Coaching hands is not only for men, but also for women. After all, a beautiful and athletic body should be harmoniously developed from all sides. Since the arms consist of several muscle groups, the training program should include several sets of exercises for the hands for a thorough study of each area.
Hands: anatomy and biomechanics
If you divide your arms along the elbow joint, then the muscles will be two large groups: the muscles of the shoulder (upper part) and the forearm (lower part from the hands to the elbow). In turn, the shoulder is divided into biceps, triceps and the brachial muscle itself, but the forearm is a single plexus of muscle fibers. It is these muscles that form the contour of the arm, and also form its relief. Therefore, it is especially important that the arm exercises are diverse and involve all anatomical groups in the work. Otherwise, some muscle groups may lag, and this in turn will affect the effectiveness of other exercises, because the hands act as stabilizers in pumping the back, chest and neck.
Common mistakes in hand training: reviews of athletes
What is the statistics talking about? What difficulties do athletes face most when training their hands? If you analyze the reviews of the most common programs for pumping hands, you can sketch out a list of the most popular problems for athletes:
- Muscles are not felt when doing the exercise. The first and perhaps the most common reason for incorrect training. If the exercise is not suitable for you, you need to either work on the technique or change it.
- After heavy basic exercises, there is no power left for other muscle groups. To solve this problem, it is necessary to radically change the approach to training and evenly distribute the load during the week.
- Even with constant work on biceps (triceps), the muscle does not grow in volume. So, the muscles have reached their physiological limit, or lagging muscle groups interfere with productive growth.
All small muscle groups respond fairly quickly to physical exertion and almost immediately respond with muscle growth or drawing relief. However, the result will be noticeable only if everything is done correctly. Often, people have a fundamentally wrong idea about the physiology and biomechanics of the hands, which leads to the most common mistakes:
- Wrong hand exercise priorities. Most people swing biceps, especially men. They expect an instant increase in arm volume by working on this part of the shoulder. But in vain! After all, biceps occupies only 30% of the total mass, but its antagonist - triceps - makes up as much as 60% of the shoulder. This means that it is necessary to change priorities and devote most of the time to classes to larger muscles.
- Too dynamic training. This error is inherent in both ladies and overweight men. These categories of people believe that the effectiveness of exercises for losing weight is a low weight dumbbell and the maximum number of approaches and repetitions. So they try to burn fat locally in problem areas. But it’s time to understand already - point fat does not go away. You can only start the processes of fat burning in the body through training, as well as achieve a beautiful relief, building up a little muscle mass. Strength exercises are the only way to put your body in order;
- Incorrect weight. Many athletes stubbornly pursue a quick result, not taking into account their physiological capabilities. The arm muscles are not so large in size, and therefore can not withstand workouts with great weight. Even if you can work with muscles in such extreme loads, then tendons and ligaments may not be ready for such a situation. The progression of the balance should be slow and smooth.
Change of training philosophy
For hand exercises to bring tangible benefits, it is necessary to follow the unspoken rules of strength training:
- In the training program, it is worth distributing the exercises so that small muscle groups swing after large ones. This will allow you to regulate weight gain, and will also contribute to the harmonious development of muscles.
- Follow the technique clearly and concentrate on each movement. Quality is more important than quantity. It is better to do 10 correct and technically perfect repetitions than 20, but absolutely ineffective.
- Take your time and do not neglect the pauses. The smaller the muscle, the more difficult it is to establish a “connection” with it. Despite the fact that the hands respond well to the training, it is important to feel them during each exercise. To do this, do the repetitions slowly, at the maximum concentration level. And of course, do not forget about pauses during moments of peak physical activity.
Triceps exercises
Triceps is the same muscle that should be pumped not only to men, but also to women. After all, the treacherously hanging back of the shoulder is one of the most problematic areas. Any kind of triceps training is a great exercise for your skin. Muscles will become bloodshot and increase in volume, which means that the skin will tighten a little and will no longer spoil your appearance. Here are some good exercises for the triceps:
- Narrow grip in Smith's car. Since the simulator takes on all the work of the stabilizing muscles, the load is removed from the forearm and deltas and completely goes into the triceps. Exercise can be significantly improved - if you do not close your hands, but perform a press on open palms.
- French bench press. This is an excellent exercise for losing weight, followed by a set of muscle mass. A little trick: if you lower the bar not to the forehead, but far behind your head, you can significantly increase the amplitude of movement, and accordingly the stretching of the muscles.
- Back push-ups with weights and without. A great option for triceps training at home. Arnold Schwarzenegger was very fond of this exercise. To relieve tension from other muscles, you need to slightly tilt the body a little back, hanging with the whole body over the bench.
