ARMED AND DANGEROUS
by David Gilks
A beautifully shaped arm is often see the hallmark of a beautiful physique, the only trouble is that training this muscle group is not as easy as it seems. In fact, almost 85% who presently train with weights in an effort to redefine their body shape are not successful. A successful body-altering program must consist of sound dietary practices; aerobic conditioning and a well-designed strength training program, and each of these components have their own challenges. Weight training is one of the most understood and most poorly taught component of fitness, so the purpose of the article is to give you a better understanding of how to make best use of your time in the gym.
Building a better Bicep
Since the introduction of weight training in popular culture, the bicep has adorned the cover of thousands of fitness magazines. Though one of the smaller muscles on the body, it receives an unusual amount of attention. So how does one shape a bicep? Well if you're going to spend time working on them, you may as well to do it right. Lets look at the top two bicep blasting moves.
1. Barbell Curl
- Take a shoulder width stance - keep knees bent - shoulders are retracted and lower belly tight. Do not grip hard with your fingers rather push the bar as deep into your palm as possible and maintain a moderate grip. Gently flex the bicep before you move the weight. This will ensure that the bicep takes most of the stress, not the forearm. If you flex the target muscle before you move the weight, you have a greater chance of success.
2. Dumbbell Curl
- Adopt the same postural set-up as the barbell curl. This also includes the gripping posture. The reason for palm gripping is that if your fingers apply too much pressure on the dumbbell or barbell, the forearm will become too active and reduce the stress on the bicep. Start with your arms at your side and palms facing inward towards the body. Start with one arm and begin by gently flexing the bicep of the target arm. As soon as your forearm reaches 90 degrees the palm must be facing upward and the dumbbell completely level with the floor. If the dumbbell is rotated inward the forearm will be doing most of the work, not your bicep. As you reach the top of the exercise gently rotate the inside of your hand outward to give your bicep an extra little squeeze (don't squeeze the dumbbell)
Every client I have every worked with always state that their forearm is the most active during a bicep curl until we adjusted their grip to that of a palm grip rather than a finger grip. Just remember that in every exercise, your body reacts to what is feels first, which is generally at your hand or at your ankle. So the trick is to flex the target muscle before you really get into the exercise, which will change the "tone" or shape of a muscle, So if you have a body part you want to change, spend some time practicing flexing the muscle or muscles in question if front of mirror, but maybe privately, you might draw some weird stares from family members.
