barbell curl. Most biceps workouts are started off with these. You simply curl a barbell towards your chin to perform it. Once you get to a point where you can’t get any more reps with good form, you can use a little body english to get some extra “cheat” reps.

Another one of the best bicep exercises is the dumbbell curl. Most weight trainers start this exercises with their arms at their sides and the palms facing them while they grip the dumbbells. As you curl the weight, you turn your wrists so that they are in the same position as they would be in with a barbell curl. You can do them while standing or seated on a bench.

Hammer curls are the best biceps exercise for building the brachialis muscle that’s located on the sides of the upper arms between the biceps and triceps. You start out in the same position you would with a normal dumbbell curl, but keep the wrists in the same position as you curl the weight. They sort of look like you’re using a hammer.

Some of the best biceps exercises to finish off your workouts with are preacher curls and cable curls. Preacher curls will give your biceps a nice stretch at the beginning of a rep. This is great for building fuller looking bicep muscles. Cable curls are a great exercise to do some high rep sets or drop sets to end your biceps workouts off with a nice pumped feeling in the arms.