Subject: Re: preacher curls and pain Date: 7 Jun 91 11:24:15 GMT All too vividly I know what you're talking about. My pain really hits when I'm putting the barbell back on the stand. I've not had the same problems using dumbells on the preacher, however. Do you use a straight barbell or an E-Z curl bar? I use an E-Z curl... I couldn't imagine the pain with a straight one. Anyway, what I use to stop the pain is to do wrist curls before any bicep workout. When I get my forearms so pumped that I can barely make a fist I start with the bicep workout. This seems to work fine. Also, I never use a straight barbell in ANY bicep workout, I like the E-Z bar better because it allows me to either use a very close grip or a standard one with good results either way. I'm not saying this is the ONLY way to cope with this, just MY way. Subject: Re: Short Biceps Date: 18 Jun 91 01:06:44 GMT > I have the problem of short biceps. When I flex my arms, I have > good peaks on the biceps but a large gap between my forearm > and the muscle. Are there any exercises to lengthen the muscle > or ant other way to make up for this shortcoming ? ********* Start doing reverse (overhand grip) curls. *********** Over the last 6 years, I've asked your question to nearly a dozen different trainers, and here's what I was told... The shape you described comes from working your bicep at an angle where the cells in the middle get hit harder than those at the end. You can't really change the length of your muscle - but you can build up the ends more so that not just the middle looks pumped. The angle and position of your arm when you work it dictates the part of the muscle that gets worked hardest. There are two natural underhand grips on a curl bar. Using the narrow grip (closer to the middle of the bar) for curls really bombs the middle part of the muscle, creating that short-bicep look. The first technique for hitting the end of the bicep is to shift to the wider grip on the bar. The second technique is to switch to an overhand grip and do reverse curls. My own experience is that both work - but reverse curls will produce better results. Yeah, reverse curls do suck. But didn't you just KNOW there would be some reason to have to do them? :^) -Mike Subject: Re: How to workout for "Titanic" forearms.. Date: 9 Jul 91 06:27:55 GMT In article <2771@winnie.fit.edu>, Amir Saqi writes: > I am 5'8" and 168 pounds. I have been working out for 1-1/2 years. > I got my Bi's to grow upto 15inches but forearms are still way behind. > Right now forearms are on top priority for me. I am doing all sorts of > exercises for the forearms ( ie. reverse curls, hammer curls....). So > if you no something that would just do the job for me, please post or > email me... The forearms, like the calves, are a stubborn muscle group, but they'll respond to strenuous exercise (eventually). My personal suggestions (my right forearm measures 14&3/8" - no steroids): Dumbbell wrist curls Forearm on the thigh, wrist on the knee, palm up. Curl up, then down. You may need to use your other hand to steady your elbow. Reverse dumbbell wrist curls Forearm on the thigh, wrist on the knee, palm down. Curl up, then down. Start out by using a weight that allows you to do about 20 repetitions. For the first month don't increase the weight, just allow some time for the ligaments and tendons to strengthen, and to get used to the exercise. Keep trying to increase the number of repetitions. At the end of the month, increase the weight enough to bring your repetitions back down to 20, and keep doing this from workout to workout. When you feel that the ligaments and tendons are strong enough, you should use a weight that brings your repetitions down to about 8. You should eventually be able to handle some fairly hefty weight (I've wrist curled 63 for 21 repetitions, and 80 for a few). At some point you should switch back to higher repetitions, etc. I'd suggest working the forearms at the end of each workout, as many sets as you feel comfortable doing (2-5, I'd suggest 3-4) of each of the above. You may want to superset them, also. Optional: When you think you're advanced enough, you may want to experiment by varying the number of sets, repetitions, and trying different exercises (e.g. barbell wrist curls, hammer curls) to see how your body responds. You might try using a gripper also, although they work the hands more than the forearms. Health for Life sells a Forearm Hammer that supposedly works the part of the forearm responsible for rotation. I don't know much about it, but for $14.95 I'm going to check it out. They also sell a book (_Power Forearms_). I have a Marcy Forearm Wedge that