In these series, we have gone through the best back exercise, best shoulder exercise, and now we move on to something we all want, having well defined arms. These are the top 5 arm exercises and tips to get the most out of every exercises.
Arm muscle consist of both the triceps brachii and the biceps. Triceps consist of three heads, hence the prefix “tri.” These three heads are the long head, lateral head, and the medial head. The biceps has two head, prefix “bi,” which are the short head head and the long head.
Just performing biceps curls will not give you slim, toned arms. It is important to focus on:
- All heads of the muscles to provide a well rounded muscle built
- Full extend the muscle and contraction to get the most out of every exercise
- Flex the opposing muscle to allow the full stimulation on the contracting muscles. In other words, flex the bicep, while doing triceps exercises.
- Squeeze and hold at the top of every exercises, this will provide a great blood flow to the muscles.
Lets start with the best bicep workouts:
1. Dumbbell Bicep Curls: Regular curls, palms facing up, will focus on the long head. Which is the largest head that is normally flexed. So add dumbbell curls, as well as other variations such as cable and barbell curls.
2. Hammer Curls: Curls with the palms facing each other, rather on the cable, barbell, or dumbbell, focuses on the short head of the bicep.
3. Zottman Curls: This exercise focuses on both heads. This is more advance, but great exercise to incorporate. Perform a basis bicep curl to flex the arms and on top switch to a hammer curl while extending the arms.
Now with the with the best tricep exercise:
1. Tricep Kickbacks: This exercise focuses on the lateral head of the triceps. This is the largest head of the three and is the most often overlooked. Other exercises are close-grip bench press and dips.
2. Overhead Extension: There are many variation of overhead extension, like the skull crusher and dumbbell tricep extension, that focuses on the long head. The long head is the opposite side of the horse shoe.
3. Tricep Pushdown: This exercise focuses on all heads and overall a great exercise. It focuses on the medial head, which is the head that stabilizes the elbow joint. Most exercises will work the medial head, as it is impossible to directly work this muscle.