Since childhood, every man is aware of the need to be strong. Young guys, putting on T-shirts in the summer, often tend to pump their biceps ...
The topic of this article is hand weight training. This is a training process that accentuates the increase in the main muscles of the hands: biceps, triceps and forearm muscles. At the same time, when training, you should definitely pay attention to other muscle groups: back, press, legs, shoulders, neck. The human body is a surprisingly harmonious creation. With an uneven study of the main muscle groups at a certain stage, it simply will not allow biceps to grow (for example, if the back muscles are behind in their development).
Proportions of the training process
How to build muscle? This problem, which is successfully solved by modern training, does not accept a technocratic approach: an excess of load gives a negative result - trauma and depletion of muscle fibers. The recovery phase is important. The muscle growth of the hands depends on their development, of course, nonlinearly. Specialists calculated that an increase in arm muscle volume of 1 cm is accompanied by an increase in the athlete’s total body weight by 3 kg. Accordingly, protein nutrition should be provided, and in the training mode, the emphasis on the hands cannot exceed 30% of the total physical activity. And, of course, the effect of training is enhanced by properly selected sports nutrition.
Tool - muscle failure
Training your arms for weight, like any other muscle, involves a cycle of exercises with maximum load. Performing approaches to shells (barbells, dumbbells, exercise machines, expanders) with a weight lifted no more than 8 times, one should achieve a state of muscle failure in the set. Moreover, the effect of muscle failure is maximized if this condition is deliberately delayed by athletes for 15-30 seconds.
Speaking in the language of sports medicine, anaerobic glycolysis process is used to achieve a result - muscle mass growth. In other words, skeletal muscles receive energy during the oxidation of glucose with the breakdown of lactic and vapor-grape acid in conditions of oxygen deficiency. Naturally, weight training of hands is also based on this phenomenon.
What happens in the muscles of the hands during shock training? They receive numerous microtrauma. In this case, fibers are damaged, protein structures are destroyed. In this case, they talk about the stress of high-intensity loads. If then competently build your further training cycle and sports nutrition, then the athlete progresses, thanks to the effect of super-recovery of skeletal muscles.
Load variation
After working with maximum training weight, the muscles need a special, more sparing regimen. Training hands on weight in a subsequent cycle involves reducing the load to 50-60% of the maximum weight. This technique is called by the trainers microperiodization: a week of heavy loads is replaced by a week of lungs.
However, beginning athletes, having achieved their first successes, are inclined to recklessly look down on small weights ... In this regard, we appeal to diligent practitioners with a request to moderate their ardor and abandon the practice of constantly increasing the load. Periodic work with lower weights is needed, which accompanies muscle growth during over-recovery. It contributes to the formation of their new relief. The rollback phase is necessary. It will be logical to increase the load on the next "heavy" cycle. Fanaticism in training is fraught with injuries and stagnation in the results of muscle building.
However, the foregoing is not yet the complete answer to the question of how to build big arms. You should change your views on the training itself to build muscle.
Bodybuilding Technique Feature
Barbells, dumbbells, exercise machines ... Powerlifters and weightlifters train with all this. However, their priority goals are different. For a powerlifter, it’s not muscle mass, but a one-time increase in maximum weights is important. Bodybuilders are making progress in the training process by increasing the working weights of sports equipment. Thus, they maximize the training load.
And the bodybuilder has much more ways to pump up big hands. After all, these athletes use not one, but three types of their strength capabilities for muscle growth. The strengths practiced by weightlifters from muscle contraction during weight lifting (compression of muscle fibers) are not at all that big. They make up only 60% of the effort with a controlled lowering of the weight (negative phase of movement) and 75% of the effort while keeping the weight at the highest point.
Accordingly, the bodybuilder training program is more effective for the growth of biceps and triceps.
Hand training program
Hands swing hard. Every millimeter of volume requires forced effort. In this article we want to pay attention to how to correctly resolve this issue by formulating principles, warning about possible mistakes and prompting exercises and their intensity.
Most training hands give priority to biceps. It's just that he immediately catches the eye. However, they do not take into account that the main mass of the muscles of the arm, namely two-thirds, is triceps. These muscles are often called antagonists. The first of them works on bending the arm, the second - on extension. Moreover, if you pay attention to only one of them, then the increase in the second is inhibited by the body itself. Therefore, large biceps without massive triceps are simply unattainable. With such a methodological error, it will turn out to be embossed, but subtle. Note that for the harmonious development of the hand, athletes also pump the muscles of the forearm.