I picked up on sale for $30. I try to use it once in the morning and once in the evening (to get the blood flowing into the forearms); at the moment I can do 100+ repetitions at maximum resistance. I believe that doing this brought my forearms up from ~14" to where they are now (in about 8 weeks). -- Chris Long, 272 Hamilton St. Apt. 1, New Brunswick NJ 08901 (908) 846-5569 Subject: Re: Tricep problems.... Help! Date: 28 Jan 92 21:42:04 GMT In article <009554FE.BF29C5E0@Msu.oscs.montana.edu> uphrsrf@Msu.oscs.montana.edu writes: > I've been weight training consistently for about six months now, and >the only body parts to show no significant improvement in strength or size >are the triceps. I have been trying to consentrate on basic exercises, and the >only tri-working things I do are the bench press and tricep press-downs. I do >about three sets of each, at about 8-9 reps a set. > > Any advice? What am I doing wrong? > >uphrsrf@trex.oscs.montana.edu Not sure you're doing anything *wrong*, but let me tell you what works for me: Tricep Pressdown: 15x60 10x70 10x80 8x90 8x90 8x90 Lying Tricep Extension: 15x75, 10x95, 10x95 Dumbell Tricep Kickback: (each side) 15x20, 15x20 15x20 I do this once a week on my heavy chest day. One other day a week I do: French Dumbell Press (basically two arms doing tricep extension w/ 1 bell) 15x60, 10x70, 10x80 Tricep Pressdown: 25x50, 20x60, 20x60 Now this is quite a bit of work for such a small part, but it doesn't take too long to do and I am happy with my results. YMMV. Mark Subject: Re: Forearm workout needed Date: 4 May 92 20:59:01 GMT Sender: cormierj@ere.umontreal.ca In article <26750009@hpsemc.cup.hp.com> jat@hpsemc.cup.hp.com (Joe Talmadge) writes: >Could you post your forearm workout? > >I had hoped that lat-pulldowns and other exercises would indirectly >work my forearms enough so that I wouldn't need to work them directly. >However, my forearms are definitely beginning to look out of >proportion (too small) for my arms. My forearm strength is >outstanding, but I need bulk! Please give me ideas for exercises, and >describe as much as possible (I'm a fairly casual lifter; if you tell [...] After a good warmup, I do 3 to 5 heavy sets of Barbell Reverse Curls (i.e. Biceps Curls but with the palms toward the floor). This exercice puts a lot of stress on the large brachioradialis muscle on the upper/ outer part of the forearm. I push my sets to failure (6 to 9 reps max.) and sometimes to negative failure (using the cheating technique or the help of my training partner). A good variation of Barbell Reverse Curls is the Zottman Curl which puts more stress on the lower part of teh biceps. Start by curling the dumbbell in your left hand upward with your palm facing up. At the top of the movement, rotate your hand faces downward as you lower the dumbbell. As you lower the dumbbell in your left hand, curl the one in your right hand upward with your palm facing up. Continue alternately curling the dumbbels. Confused? Than stick to Reverse Curls. As for the wrists, I stick to reverse wrist curls on a preacher bench (2-5 sets until I drop the barbell). I don't like to screw up with fancy stuff like ulnar flexions or alternated wrist curls. JMC From: lmiller@heineken.tuc.nrao.edu (Luther Miller) Subject: Triceps Exercises Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 19:39:27 GMT I am looking for exercises specifically geared towards working my outer triceps (those'd be the muscles facing outwards with my hands at my sides and my palms facing forward). I don't know the names of the different parts to my triceps.. Anyway, I have been doing "nosebreakers" (AKA skullcrushers--great names for this exercise...), dips, and close grip bench press for my TRIs and it seems that my inner tris (higher up in the back of my arm) are growing at a great pace, but the outer tris aren't responding much. A friend of mine told me to try an exercise using a cable pulley: Grip the handle in one hand, palm facing up (this makes things harder) and with your upper arm straight (vertical) extend your forearm downward. This is similar to push downs except that you do one arm at a time and your grip is upside down. I hope this explains what I mean... Anyway, I tried this yesterday (these are _tough_) and they felt like they might be working my outer tris more. Any other ideas? thanks, Luther Subject: Re: Triceps Exercises Date: 24 Jul 92 16:48:28 GMT In article <1992Jul24.104544.17698@specialix.co.uk>, kamal@specialix.co.uk (Kamal Mortoza) writes: > lmiller@heineken.tuc.nrao.edu (Luther Miller) writes: > > >A friend of mine told me to try an exercise using a cable pulley: Grip the > >handle in