The aesthetics of an athletically developed body have been appreciated at all times. Today, the fitness industry is at the peak of its development, physical education and sports are fashionable. Millions of people all over the world are engaged in gyms and lead a healthy lifestyle.
The generally accepted criterion, on the basis of which one can be called a person well physically developed, pumped up, are voluminous arms, and in particular, their outward part is the long head of the biceps. What is the structure of the biceps, what exercises can develop it most effectively, and what injuries of the biceps of the shoulder can be encountered - first things first.
How to gain muscle mass?
Muscle enlargement, giving them relief and volume are the goals that every visitor to the gym pursues. What principles need to be followed in order to achieve what you want efficiently and as soon as possible? The main conditions for increasing muscle mass:
- providing optimal physical activity for target muscle groups;
- high-grade, balanced nutrition (diet);
- providing the body with sufficient time for recovery;
- compliance with the regime of activity and rest.
Following these rules will allow you to quickly and effectively achieve your desired goals. Creating a load sufficient to trigger anabolic processes in the muscles is impossible without proper selection of exercises, and for this you need to understand the basic aspects of the anatomy of the muscle group.
Biceps anatomy
The biceps muscle of the shoulder (“bi” means two) consists of two heads (bundles) - long (external) and short (internal) and connects the scapula and radius (forearm).
For bodybuilding purposes, it is important to remember that a long head has a long tendon, but its muscular part is relatively small. The tendon of the short head is shorter and the contracting part is larger.
Bicep function
The biceps muscle of the shoulder performs the functions of flexion of the arm in the shoulder joint and flexion of the forearm in the elbow joint. Simply put, it bends the arm at the elbow and moves up.
Also supination of the forearm (turns in the direction of the thumb) from the pronation position.
How to build biceps: principles, exercises
When training biceps, you need to understand one important aspect, which can be crucial when building muscle mass of the hands. The fact is that to start anabolic processes in muscle fibers, it is necessary to have a high level of anabolic hormones (primarily testosterone) in the blood at the time of the approach. Among experienced bodybuilding enthusiasts, an old saying is known: if you want big hands, shake your legs.
During basic (multi-joint) exercises for large muscle groups, which include the legs, back and chest, significant doses of endogenous (produced by our endocrine system) testosterone and growth hormone (growth hormone), which are the main anabolic hormones of the body, are released into the bloodstream. If, after such exercises, approaches to small muscle groups are performed (and the biceps of the shoulder is relatively small), this will significantly increase the synthesis of new protein structures in them.
The list of adopted for the most part engaged in gyms includes exercises such as:
- Bending the arms with dumbbells alternately. Two options are practiced: standing and sitting.
- Bending the arms with a barbell while standing. You can use the bar both with a straight neck and with a curved - EZ-neck.
- Arm curls in a block simulator. The movement is similar to the previous two, only pulling the handle from the bottom in the crossover.
- Hammer curls with dumbbells. Hands with dumbbells are parallel to the body.
- Bending the arms on Scott's bench. You can perform both with a barbell and with a dumbbell.
- Concentrated flexion of the arm with a dumbbell. The classic exercise is performed while sitting with the elbow of a working hand resting on the inside of the knee.
- Biceps exercises in a special simulator. The so-called biceps machine, a movement similar to flexing your arms on Scott's bench.
Methods of shifting the load on the external head
Consider two main techniques that allow you to maximize the use of the long biceps head:
- Excretion of the elbows posterior to the vertical axis (behind the back). It can be achieved by slightly tilting the body forward while maintaining the position of the humerus perpendicular to the floor.
- Narrow grip. It is advisable to use a bar with a curved bar, allowing you to bend your hands with a narrow grip, while maintaining a comfortable position of the hands.
Diseases and injuries of the long biceps head
Like any other muscle in the human body, subject to insufficient warm-up, lack of recovery and / or a violation of the technique for performing exercise, biceps can be injured. In addition to mechanical trauma, inflammatory processes can occur in various parts of the muscle, but the tendon of the external biceps head is especially affected.
Briefly consider the main possible ailments.
Tenosynovitis of the tendon of the long head of the biceps - a disease of the upper part of the external head of the muscle occurs as a result of systematic overstrain of the biceps. It occurs more often in athletes who repeatedly perform the same type of movement with raised hands. As a rule, swimmers and tennis players suffer from it, but under adverse conditions, the disease can form in any training person.
Tenosynovitis of the long biceps head is inflammation of the outer part of the synovial tendon. When the inner part of the membrane becomes inflamed, then this disease is called tenosynovitis.
The inflammatory process of the tendon itself is called tendonitis of the long biceps head. As a rule, inflammation initially occurs in the tendon sheath or tendon bag.
The disease develops due to the same reasons as the previous one, and may be its consequence. A striking symptom of the disease is pain in the upper front part of the shoulder girdle.
Tendon tissue regeneration is extremely slow, over time. If you do not take treatment seriously and continue to subject the biceps to a significant load, then recovery is not possible. Gradually degenerative changes lead to a significant thinning of the tendon, which can lead to rupture in its most vulnerable area.
In the midst of power athletes (bodybuilding, powerlifting, weightlifting), rupture of the long biceps head is quite common. Many athletes do not achieve a complete elimination of the inflammatory process in the tendon, especially since they do not wait for its sufficient regeneration.
Due to a sharp movement of the arm with weights, the tendon of the long biceps head ruptures. On the Internet you can find many videos containing such situations, for example, in weightlifting competitions. In this case, surgery is performed.
How to avoid injuries?
In order to avoid the considered troubles, it is necessary to adhere to elementary rules that all experienced athletes know about, and beginners in the gym are told about them in the first lesson. It's about a quality workout and full recovery between workouts.
Any activity in the gym should begin with a warm-up that you never need to spare time for. Initially, the entire body should be warmed up, which is usually achieved by warming up on cardiovascular machines. Then you need to softly rotate all the main joints of the body - to do the joint warm-up. A sure sign of a high-quality workout is the light sweat that has appeared.
Each exercise begins with 1-2 warm-up approaches. This can be a light weight exercise (less than 50% of the one-repeat maximum) or fewer repetitions.
The key to maintaining health is full recovery. The following principles should always be observed:
- high-quality night sleep (at least 8 hours);
- if it is possible to sleep during the day, then one hour of daytime sleep will only benefit;
- it is important to eat fully, consuming enough protein, fats and carbohydrates, as well as drink at least 2 liters of clean drinking water per day;
- avoid stress whenever possible;
- if you feel discomfort in the joints, then you need to start taking chondroprotectors;
- if you feel that the body has not recovered from a previous workout or was an emotionally charged, nervous day, then it’s better to skip and reschedule the workout.
To summarize
The article addressed issues related to the anatomy, functions of the biceps and methods of its hypertrophy. You also familiarized yourself with information about those injuries of the biceps of the shoulder that may occur if elementary rules are not observed during weight training.
It is always necessary to remember that the path of physical development for a person who wants to improve his form should help to improve his health, but not vice versa. It is important to always perform a warm-up, fully recover and go to training only with a positive attitude. With a competent and balanced approach to training, biceps will undoubtedly delight you with its aesthetics.