September 23, 2009 in Biceps & Triceps by James Dawson Martin

Biceps & Triceps

So… let’s say you are like me. You visit the gym 5 times a week, you workout every muscle group from your shoulders to your calves. You workout your arms once a week and you never put them before any other muscle group.

But, having said this, you walk into a bar, meet some buddies and hang out. You aren’t in the gym anymore.. You are in a bar or out with friends wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans..
What do you think is the first thing about your body/physique that will get mentioned?
‘How big are those arms’, ‘flex your biceps’, etc.

Regardless of working out your whole body, people are always going to want to know how to get a big chest, arms, abs, etc. Why? Because those are the ’show and tell’ muscles…and probably because arms have always been a genetic standing point for myself.

Anyways, enough of that.

Here it is:

Working out the arms:

What we are working out (the muscles of the arms):

Biceps: The bicep is made up of two parts (known as heads) – the short head and the long head. The short is the inner part, the long is the outter part. All my exercises will take into account each part of the biceps and tricep muscle strands.

Triceps: The tricep is the largest part of the arm. It is made up of three heads or strands of muscle tissue and takes up around three fifths of your upper arm – It is bigger than the bicep and should therefore be a large focus in your goal to get toned, defined, or even larger arms. Many people think the bicep is the only muscle of the arm.

How we work them:
Biceps are usually worked in a curling method. Either curling a dumbbell or barbell from our waists and up to just below are chins. Chin ups with a pullup bar are technically also another curling method exercise for biceps.
Triceps are usually worked in a pressing method.
However, all exercises that work both parts will be mentioned below.
Why we work them:

This one is easy. We work them in the gym because lifting weights breaks down and shocks our muscle tissue. I could go on about myosin/actin filaments and the creatine phosphate system, etc. but the aim here is wanting to know how we get big arms…. So, once we go home, rest and eat (protein for muscle rebuilding, carbohydrates for energy reserves) our muscles repair and rebuild stronger and bigger over the course of the year.

Sample Arm Routine:

**Do the bicep exercise, all sets and reps and then move onto the tricep exercise. Every other week do the first tricep exercise before the first bicep exercise, and follow it that way**

Bicep exercise:
Barbell curls 3 sets of 8-10 reps
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/BBCurl.html

Tricep exercise:
Closegrip bench press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/BBCloseGripBenchPress.html

Bicep exercise:
Seated dumbbell curls 2 sets of 8-12 reps
http://www.shapefit.com/biceps-exercises-seated-dumbbell-curls.html

Tricep exercise:
Overhead two arm or one arm tricep extensions 2 sets of 8-12 reps
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/alive/img/mar06/motionG031906.gif
http://www.totalfitnesssolutions.com/overhead1.jpg

Bicep exercise:
Cable curls or bent over concentration curls 3 sets of 10-12 reps **alternate between these two exercises every other week**
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/CBCurl.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Brachialis/DBConcentrationCurl.html

Tricep exercise:
Pushdowns (either with a straight bar or a rope) 3 sets of 10-14 reps
http://www.shapefit.com/triceps-exercises-triceps-pushdowns-with-rope-attachment.html (don’t lean too far forward or you will work your chest more than your triceps) keep a little straighter.
http://www.shapefit.com/triceps-exercises-triceps-pushdowns.html

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I personally find it best and most manageable to train both biceps and triceps together, although you can effectively train triceps with chest (they are both pressing exercise body parts and both work the same muscle groups on larger or smaller scales) and biceps with back (for the same reasons).

I prefer to work biceps with triceps because I can flow through the exercises better. The pump is also greater.

Most importantly:

Use correct form. Do not swing the weight about, lift in a controlled way and do the same for lowering the weight. You don’t have to do this really slowly and strictly, but do not swing enough so that your back is arching and your shoulders are doing more of the exercise than your arms! Just enough so that you are working the arms and using enough weight to make them grow.
Having said this, throw in a few ‘cheating sets’ (more weight, less form) to shock the triceps and biceps into additional growth.

After that, stretch out, go home, eat and rest.. And watch your arms shape up & grow.