Weight Training Tips and Articles

Target The Brachialis Muscle For Thicker Arms

  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.

Building Bigger Biceps With High Intensity Weight Training

  The vast majority of men who are into weight training want to build bigger biceps. While the biceps aren’t the largest muscle group by any means, they are very easy to show off and many women love them. If you concentrate on intense biceps workouts you can get the arm size you’re looking for.

  One great technique to use for any biceps exercise is to get a few extra “cheat” reps when you’re doing a set of curls after you’ve done as many with good form as possible. Once you get to the point where can’t do another rep with good form bend your back a bit and straighten it to get the weight up. When you have the weight at the top part of a rep lower it as slowly as possible. Doing this allows you to take advantage of the negative part of a repitition when you’re doing sets of biceps exercises. This should give you a great pump in the bis and give you a better chance at more muscle growth in the arms. You can use cheat reps on pretty much any biceps exercise.

  Another great way to add some high intensity weight training into your biceps workout is to do some drop sets. To do drop sets for biceps do a set of curls and when you get to failure drop the weight and do more reps. You can drop the weight a few times if you want to get a great burn in the biceps. Barbell, dumbbell, cable, preacher, or concentration curls will all work well for drop sets. Drop sets are best used as a finisher to a biceps workout.

Try Reverse Grip Bench Presses For The Triceps

  One of the most popular triceps exercises is the close grip bench press. With your hands close together it forces you to use the triceps more than the pecs on the bench press. However, if you bring the bar all the way down to your chest you may eventually feel pain in the insides of your wrists. To combat this you can stop the weight short of the chest or you can try reverse grip bench presses.

  To do reverse grip bench presses for the triceps you simply lay on the bench and grip the bar with an underhand, rather than overhand, grip. To get more focus on the triceps you should grip the bar a bit wider than you do for normal bench presses. Then you do reps just like you would if you were bench pressing, lowering the weight to the chest and lifting it to arms length. You’ll definitely feel it in the triceps when you do this.

  Reverse grip bench presses are an underused exercise. You’ll hardly ever see anybody doing them at the gym. This is probably because they do take some getting used to. Don’t expect to be able to do near as much weight as you do when you’re bench pressing. In fact, you should start very light and get used to doing reverse grip benches during your tricep workouts before you start going heavier. Once you get used to them, you may find that the reverse grip bench presses are a better triceps exercise for you than close grip benches.