Biceps exercises
Biceps is responsible for the relief of the inside of the arm. But its volume and the correct form are just a matter of genetics. If you have good initial data, you can pump up the biceps using the following exercises for the arm muscles:
- Standing barbell lift. If you use a zigzag neck, then the effectiveness of the exercise increases. It is best to perform this exercise on outstretched arms and leaning forward slightly, the knees can be slightly bent. This initial position will remove the load from all stabilizers and redirect it to the biceps .;
- Climbing on Scott's Bench. Exercise is performed both with a barbell and with dumbbells. In this case, you can pump your hands at the same time or each separately. In order to maximize the load, you need to change the angle of the bench by 80-90 degrees, for this you can put a step platform or several pancakes under the simulator.
- Lifting dumbbells lying on an incline bench. This exercise works great for stretching muscles along the entire length. Since only in this type of training the maximum amplitude of movement is possible. There should be no dead spots and cheating, work in maximum tension and concentration on technology.
Brachialis leveling
Going through all kinds of exercises for the muscles of the hands, athletes forget about one small, but very important muscle - brachialis. This muscle occupies only 7-10% of the arm’s volume, but is located directly under the biceps. And if you develop it strongly enough, it will “push” the biceps muscle out, as it were, which means it will positively affect the volume of the arms. Top Brachialis Exercises:
- Lifting dumbbells with a parallel grip. You can also use a special bar for this exercise. It is very important to keep the shells strictly opposite each other, and you can also turn off the stabilizers if you train on Scott's bench.
- Raise the bottom block. It is best to use a rope handle, so we can reuse the parallel grip, which is at least 70% of the success of the exercise. Brachialis is a small but very responsive muscle. It responds well to both static and dynamic loads.
Training forearm
The main mistake of beginners is to neglect small muscle groups. When doing hand exercises in the gym, people often forget about pumping their forearms. This is the wrong approach to training, if this part of the arm is not developed, then you can also forget about the big biceps. However, it is very difficult to specifically target these muscles. Indeed, purely physiologically, they cannot work separately, but only participate in exercises as stabilizers. This part of the hand is especially actively involved in the work in two cases:
- In exercises for the hands.
- In exercises using reverse grip.
Also, the forearms work well when pumping brachialis, which means you can kill two birds with one stone.
Amplitude, supination and pronation: reviews of trainees
What do all these scary words mean? And what do they have to do with arm training? The most that neither is direct! Let's figure it out:
- Supination - a turn of the hand inside when performing exercises for the biceps, brachialis and forearm. This technique involves 30% more muscle fibers than simple flexion of the arms.
- Pronation - turning the hand outward when performing triceps exercises. The function of this trick is similar to supination.
- Amplitude is a very important aspect in pumping hands. The larger it is, the stronger the muscle fibers can be stretched, which means that the stronger and faster the mass gain will go.
All this is a theory, but what in practice? Are these tricks and tricks really helping people quickly reach their desired goal? Let's see what the reviews say:
- Supination and pronation allow you to feel previously not involved in the work of muscle fibers. This changes the feeling of training. Many athletes noted that the pain in the muscles the next day was stronger, but the results were more impressive.
- Often experienced athletes begin to notice that muscles respond worse to training. Later it turns out that the reason for this is insufficient stretching of the fibers. By changing some exercises from the training program, you can significantly lengthen the trajectory of the hands. This allows you to re-feel the muscles and increase the effectiveness of training. As a result, the results were not long in coming.
Hormonal training approach
How to increase the effectiveness of training and make the arm muscles grow faster? Testosterone can help men in this matter. It is this hormone that is responsible for the growth of strength indicators and mass. Testosterone is produced during intense physical exertion, especially during the performance of multi-joint basic exercises for the whole body. It is with them that it is worth starting a training session, and then moving on to exercises for biceps and triceps. It is necessary to switch from large muscles to smaller ones. So, for example, you can make a chain:
- Basic exercises (bench press, squats, traction).
- Triceps bleeding.
- Work on biceps and forearms.
- Hand and tendon training.
- Exercises for the fingers.
The last point is especially important, because strong fingers strengthen the grip, and this will positively affect the effectiveness of all exercises.
Method 6-12-25
This method of training hands is more suitable for girls. After all, you can perform exercises for losing weight and at home, the main thing is the correct training program. So, the essence of method 6-12-25 is as follows:
- Each muscle group swings with a triset, without rest between sets. Exercises are performed one after another.
- The first exercise is done for only 6 reps, the second is already 12, the final is 25, respectively.
- The first exercise is performed in the maximum possible amplitude, the second - inside the amplitude, and the third - on the principle of pumping.
This method helps to perfectly work out several muscle groups at once, without having to separate a separate training day for each part of the arm. After all, the girls do not need this, their goal is to only tighten the muscles a bit, and not to build up excess volume.