Recall that the hand training program is not an independent exercise program, but only a component of the athlete’s general training program. However, for accentuated muscle building of the hands, it is recommended to include exercises for them twice in the weekly training cycle: once with a large training weight, and the second with light weight.
Biceps
To prevent possible injuries from the load of unheated ligaments and muscle fibers, a preliminary warm-up is recommended. For the muscles of the hands, these are energetic warming circular, and then - stretching movements. In this article we will present to your attention three basic sets of exercises: for biceps, triceps and forearm. They are performed with maximum training load. Note to the trainees: in a general workout, shock exercises on the mass of arms can be combined with moderate loads of the back muscles (abdominals) and vice versa.
The table “Basic complex for biceps”, located below, will help the trainers.
Lifting biceps while standing is considered one of the classic exercises that immediately form the top, middle and bottom of the biceps.
When it is performed, the body (torso) is held straight, the feet are placed shoulder width apart. The grip of the bar is being executed from below. The elbows are on the sides of the torso. The bar drops to the level of the hips. The gaze is fixed directly and in front of you. Taking a breath, the athlete bends his arms at the elbows, while the bar is at chest level. It is important that the elbows in this movement remained in their original position, i.e. did not move. Simultaneously with the lifting of the bar exhale. Then the bar gradually lowers to the level of the hips. It is important, when performing the exercise, to maintain a straight position of the body.
Lifting to the biceps with supination is done with stacked dumbbells, it is also performed from a standing position with the position of the legs shoulder-width apart. Dumbbells rise alternately. The rhythm of breathing is similar to that mentioned in the previous exercise. The term "supination" means the rotation of the hand with a dumbbell at the highest point towards the thumb. This is a natural movement, since the specific fastening of the human biceps by the tendons forces it to do this.
Biceps mass exercises are complemented by a bicep pull on Scott's bench. It is universal: it can be performed both with a barbell and with dumbbells. Its feature is the fixation of the position of the hands on the bench, due to which the bent accent occurs precisely in the elbow joint. Due to the concentration of the load on the elbow, the fundamental condition is the non-maximum weight of the load, and it does not rise to the end, that is, the draft on the Scott bench is always performed in partial amplitude. In value, this exercise is indispensable for the load on the biceps in the reverse phase of movement - stretching.
Also, arm training in the hall regarding the development of biceps involves craving for biceps in a block simulator (on a high block). Starting position - standing, similar to that described in the first exercise. Bending the arms at the elbows, at the end point of the trajectory of the block, you should fix it at the highest point - until a stable burning sensation in the muscles occurs.
However, the question "How to build muscle?" regarding biceps is not yet fully disclosed. The fact is that for athletes of low height, the base complex is enough to fully form the entire biceps. If the biceps is long, the bodybuilder needs an additional set of exercises (see the table below “Training the peak biceps”):
The main exercise in this complex is, as you can see, the EZ-bar pull for biceps, which is performed on Scott's bench. Its advantage is an isolated effect on lengthening the bottom and raising the peak of the biceps.
Triceps
However, an effective exercise program for weight gain should also include exercises for other major muscles of the arm: triceps and forearms. Triceps - a muscle that occupies most of the upper half of the arm, you need to work out no less consistently than biceps. The voluminous horseshoe-shaped embossed triceps gives the bodybuilder's hand a complete and proportional look. The maximum result in his training will be provided by carefully selected by weight, number of repetitions, isolation exercises, indicated in the table, which describes the main set of exercises for triceps.
Note: the French bench press is quite traumatic. The point load on the elbow joints determines a weight reduction of up to 50-60% of the maximum training. The elbows must be stationary so that the load falls on the triceps, and not on other muscles. The athlete lies on the bench. It is optimal if the bar, originally located behind his head, is served by an assistant. The grip on the neck should not be wide. The distance between the hands in the grip is preferably kept within 20-30 cm. Warning: hands wide apart in the French press increase the likelihood of injury. In addition, pumping up the muscles of the hands with this exercise will be more effective when using an EZ-bar than a bar with a regular bar. The load is distributed in isolation to all three bundles of triceps muscle fibers.
The French bench press suggests that the athlete sits on a bench with a vertical back. The legs rest firmly on the floor, the back is straight. In the initial position, the bar neck is located above the head. Then the athlete slowly lowers the barbell behind his head. This movement stops at a subjectively determined point at which the tension of the triceps is noticeable. Possible cheating and bandaging elbows. The French bench press also loads the muscles of the back and abdominals.
