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Entries in Triceps (32)

Wednesday
Apr082015

How to Build and Define Your Arms

For illustrations on How to Build and Define Your Arms, make sure to watch the video located at the bottom of the page.

Before I go out and make all kinds of promises, there is one thing that needs to be understood. Muscle growth is determined on a few factors and one very important factor is Genetics! Genetics will determine how quick it will grow, how large a muscle will grow, and which muscles on your body will respond to training better than others.

That's right, when we workout and even if we train everything equally, some muscles will grow faster than others and some will outright grow larger than others. So if you see a person with really well built arms compared to the rest of their body, it may not be because all they do is train arms all day long. They may simply have the right type of genetics for building well developed arms.

That's the beauty of body building, you are a work in progress that requires constant reworking to achieve the best results for you. And sadly even with the best training program and diligence, your arms may never be what you inspire them to be. And that goes for every body part, my personal challenge is building wide shoulders as my frame is not wide, on the other hand I have good thickness through my chest! Remember, base your expectations on what is realistic for your body type, not on other peoples builds because you are built differently and believe me they have their own areas of muscle development to deal with.

So now that we all understand what to expect, how do you go about building those well developed arms? There are three main muscles to consider when training arms, the Biceps, the Triceps, and the Forearms. The Bicep is the round ball shaped muscle on the front of your arm between your elbow and front shoulder. Many people think that large Biceps equals large arms! The reality is that the Triceps, located on the back of the arm between the elbow and rear shoulder is actual a naturally larger muscle than the Bicep and contributes to about two thirds of your upper arm. So don't forget to put the time in and get your Triceps up to par.

It's pretty obvious where the Forearm muscles are located but for those that are at a loss, the Forearm is located between your elbow and wrist. To be honest, unless you are planning on getting super huge, often enough you don't really need to work your Forearms all that much since they are brought into use every time you grab and hold a weight, and perform a pull or press. But again if you have genetically small Forearms then you may want to train them additionally.

I personally only train my arm muscles once per week because I genetically have decent arm development. I also find that performing many traditional compound movements like bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups and rows hit the Biceps and Triceps pretty well already. Since on back day I do a lot of pulling and work my Biceps along the way, I generally end my workout with a few Bicep exercises to finish them off. Likewise When I have my chest workout day, my Triceps are already fairly exhausted so hitting them at the end with some sets of Triceps exercises gets them fully worked out.

The best way to educate you on what exercises work best for hitting your arms is to show you in a video so again, make sure to watch the below video where I talk about some of the concepts in this article and also show you some of my favorite Arm building exercises like:

Triceps: 

  • Seated Dumbbell Tricep Extension
  • Standing Cable Tricep Extension (With Bar or Rope)
  • V-Dumbbell Narrow Tricep Pushup
  • Narrow Barbell Tricep Extensions (Free Weights or Smith Machine)
  • Standing Tricep Kickbacks
  • Bench Tricep Kickbacks

Biceps: 

  • Barbell Bicep Curls (Free Weights or Smith Machine)
  • Standing Dumbbell Bicep Curls
  • Seated Dumbbell Bicep Curls
  • Standing Bicep Curls with Cable System
  • Dumbbell Bicep Curls Using Bench For Isolation

Forearms:

  • Wrist Forearm Curls Palm Down
  • Wrist Forearm Curls Palm Up

Tuesday
Feb242015

Full Week of Workout Videos - Friday Chest and Triceps Accessory Home

1:16 minutes - 669 Calories - Average Heart Rate 119 - Max Heart Rate 166.
Location: Home Gym

Warmup & Mobility:
  • Rotator cuff work and Stretching
Strength:
  • Decline standing cable flies x3 sets (Chest)
  • Incline seated cable flies x3 sets (Chest)
  • Flat seated cable flies x3 sets (Chest)
  • Various position pushups x3 sets max reps each (Chest & Triceps)
  • Tricep cable extensions using curl bar x4 sets (Triceps)
  • Tricep cable extensions using rope x4 sets (Triceps)
  • Crunches and leg raises (Abs)
Saturday
Jan112014

Home Workout - Chest, Triceps and Abs with Polar Flow Summary

Follow me along in this video where I do an at home workout focussing on Chest, Triceps and Abs. I use a combination of exercises that incorporate free weights, smith machine, pulleys, my Total Gym and body weight.