one hand, palm facing up (this makes things harder) and with your > >upper arm straight (vertical) extend your forearm downward. This is similar > >to push downs except that you do one arm at a time and your grip is I'd say experiment a little. Try different bars (straight, curved, bent downward (like an "A" without), rope only, etc.), different positions. I've been cable pulls for triceps facing away from the machine, with the bar over my head, and pulling until my arms are straight in front of me. Varying the final angle (the angle the cable makes with your outstretched arms at the completion of the rep) will enable you to "tune" the exercise. I find that if the final angle is closer to a right angle (maximum force exerted on the arms), I get a very good burn. Of course, that will vary with what each person has done before -- I get a burn now from that because it's a slightly new exercise for me. As soon as I get less, I'll increase the weight or change the motion. Lately I've been using a straight bar in standard, straight up, facing the machine form, elbows locked at sides. However, I keep my hands in almost a "hammer" position (forearms positioned as if shaking hands with someone). I turn my hands just slightly in at the bottom (as if beginning to turn them palm up) and just use my thumbs hooked on the bar. Maybe it's just me, but I find it brings my maximum poundage down about 40% and gives quite a burn. Again, tho', it's a slightly new motion for me, and that might go away. Using a "forefinger over thumb" grip (like that used when deadlifting) helps. I suppose I could get the same effect with a full hand grip if I could find a bar that was bent so as to be closer at the bottom, but I haven't seen such a beast. And using a rope that way didn't seem as effective for some reason. So experiment. I think the angle (arm to cable, at various points in the movement) is the most significant effect, personally. GMS From: DEHP@calvin.edu (Phil de Haan) Newsgroups: misc.fitness Subject: Re: Short muscles :-( Date: 29 Sep 92 17:55:30 GMT In article <1992Sep29.130631.4762@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> ss8f@csissun5.ee.Virginia.EDU () writes: >Hi, > I am cursed with short biceps and triceps :-( I am working on the > biceps by doing lots of preacher curls and am seeing some > improvement. However, my tris are woefully small near the elbow > region. I used to do a lot of dips but that didn't seem to help. Right > now I am doing dumbell extensions and do feel the exercise in that > area. Any suggestions regarding the type and intensity of exercise > must follow? Is there some exercise that will work wonders(!!)? > Any suggestions will be appreciated. > Thanks, > Sanjay Srinivasan No single exercise that I know of "will work wonders." But for tris there are a few old standbys that will lead to good growth. 1) kickbacks. Grab a reasonably light dumbell in your right hand. Put your left knee and left hand on a low bench. Make your back parallel to the floor and hold your right arm alongside your body with your elbow up and hand down so that your arm forms a 45-degree angle at your elbow. Your thumb should be on the inside of your body and pointing down. Raise your hand backwards in an arc so that it moves from a hanging position to in line with your upper arm. Keep your elbow high and steady. 2) "french curls" or "skull crushers." Lie back down on a low bench. Have someone hand you an EZ-curl bar or a straight bar. Grab the bar with hands about a foot apart, palms facing up. With your elbows steady lower the bar to your skull by allowing your hands to "fall" down to your head. Push the bar back up while moving just your lower arms, not your elbows or upper arms. 3) push downs. On a Universal machine, grab a straight bar and attach it to the cable. Stand with elbows close to your sides and hands about a foot apart on the bar. Start with hands about at chest level and then push your hands down to your waist in an arc while keeping elbows steady. 