What is "Arm-Training?" by James
Palmeri
You’ve heard it in the gym hundreds of times What are you
training today?
I’m doing arms, what about you?
You wonder, or should if you’re not, what exactly does this
mean? Are you training biceps, triceps, forearms, all three?
More often than not, when a guy says he’s doing arms, he means
he’s going to blast his biceps. In actuality, he should be
blasting his biceps and triceps especially due to the fact that
the tricep makes up the largest area of the arm. A
well-developed tricep will turn the average arm into a gun. The
tricep muscle is composed of three parts or heads as you may
have heard them referred to as. They are the medial, lateral and
long heads. It is imperative that each one is trained
consistently and correctly to ensure the best possible growth
and development. Now keep in mind, my intention is not to
downplay the importance of serious bicep training but to stress
the absolute necessity of making your arm workouts complete and
that means taking the tricep just as seriously as the bicep. We
all love the appearance of our bicep muscle. It’s almost
universal when someone asks, Go ahead, make a muscle!, they mean
to do the classic one arm bicep flex pose.
WARMUPS: Warm-up sets
should be an integral part of your workout. You need to get the
blood flowing and the muscles stimulated before you jump right
into your workout. You should do a warm-up set consisting of 15
– 20 reps for each individual bodypart you train that day. So
for our bicep and tricep workout, you will do a warm-up set for
each. Whatever exercise you decide to do first is the one that
will contain the warm-up set.
HEAVY/LIGHT DAYS: An
excellent method to incorporate into your routine is the Heavy
and Light Day. The way this methodology works is simple. Every
time you train a bodypart, you will alternate between Heavy and
Light training. A Heavy Day consists of all sets per workout
containing no more than 6 10 reps. A Light Day consists of all
sets containing no more than 12 15 reps. So Light Day by no
means implies an easier day. The Light Day should be just as
intense as, if not more than, a Heavy Day. So if you are
training Biceps and Triceps in the same workout, you may want to
choose to do one muscle group as your Heavy Day bodypart and the
other for your Light Day bodypart. You will be doing 3 exercises
per bodypart for this Bicep/Tricep workout.
OVERTRAINING: Overtraining
is something that we as serious fitness enthusiasts want to
avoid at all costs, especially with bicep and tricep training.
The reason being that these muscles are probably the easiest to
overtrain considering they are utilized in so many movements for
various muscle groups. Remember, your triceps are utilized
whenever you train chest and shoulders and your biceps are
utilized during back training. Therefore, it is important to
schedule your workouts accordingly. For example, don’t train
biceps the day before or day after your back training. Doing so
can adversely affect either bodypart when it is their time to be
trained. If you were training back today, the earliest you’d
want to train your biceps would be at least 2 ,3 days and
vice-versa. It’s the same thing with chest and triceps. You do
not want to train your triceps the day before your chest
workout. This could really have a negative effect on your chest
workout and also restrict the tricep from initiating the
recovery process. Understanding that the biceps and triceps
assist in so many other movements, you can see how important it
is to give them the rest and recovery they need to ensure
maximum development.
BICEP & TRICEP WORKOUT
TRICEPS: OVERHEAD TRICEP
EXTENSIONS: Hold a dumbbell over your head with a hand over
hand grip underneath one side of the dumbbell. Do not fully
extend your elbows at the top of the movement and try to keep
your elbows as close to your head as possible throughout the
movement. Slowly lower the weight behind your head until you’ve
achieved the maximum stretch of your tricep. Slowly return the
weight back up to the start position. Repeat for the desired
number of reps.
V-GRIP PUSHDOWNS: Attach a
V-Grip to a cable assembly and stand with your back against the
pad. Keep a slight bend in your knees throughout the movement.
Your forearms should be just about parallel to the ground at the
start position with your elbows close to your sides. Keep your
back erect as you gently lower the weight until you’ve reached
the maximum tricep contraction. Gently bring the weight back up
to the start position. Repeat for the desired number of reps
PARALLEL BAR DIPS: Position
yourself on the narrow part of the parallel bars (Some parallel
bars are narrow at one end wider at the other, if yours are not
then pick any spot on the bars). Lean your body forward at the
start position with your elbows as close to your body as
possible. Slowly lower your body until your elbows are just
about above your shoulders. Slowly raise yourself back up to the
start position. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
BICEPS
STANDING STRAIGHT BAR CURLS: Grab the outer grips on the
EZ Curl Bar with a relaxed grip. Make sure your arms are fully
extended at the start with the bar at or a little bit below your
waist. Keeping your grip relaxed throughout the movement, gently
bring the weight back up to the start position as if you were
dragging it up. Make sure you are flexing your bicep at the top.
Repeat for the desired number of reps.
PREACHER CURLS: Grab the
outer grips of an EZ Curl bar and make sure seat position is
such that your shoulders are not draped over the pad on the
preacher bench. You don’t want to involve the shoulders in this
exercise so it’s important to keep them back. With a relaxed
grip, slowly lower the weight as far down as you can without
fully locking out the elbow. Slowly bring the weight back up to
the start making sure you’ve reached full contraction of the
bicep. Make sure you are maintaining control throughout the
positive and negative parts of the movement. Repeat for the
desired number of reps.
DUMBBELL CONCENTRATION CURLS:
Rest the elbow of the arm you intend to start the exercise with
against the inner thigh of the corresponding leg. You can place
the hand of the other arm right behind the elbow for extra
support. Your start position should be with the weight as far
down as possible without fully locking out the elbow. Slowly
drag the weight up until you’ve fully contracted the bicep
muscle. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
SAMPLE WEEKLY ROUTINE:
Monday Chest, Shoulders, Calves, Abs Tuesday off
Wednesday Quads, Abductors, Adductors, Abs Thursday
Cardio, Calves Friday Biceps, Triceps, Abs Saturday
off Sunday Hamstings, Back, Forearms
James Palmeri, Fitness Model and Personal Trainer