As I do with all my workouts now-a-days, I track my heart rate using my Polar Loop paired to a Polar H7 (with smart Bluetooth) heart rate monitor so I can track my calories burned during my workouts. I show you a graph of this workout at the end of the video so you can see my total workout time, peek heart rate, average heart rate and calories burned for the workout.

I also talk a bit about a gaol I have which is to potentially compete in a mens over 40 physique fitness competition at the end of this year, I will have to see about this but without goals you are only limiting yourself!

 

Monday
Sep302013

Paul Garay Custom Workout Program - Day 3 Arms & Legs

This is the last of the Custom Workout Program day videos for my very good friend Paul Garay, todays YouTube Workout Video shows you Day 3 where we go through some Arm and Leg Exercises Paul will perform using his Total Gym and body weight. Paul will also be incorporating Cardio using his Precor Elliptical, or some Skipping or Burpees. Paul will work towards being able to complete this entire workout without breaks but may at first need to take some rests so that he is able to do complete sets. I will be checking back with Paul and we may make some adjustments along the way.

Here is an example of a complete Shoulder and Legs workout that Paul can scale to meet his available time and fitness level.

  • Total Gym Seated Arm Curls (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Total Gym Triceps Extensions with back to board (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Air Squats (1 set of 20+ reps)
  • OPTIONAL - High intensity Elliptical, Skipping or Burpees. (1 minut) 
  • Total Gym Seated Arm Curls (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Total Gym Triceps Extensions with back to board (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Air Squats (1 set of 20+ reps)
  • OPTIONAL - High intensity Elliptical, Skipping or Burpees. (1 minut)
  • Total Gym Seated Arm Curls (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Total Gym Triceps Extensions with back to board (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Air Squats (1 set of 20+ reps)
  • OPTIONAL - High intensity Elliptical, Skipping or Burpees. (1 minut)
  • Total Gym Lying Down Arm Curls (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Total Gym Triceps Dips with back to board (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Air Squats (1 set of 20+ reps)
  • OPTIONAL - High intensity Elliptical, Skipping or Burpees. (1 minut)
  • Total Gym Lying Down Arm Curls (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Total Gym Triceps Dips with back to board (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Air Squats (1 set of 20+ reps)
  • OPTIONAL - High intensity Elliptical, Skipping or Burpees. (1 minut)
  • Total Gym Lying Down Arm Curls (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Total Gym Triceps Dips with back to board (1 set of 10-20 reps)
  • Air Squats (1 set of 20+ reps)
  • OPTIONAL - High intensity Elliptical, Skipping or Burpees. (1 minut)

Paul can add more sets to this workout as his fitness level increases. I also showed him some Ab exercises he can do after each workout to build his Abs.

This is a full 18 separate sets that should take Paul around 30 minutes to complete and will give Paul a complete muscle building and cardio workout targeted for Arms and Legs. Paul can scale it by doing more or less sets and also adjusting the level of his Total Gym for more or less resistance and adding in either a medicine ball or free weight to his leg exercises.

Watch my YouTube Video for this Custom Workout Program Geared Towards Arms & Legs:

Monday
Sep302013

Workout Journal - Push Press - 195 Pounds for 1 Rep

So far I have not posted a Personal Best for Push Press, push press is basically a military or shoulder press combined with a bit of push from the legs (slight bend of the knee and then quick push) this helps get the momentum started but you still have to use a lot of shoulder and triceps to carry the weight all the way up to a lock out position at the top. Keep in mind this is not a Push Jerk or Push Snatch where you lock out your arms and then use your legs to move the weight into a full standing locked out position.

Today in my CrossFit Class we focussed on Push Press as our main strengthening area, I was so close to getting 205 but got stuck about midway, it felt like it was going to keep moving but I just didn't have it today :( Maybe I should have tried 200 pounds even but I guess I got a bit greedy? I did manage to make it up to 195 pounds which is a great weight for me to be at right now, I will attempt 205 next time we do Push Press singles :)

Video samples taken from (www.crossfit.com)