4) close-grip bench press. The name says it all. 5) bench dips. Put a high bench and a low bench about three or so feet apart. Put your feet up on the high bench and sit the edge of your butt on the low bench. Place your hands beside your body on the edge of the low bench about shoulder width apart, palms down. Scoot your butt off the low bench a little so your weight is on your arms. Now lower yourself almost to the ground and push back up. Again keep your elbows in and steady. You may want to throw a couple of 45s on the bottom of the low bench to keep it steady. Hope this helps! Phil de Haan (DoD #0578) Every day And, finally, on to the 2 exercises that I believe are responsible for getting my arms growing again: 1. Cable Curls This one always gets classified as a "shaping" movement, and not really a mass movement. I don't know. Maybe its not a mass movement. Maybe its more like a concentration curl and is just putting a peak on my arms, but at any rate: my bis *are* getting peaked! And I guess I'm sort of translating that to more mass. I don't care right now. As long as the tape measure is being stretched out more and more, then I'm satisfied. I do this as my third and final bicep movement (my first 2 being standing barbell curls or standing alternate dumbbell curls, and then dumbbell or ez-curl bar preacher curls). I stand about 3-4 feet away from the base of a low cable pulley (on the cable crossover machine). I stand with my legs slightly bent and with my elbows in *FRONT* of my body - not at the sides, as when I do barbell curls. I'll pyramid up for 3-4 sets, doing as many strict reps as possible, and then using my elbows, by moving them along with the biceps, to get a few more. As a matter of fact, at the end of every strict rep, I'll raise my elbows a little and *SQUEEZE* like a bastard before returning to the start position. The bar actually comes up to my forehead. *This* (the intense squeezing) I believe is the key to this movement. Let me say right now: I have *never* experienced bicep contractions like this before! Concentration curls (seated or standing) never felt right to me - never got the contraction. [Side note: I hate barbell curls as well, but I'll still do them once in a while instead of dumbbell curls (which feel much better to me).] But these things, esp. when done with the elbows out in front, really fry my bis - and they feel sore for more than a day after the workout, which never used to happen before. 2. Overhead Cable Extensions This is the movement that has been responsible for my new triceps growth. The triceps makes up about 2/3 of your upper arm, and the long inner head makes up most of the tricep. Pushdowns work mostly the smaller outer head. Exercises like dumbbell extensions and ez-curl bar extensions work predominantly the larger inner head. Anyway, "nose crushers" (lying ez-curl bar extensions) never felt right to me, and seated dumbbell extensions (the ones you always see Haney doing) weren't much better. Pullover-and-presses did nothing for me. As a matter of fact, the only kind of extension movement that I ever felt somewhat was doing the ez-curl bar extensions from a seated position - but I still didn't think they were working all that great for me. But *this* exercise - overhead cable extensions - phew! My inner head had been woken up and has been receiving a serious beating - and its loving it! I do it as the 2nd of 3 movements now. The first one is close-grip bench presses, a good mass movement, with the added bonus of working the inner chest. My 3rd movement is pushdowns, done in a variety of ways. I also throw tricep dips and bench dips in there every once in a while. I should say that I really do love dips (both kinds), and that these exercises also produce an incredible pump and stretch, but they sometimes aggravate my shoulders when I go to low on them. Anyway - set up the cable so that its level with your head. I like doing this exercise with the leather straps attached, though you can use the rope as well. And I've even done them with a straight bar, but I didn't like it as much. I stand with my back to the cable and reach back over my head and grab the straps. I then bend way forward and extend the upper part of my arms straight out. The upper arms are perfectly parallel to the floor, and I like to bend over so far that my head is either even with my upper arms or actually lower than them. I perform each rep by first letting my lower arms be pulled back as far as possible to get a great stretch, and then extend them forward until my entire arms are parallel to the floor. I try to do as many reps as possible with my hands not touching (difficult). When I can no longer do this, I'll let my hands (actually, the knuckles, which can hurt) touch and keep cranking out reps - still getting the full stretch at the start position on each rep - until I can no longer move my arms. As with cable curls, I simply haven't experienced a triceps pump like this before! Perhaps I have, but not on as consistent a basis as this exercise provides. Give 'em a try, they're awesome! From: cheers@maths.tcd.ie (David Naughton) Subject: Re: Bicep curl question Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1993 13:12:29 GMT moody@brahms.udel.edu (John David Moody) writes: >I only work my biceps 2 times a