Pumping up the muscles of the hands during training triceps pumping is considered more effective than using the classic French bench press. Why? In the French press, the elbows have a more significant load. Therefore, even with a projectile weight of 40-60 kg (depending on the physical condition of the athlete), pain may occur.
Exercises for pumping hands have different efficiencies. The block simulator allows the athlete to work in isolation to develop triceps with a weight of 100 kg or more. Moreover, trained athletes perform extension of the arms at the upper block into triceps with a weight of 140-150 kg. In this case, the exercise is not isolated. In parallel, muscles of the back and abdominal muscles are trained.
Forearm muscles
The harmoniously developed hands of the athlete suggest a sufficient development of the muscles of the forearms (shoulder-beam). They are traditionally associated with the strength of an athlete. The developed muscles provide a reliable grip of sports equipment. Accordingly, they provide safety when the athlete performs various exercises. If the forearms are the "weak link" in the development of the athlete, then not only the individual program for training hands on weight is at risk. Strong forearms require the development of other muscle groups. Say, for the development of back muscles, basic exercises are important - traction in the inclination of the bar, taken with a wide grip, as well as pulling up on the bar with a wide grip on the head. Recommended for the development of this muscle group is a set of exercises, presented in the following table: "A set of exercises for the muscles of the forearms."
When pulling the bar for biceps with a reverse grip, the position of the hand is with the palm of your hand. This exercise is insulating. It is recommended for athletes who already have results in the development of biceps and triceps.
Starting position - the trunk is straight, and the legs are shoulder-width apart. Hands with an inhale bend at the elbows. The bar is fixed at the top point. On exhalation, the projectile returns to its original position.
The basic exercise for the development of the brachioradialis muscles is the hammer. It is performed from a standing position by alternately lifting the typeset dumbbells, with the palms of the hands constantly turned toward the body. When performing the "hammer", the body should not sway.
Hand movements should be smooth, without jerking, performed exactly in the power key.
The bending of the hands in the grip of the bar is performed by the trainee in each approach to failure. Position - sitting on a bench. The bar is taken in the hands with a narrow grip of the hands - palms facing you. The brushes are maximally unbent, then bent. Only the wrists work. In this way a powerful grip is trained.
Hand pumping at home
It is no secret that with the proper motivation, a novice athlete can increase the mass of his hands independently. For this, all-physical training exercises are enough for him, assuming the trainee's own weight as a load. Here the principle applies: simple - this is not always bad. A significant breakthrough in the accumulation of muscle mass can provide the simplest exercise. We will answer the question of how to pump up your hands with push-ups from the floor. Depending on the physical preparation, you can choose one of the ways - with the palms, fists, fingers, palm ribs resting on the floor, the backs of the hands. The following table discloses a push-up technique for exercising on the floor.
Good exercises for the muscles of the hands are considered pull-ups on the bar (horizontal bar). When they are performed, it is also possible to combine according to the type of grip: direct, reverse, narrow, medium, wide. To achieve the maximum effect, it is not recommended to swing, pull up with a jerk. There is another “useful” exercise. Accentuates triceps (extensor muscles) pull-ups on the uneven bars.
However, for a good build of muscle in the arms, one should not get carried away by the number of push-ups on the horizontal bar and bars in each set. It is recommended that you simply achieve the following number of repetitions in the working approaches: 4 sets of 10 repetitions. Further, to increase the mass of the hands, the trainees, with pull-ups, hang additional weight on the body without increasing the number of repetitions in the set.
Conclusion
Hand mass gain is a creative process. Starting to work out according to the developed training plans with a weekly cycle, we will ensure consistent muscle progress. However, this process will have an efficiency phase of two to three years. In the future, the results are objectively inhibited. Does the latter mean that the resources of the body are exhausted? Not at all. The reason is human physiology. The body just stopped recovering. Inter-workout is not enough for him.
To achieve further development, the training cycle should be increased from one to one and a half weeks. Paradoxically, more rare training shows in this case the best result in mass building. Then you will enter a new period of hand growth in 2-3 years. Next - again, an increase in the phase of inter-workout relaxation. However, increasing it is not recommended for more than 72 hours. However, the creative change in various training programs for 9-12 years of intensive training will turn a novice athlete into a truly advanced athlete.