How to shake hands with dumbbells? This question is usually asked by people practicing training at home, and not in the gym. These include both men who want to build muscle, and women who have set themselves the goal of making their hands slim and fit. If you are one of them too, then welcome! For people like you, we have prepared a publication that details how to shake hands with dumbbells at home. Even if you train in the gym, this article will also be interesting to you, because it contains a lot of useful information.
Anatomy
How to shake hands with dumbbells? This is, of course, an important question, but for a general understanding, itβs worth starting with the anatomy of this part of the body. The muscles of the arms can be divided into front and rear groups. In the first group, there are the brachial, coraco-brachial and biceps muscle, and in the second - the triceps and ulnar. In total, there are more than 20 different muscles in the hands, but triceps, biceps, forearms and deltoid muscles are responsible for the volume.
Types of Dumbbell
Before you read the information on how to properly swing your hands with dumbbells, it is worthwhile to learn about the varieties of these shells:
- Dumbbells for fitness. Fairly light shells, which are a hollow tube that is filled with sand or other material. Typically, such dumbbells are used by women in aerobics, Pilates and other types of fitness.
- Fixed dumbbells. Solid shells made of hard and heavy material. These include: concrete dumbbells in a shell made of soft rubber; cast iron dumbbells in a plastic shell; steel dumbbells doused with plastic. The first ones are cheap enough, but due to the bulkiness and large volumes, it will be inconvenient for some people to deal with them. The second most expensive, but very compact and comfortable. Still others are the middle ground between the two previous ones, because they are not as bulky as concrete, and not as expensive as cast iron.
- Collapsible dumbbells. This option is ideal for those people who are interested in building muscle volumes. The athlete will have the opportunity to increase the weight of the shells, which, in turn, will lead to a progression of loads, which is so necessary for all bodybuilders. Before you buy collapsible dumbbells or disks for them, you need to make sure that the diameters of the neck are consistent. The convenience of your grip depends on the diameter, so it is worthwhile to select the neck individually.
Types of dumbbells are already known to you, now let's take a closer look at the most effective exercises for pumping hands with dumbbells. In order to avoid injuries, all of the exercises listed below should be performed very skillfully and slowly.
Alternating biceps curls
When it comes to how to shake hands with dumbbells, for many professional athletes, this exercise comes to mind first. It is executed in this way:
- Stand straight, feet at shoulder level. Pick up the shells, press your elbows firmly against the body.
- Lift the dumbbell to your biceps for a breath. From the point of view of technology, the projectile should be raised to an angle of 45-60 degrees. The shoulders should remain in place during the exercise. Only forearms should participate in the work.
- Having reached the top point, taking a breath, in a controlled and leisurely manner lower the dumbbell to its original position.
- Repeat the same movement with the other hand.
Hammer
Another equally important exercise for working out the muscles of the hands. Technique of execution:
- Stand up straight. Pick up the shells. The bar of the dumbbell and palms should be parallel to the body.
- While exhaling, simultaneously raise both shells without turning your arms to the sides. From the side it should look like you are brandishing two hammers.
- Inhale, slowly lower your hands to their original position. Do not rush to immediately make the next climb. Make sure your muscles are ready for it.
Bending the arms while lying on a bench
A more advanced version of the classic alternate bending of the arms. It is done like this:
- Lie on a bench on your back.
- Take a shell in each palm, hold your hands on the sides, slightly bending at the elbows. The dumbbells should be slightly below the shoulders.
- As you inhale, slowly lift the dumbbell to your biceps. Do not engage the upper part of the body to facilitate the exercise, this will significantly reduce the effectiveness.
- Take your time doing alternate bends of the arms. Before you begin to bend the next hand, be sure to completely lower the other to its original position.
Triceps
How to shake hands with dumbbells? When people ask this question, they usually mean pumping biceps. As you may have already noticed, all the exercises listed above were designed to work out precisely these muscles. But what about triceps? Unfortunately, many novice athletes do not pay enough attention to this muscle, preferring to exercise the biceps. But in vain! The total volume and massiveness of our hands directly depend on the size of the triceps, and therefore this muscle group also needs a good and intensive study.
The video below presents a set of exercises for triceps, designed for those who train at home.
How to shake hands without dumbbells?
We have already figured out the effective exercises for pumping biceps and triceps with dumbbells, now let's talk about arm training without additional equipment. To pump triceps at home, you can use the following two exercises:
- Pushups. Accept the lying position. Align the body, bend your elbows a little. The wider the position of the hands, the more the load will go on the chest, and not on the triceps, so use a narrow grip. Place your feet at the level of your pelvis. On the inhale, go down, on the exhale - return to the starting position.
- Back push ups. To complete this exercise, you will need a chair, stool, bench, or any other horizontal surface that you can sit on. Turn your back on the subject and grip at shoulder level, place your palms on its edge. Taking a breath, go down, bending your elbows to an angle of 90 degrees. As you exhale, return to starting position. Try to keep your back straight and keep your elbows apart.
With biceps training, itβs even simpler: just replace the dumbbells with any improvised items (for example, sand bottles or a backpack with books) and perform the exercises we talked about earlier. An example of training hands without dumbbells can be seen in the video below:
How to shake hands with dumbbells for women?
Many women mistakenly believe that if they train with dumbbells, they will become too muscular and lose their femininity. Immediately it is worth saying that the female body is very different from the male. Women have a completely different hormonal background, and their body perceives power loads differently. Therefore, it is almost impossible for girls to achieve non-feminine and pumped forms. You can, of course, remember about women bodybuilders, but do not forget that they train much more often and harder than the average visitors to the gym, and, in addition, use anabolic steroids.
How to shake hands with women dumbbells? Just like men. This is true: the physiology in these areas is the same for men and women, only endurance, muscle development, joint flexibility and the general level of physical fitness at the beginning of training differ. Weights, of course, should be less than men's. You should start with dumbbells weighing 1-1.5 kg.
An example of training hands with dumbbells for women:
Recommendations
You already know how to shake hands with dumbbells, now we would like to give you some tips to help you with your workouts.
- Train not only your hands. To get a beautiful and sculpted physique, it is not enough to download biceps and triceps alone. To achieve impressive results, it is necessary to train the whole body entirely.
- Do not train your hands too often. Many beginners think that the more often they will pump arm muscles with dumbbells, the faster they will grow. In fact, this approach will not only not give the desired result, but vice versa can greatly harm. Experts say that biceps and triceps need enough time to recover, and therefore they should be trained no more than 1-2 times a week. This applies not only to the hands, but also to other muscle groups in our body.
- Warm up before starting your workout. Before you start working with large weights, you need to properly warm up your joints and tendons. Do not neglect the workout, as it is it that prevents multiple training injuries.
- Eat right. This advice applies not so much to training hands as to playing sports in general. In order for your muscles to recover well after strength training, and the body was full of strength and energy, you need to eat high-quality protein and carbohydrate foods.
- Breathe correctly. Your effectiveness during training depends on proper breathing. Remember: in the positive phase of movement it is always necessary to take a breath, in the negative - exhale.
As you can see, shaking hands with dumbbells at home is completely uncomplicated and very useful. We wish you success in your training!