week, once indirectly (when I work back), and >directly. I only do 9 total sets of biceps (3 different exercises for >3 sets each), but make each set VERY INTENSE. I usually work in the 6 to >15 rep range, with moderate weights (about 100-110 lbs for straight bar >curls). >My question is: Do you hold the bar with a "death grip" when you do bicep >curls, and if so, so you find that it works your forearms more than your >biceps? Any help on this would be cool. I really don't want my triceps >to overshadow my biceps much more than they already are. the important thing about bicep training is to work the three different angles of it. Angles??? i hear you say. well there are three different angles to biceps and they are: (1)mid-range (2)stretch (3)contraction. (1)mid-range is worked by preacher,barbell and alternate dumbell curls. (2)stretch is worked in incline DB curls (3)contraction is worked by concentration curls. bicep program: sets reps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ alternate dumbell curls 2 8-12 incline dumbell curls 1-2 8-12 concentration curls 1-2 8-12 incline curls are optional to be replaced by either of the others if you want. barbell curls are done with palms facing up and locked wrists.if you want to work forearms do some wrist curls instead. also, barbell curls with the straight bar are a little excessive as the first exercise without a full warm-up as it puts a lot of strain on the elbows. From: ivan@seas.gwu.edu (Ivan Antich) Subject: BICEPS - What worked for me - Date: 7 Apr 93 20:34:58 GMT As a result of my recent post several people have asked me to outline my biceps workout. Instead of replying personally to everyone, I've decided to post again. Please excuse this article if you're not interested, I realize that in the eyes of many having big arms may not have much to do with fitness. Also pardon my English if it's not perfect, English is not my first language. First, let me say that if you see someone in the gym with really big arms, his routine is probably good but not necessarily better than some other guy's with smaller arms and less genetic potential. When I was training seriously (about 4 times more than I do now) my arms were very impressive too many and I was often asked for advise in the gym. I would always say that having big arms doesn't make my advise necessarily better than any other knowledgeable guy's advise but I can show you what I do. However, besides the fact that I probably have good genes for arm development I surely must have been doing something right. Here's what I was doing: 1) 5 sets, 6-8 reps of heavy seated dumbbell "concentration" curls. I know that many will dissagree on this and say that concentration curls are not good for size but when I say heavy, I mean heavy. After a couple of years of training I could use a 70 lbs weight on this exercise. Your elbow should be resting on your inner thigh and it's okay to cheat a bit by leaning back slightly (slightly, I said). For those of you who are wondering, this exercise is done one arm at the time. Beginners will most likely start with an embarrassingly light weight but you'll be surprised how much you can lift after a few months of training and once you get the hang of the move. Don't rush things but when you're able to go heavy, THAT'S WHEN THE REAL PROGRESS IN SIZE KICKS IN!!! Therefore it is important that beginners first concentrate on gaining strength rather than size. This has been a fantastic biceps exercise for me, I always do it first and I attribute most of my results to it. 2) 5 sets, 6-8 reps of dumbbell curls. Here again you're going to use heavy weights so I recommend that you sit on a bench. I like to bring both arms up simultaneously. I also lean forward very slightly at the end of the movement and pronate my hands to fully contract the biceps. I finish the move with my hands high up (at about ear level) and the weights actually gently come into contact with each other behind my neck. THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO DO! And only twice a week or you'll stunt your progress. This should work for you too. GOOD LUCK! Unless openly flamed and insulted, I may follow up with a post on what I think is good for triceps. -=Ivan=- From: f2ehg786@umiami.ir.miami.edu Subject: Re: Hard Muscles Date: 9 Apr 93 19:06:07 EDT In article <93097.164838ZOEBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, writes: > I have been working out with weights for at least a year now. Doing the basics > (bicep curls, bench press, tricep ext. , deltoids etc.). To date my muscles > are noticably bigger. When flexed, the bicep for example, does not feel hard. > As I said it is bigger, it is not mushy but it is not hard. Is this something > that comes with time, or is there something or other exercizes that I should be > doing. > Thanks. > Dan Schlissel Hi Dan, Muscle "quality," and ill-defined term bodybuilders often use to describe cuts, striations, and hardness definitely improves over time. However, certain exercises do expedite the process, in my opinion. You said you've been doing the basics. You need to add at least one exercise per bodypart that isolates that muscle more than a basic exercise does. With biceps, for example, that might be some variation of the concentration curl. In another thread, Ivan says he's used heavy concentration curls to build mass. I've heard others say this too and have tried it, but have experienced too much pain in my elbows when I pack on weight and cheat. So I do them near the end of my workout, with light weights (in my case, 20-25lb. DBs), bent over with my free hand positioned against the weight rack for balance (standing, not seated). I keep my elbows pointed straight down at the floor and away from my body. Then I concentrate. I curl to the top and supinate the weight so the pinky side of the DB touches my same-side shoulder. I hold the position for about three seconds and flex my bicep as hard as I possibly can. Then I lower the weight (fully extending at the bottom) at start the next rep. Sometimes, when I'm at the top, contracted position, I'll rotate my wrist three or four times to really squeeze the bicep hard and work the outer head. Again, you have to concentrate on feeling the exercise and squeezing the bicep hard. There are concentration/shaping exercises like this for just about every bodypart. The key is in the isometric contraction that you must force when the muscle is fully contracted, and this takes mental concentration. It also tends to burn a lot :-). An altervative/addition to this is simply flexing your muscles and holding the pose for about 30 seconds at a time. Anyone who has prepared for a competition knows that this is one of the greatest "hardeners" available. (While you're at it, try isolating and flexing your lower back. It's kinda like wiggling your ears_takes practice, but it can be done :-).) Hope this long-winded response helps, Bill From: pbray@reed.edu Subject: Re: Biceps == Weak Date: 24 May 93 01:07:27 GMT Rick Eames writes *Hey, * *I've been working out for about 3 years on and off and in all of that time *the one set of muscles that has just refused to get stronger seems to be *the bicep. I have been curling with the same weight for what seems an eternity *and I'm looking for suggestions on how to increase its strength. * *Any help? * *Rick I found the following workout to increase my bicep strength and size immensely. Step 1. Sitting curl. Sit down (straight back) and curl the bar with a moderate weight and narrow grip (since we are probably at different levels I won't suggest a weight) for 8 reps. Immediately after you have done this, do 16 reps (8 each arm) of dumbbell isolated curls (that is, one dumbbell in each hand) of a very light weight (I do, 20 lbs) as fast as you can. Rest. Repeat the whole process for a total of 3 times. Step 2. Have a short break. Standing differential curl. Using the same curling bar from step 1 (you can take a couple of lbs off if you like), stand up and curl the bar with a wide grip to your midpoint (so that your forearms are parallel to the floor). Do this 8 times. Now raise the bar to your neck (or therabouts) and lower it only to your midpoint. Do this 8 times. Now, combine the two and raise the bar all the way to your neck, lowering it to your legs. Repeat this whole process once more. Step 3. Shoot the rack. Set up dumbells on either side of the bench. You should have at least 4 pairs of dumbells. Set them up in descending weight order. I use 50s, 45s, 35s, 25s and 15s (sometimes I'll omit the 50s). Now, sit on the bench, get the heaviest dumbbells and curl them so that each arm curls at least 8. Try and do as many as you can. Once you can do no more go to the next lighter weight and so on. It is really quite amusing when you can barely curl the 15s. I found this workout to be extremely rigorous. The first time I did it I was unable to complete the rest of my program Good luck, Peter From: sbbeedle@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Sue Beedle) Subject: Re: forearm strain Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1993 17:54:12 GMT It could be from curling your wrists ever so slightly when bringing the bar up. I used to do that too, and sometimes when I get tired, I do that because it helped raise the bar. Watch yourself in a mirror and keep your wrists completely straight all the way through the exercise. Sue -- "Relax in the safety of your own delusions" From: glex@nitro.cray.com (Jeff Gleixner) Subject: Re: Forearms - Exercises For? Date: 14 Dec 93 10:29:47 CST In article , toulouse_t@msb.flint.umich.edu (Todd Toulouse) writes: > I'm currently doing wrist curls for my forearms. Are there other exercises > that target this area? Well since no one has posted any decent exercises for ya.. Horizontal wrist curls: Sit about 2' from the end of a flat bench. Place your forearms on the bench so your wrists are extending over the end. Let the weight roll down part of your hand as your wrists bend toward the floor. Roll up the weight and curl your wrists, try to keep your elbows->wrist on the bench throuought the exercise. This can be done with your palms facing the floor or the ceiling. Wrist rolls: Attach about a 2-3' rope to a dowel (usually by drilling a hole). On the end of the rope attach a weight. With your forearms parallel to the floor roll the dowel so the rope winds around it and the weight will do up. When it reaches the top, reverse the direction of the roll so the weight is lowered. Try to keep your forearms parallel to the floor at all times. Vertical wrist curls: Hold a barbell, arms extended, behind your back so the back of hand is against your glutes. Keep the arms straight and 'curl' the weight up by using only your wrists. You can roll the weight down to your fingers to imporve hand/grip strength. Reverse curls: Movement is exactly like regular curls except your hands are facing the body at the beginning of the curl. (pronated) Any exercise where the flexing of the wrists moves a weight, any exercise where your hands rotate, squeeze, grip, or hold a weight will work the forearms. Doing basic things such as pinching 2 ?lb plates together, with the flat side out, and lifting, or lifting a heavy weight and holding it as long as you can will work the forearms. Even Deadlifts, shrugs, or any exercise where your grip is important will work. If you're going to attack the forearms give them a day of their own, or place them at the end of your workout, or work them on leg day. It's very hard to do almost any exercise when your forearms are fatigued. Work 'em till they burn! See ya -- glex@nitro.cray.com === "Difficult tasks are never easy..." From: karl@isgtec.com (Karl Sewlochan) Subject: Re: Biceps: ok, so I've reached a plateau...now what? Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 22:57:59 GMT Tammy Doratt (tammy@VFL.Paramax.COM) wrote: : In article ah200@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Al Brown) writes: : > : > : >Try doing a few sets of "21s". I recently started doing this and boy, did : >my arms feel it the next day! : > : >---Craig : : : OK, I'll bite...what are 21s? : 7 for the top half (so only come down as far as half way), 7 for the bottom half (so only come up as far as half way) and 7 full ... hence 21s. I always wondered however, if any exercise makes such a big difference or is it more just the change, I tend to think the latter. Don't get me wrong as I think that there are definitely better exercises for some things and better ways of doing some exercises. it is just that in general I tend to think that the muscle just needs a wake up call by doing something different. -- Karl Sewlochan ...uunet.ca!isgtec!karl karl@isgtec.com ISG Technologies Inc. 6509 Airport Rd. Mississauga. Ont. Can. L4V 1S7 Subject: Re: Weak Triceps Message-ID: Date: 6 Mar 91 07:56:08 GMT clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes: > > My triceps seem to be unnaturally weak. The most I've ever done in > standing tricep extensions is 3 sets of 8 with about 35-40 pounds. > My lying triceps stretch weight is similarly wimpy (something like > 3 sets of 8 with about 85 pounds). > This may not seem too bad to some, but I can bench over 300, I have > 17" arms, and my biceps are very strong (I occasionally go up to > 70 pounders in the concentration curl). If you can do 70lb concentration curls (in good form) that translates to about 140lb barbell curls for reps whcih means that you SHOULD be able to do at least 160lbs in the lying triceps extension for reps. [Some will disagree with this calculation. Fine. Its only an approximation.] Suggestion: cut down on bicep sets and increase sets (intensity) for triceps. I'm sure you're familiar with exercises for triceps so i wont list any. However one thing that may also help is when doing your bench pressing try occasionaly a narrower grip. This may help to stimulate the triceps. Good luck! Alekos Subject: Re: Weak Triceps Date: 6 Mar 91 12:53:03 GMT In article clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes: >My triceps seem to be unnaturally weak. [...] >This may not seem too bad to some, but I can bench over 300, I have The amount of weight you can handle in any particular movement is the result of many factors, including muscle cross-section, contractile strength per unit cross-section, your skeletal geometry (limb lengths, etc.), and where your muscles attach to your bones. The last two are very important because they determine how efficiently your raw muscle contractile strength gets turned into moving the weight. My guess on your situation would be a "short" tricep attachment to your elbow giving you a disadvantageous leverage. When your tricep contracts, your forearm acts as a third-class lever (elbow joint is the fulcrum) with a big mechanical disadvantage (since the distance from hand to center of elbow joint is many times the distance from center of elbow joint to back of elbow where the tendon wraps around). Since the mechanical disadvantage there is so large, even a small change in elbow geometry can have a large effect on how much weight you can lift. Since your bench-press strength appears out of proportion to your tricep strength, I would guess that you use a relatively wide grip on the bench press. By gripping the bar wide enough to keep your forearms vertical at the bottom of the movement, you can get most of your drive off the bottom from your pecs and deltoids. The triceps will get more loaded as the bar rises, but once the bar is moving you have momentum working for you. Also, the angles are such that the load on your triceps is always indirect, since your upper arm never quite gets vertical. Taking a narrower grip on the bar changes the picture quite a bit, of course. Then your triceps take a much greater load at the bottom, and all the way to lockout. In any compound movement, the lifter subconsciously learns to adjust grip and technique to compensate for any weak links. In an isolation movement, this is not possible, so the weak links are hard to hide. (That is, of course, exactly the point of training on isolation movements in addition to compound movements. However, compound movements are a much truer test of real-world, usable strength, because in the real world, coordination/compensation does count.) For example, consider how much more you can lift in the free-standing barbell row than you can in the "bench row" (i.e., where you lie prone on a high bench, and raise a barbell or dumbells in a rowing movement). In the free-standing row, you can "cheat" in all sorts of ways, assisting the upper back with spinal erectors, glutes, momentum, angle adjustments, etc. In the bench row, everything is out of the picture except for your upper back. Many people find this cuts their lifting power by a factor of two. >What gives? Probably a combination of genetics and training priorities. Many people have one or two anomalously strong or weak lifts. For me, my anomalously strong bodypart is calves. On calves, I can hang with or beat even the monsters in my gym, the guys who are 50--100 pounds heavier than me, and who can triple my (rather embarrassing) squat. -- Dan Mocsny Internet: dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu Subject: Re: Weak Triceps Date: 9 Mar 91 17:17:42 GMT Reply-To: jjones@fscott.UUCP (Jim Jones) In article clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes: > >My triceps seem to be unnaturally weak. The most I've ever done in >standing tricep extensions is 3 sets of 8 with about 35-40 pounds. >My lying triceps stretch weight is similarly wimpy (something like >3 sets of 8 with about 85 pounds). > >This may not seem too bad to some, but I can bench over 300, I have >17" arms, and my biceps are very strong (I occasionally go up to >70 pounders in the concentration curl). Everybody's different. It could be genetics, or that you've favored your biceps in training. I have 17-inch arms, too, but I can't concentration-curl 70 pounds yet. I do pretty well on triceps, though. When you train, do you train biceps before triceps? If so, try switching the order, so that you do the triceps when you're fresher and can put more intensity into it. I found that dips for triceps also help a lot -- stay upright or lean back a little while you dip, instead of leaning forward. It's a real good exercise for gaining strength there, and you can make it as easy or hard on yourself as you want, even without weights. You might also try changing your triceps routine entirely. Try cable pull-downs with a bar or rope, close-grip bench press, and so on. -- ____________________________ Jim Jones, jjones@sco.com