Month: January 2021

Mindful Biceps I - Growth

Mindful Biceps I – Growth

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Mindful Biceps I – Growth – When it comes down to building big thick biceps, it seems that a respectable amount of training literature these days is aiming to instill a taboo mindset with respect to many constructive strategies. “Keep the elbows in place!” “Avoid using other muscles to assist!” “Squeeze hard at the top of the curl…”

What should be obvious throughout this article that these are highly valuable techniques and they have their place when it comes down to maximizing biceps development. https://morrowpacific.com/

Mindful Biceps I - Growth

Nevertheless, I am astonished as to how they have wormed their way into mandatory form practice components, as nothing could be farther from the truth! In fact, if you were to pull up an online video of the greatest bodybuilding champions training their biceps, you would see them breaking virtually every one of the aforemention “rules,” and for very good reason! www.mustangcontracting.com

I’m going to share a few highly constructive growth methods throughout this article. If you have yet to implement them, I am confident that they will take your biceps development to a whole new level. I assume it is already apparent to you that several will go against conventional biceps training practice and are deemed radical by some.

To question them is inevitable given that the matter of sound biceps training is very ambiguous to begin with. In fact, the point of this article is to encourage this since sculpting your biceps to the extreme will entail a very mindful approach!

The first step toward maximizing the growth potential of your biceps is to avoid minimizing the assistance offered by other muscles when curling. Generating maximum force without utilizing any sort of bodily momentum at the bottom of heavy curling movements warps the tendons.

Pretty ironic, given that this style is allegedly safer! What’s worse is that the weight selected to perform a set of super-strict repetitions must favor the initial portion of the range-of-motion (ROM) where the least amount of fiber is activated, and during the weakest type of contraction the concentric.

Ultimately, being too strict reduces overall fiber recruitment since the biceps will not work as hard where they are strongest throughout the ROM, with failure revolving around where they are weakest!

Strict isolation obviously has sound purpose, but the body is meant to work as a unit and maximizing hypertrophy will demand the assistance of other muscles to serve the biceps where the greatest amount of fiber activation will occur, which is roughly at 90-degrees of flexion.

Though difficult to prove, I also believe that a synergy is created by bringing other muscles into play, increasing fiber recruitment during the positive contraction as opposed to isolating their power alone. Ultimately you will break down more fiber, especially throughout the descent since you will be using more weight.

It will take a bit of trial and error to ensure safety, maximize the effect, and internalize this strategy to apply the precise level of assistance. Properly performed, the auxiliary muscles should provide momentum at the beginning of the curling movement and just enough to initiate the lift.

At the top of the movement, you should slowly transition into a strict descent. Examples include assisting with the hips and thighs at the bottom of a barbell or dumbbell curl. And though some will shoot through the roof upon reading this, there is great benefit to rocking backward a bit to create momentum at the beginning of a preacher curl as well! While those who favor robot-reps would call this “cheating,” the reality is that they are the ones who are cheating themselves out of reaching their full potential. As it stands, this is an effective growth strategy that should be given a positive label along the lines of “strategic momentum.”

Are you squeezing a muscle at the top of a curl? You cannot possibly be using enough weight to maximize growth if you can pause and hold it for a peak contraction at the top of a curling movement until you begin to align your lower arms with gravity, basically equating to an isometric contraction

Ideally, you never want to pause anywhere or at any time throughout the set when aiming primarily for hypertrophy, all the while remaining in the “sweet spot,” which generally lies within the range of stopping 10-degrees at both the top and bottom of a curling movement.

We have now come to a valuable mass-building tip that will be worth more than gold to anyone that wants to add inches to their arms! For starters, you should know that curls will only get you so far in your quest to maximize growth and they are analogous to extensions for the triceps.

In fact, I am certain that there isn’t a curl in existence that will build your biceps faster than a sound compound movement and you need to implement one into your routine.

After all, if you include one for virtually every other bodypart, what is the rationale behind not doing the same for the biceps? Because the upper arms are in the ideal position for maximum fiber recruitment, I find the biceps row to be highly effective!

The free-weight version appears almost like a barbell row except that there is far less upper arm movement since you will be pulling with the biceps. Most effectively, it is performed by leaning the upper body forward just enough to optimize the line-of-tension and pulling weight toward the upper abs (Yes, this does mean that you will be moving the elbows backward)!

The tension will be enhanced if you focus on keeping the wrists back to minimize forearm recruitment. Until you are familiar with the movement, I find it wise to begin on a cable apparatus, pulling from the bottom.

Upon mastering form practice, you will experience a mind-blowing pump beyond what any curl is capable of delivering and it will be isolated to the biceps, with not even a hint in the lats or traps!

Exploiting Your Hidden Potential

There is much more to blasting the biceps into new dimensions than by focusing on their development alone. Though they are not considered a part of the biceps muscle group, building the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles can significantly enhance their girth, peak, and overall appearance. Since these muscles support the biceps function, they should conveniently be trained along with them.

Activation of these muscles can be dictated with grip variation, allowing them to take on the brunt of the stress by reducing biceps recruitment. Generally speaking, you will find that flexion movements with a neutral grip will work the brachioradialis and full pronation will better emphasize the brachialis.

However, both are highly active with each grip variation. Along these lines, go ahead and allow your elbows to flare out a bit when performing reverse curls, as this is much more natural.

Try it for one set, after which the increased pump, along with the reduced tension in the wrist and elbow joints, should convince you to utilize this tactic on a permanent basis!

As an added tip that is sure to blast both the brachialis and brachioradialis into submission, consider performing a close-grip pulldown movement using the neutral grip handle.

When performing them, tilt the body slightly back from sitting upright. Using just a bit of momentum at the beginning of the movement, pull hard with the biceps to the chin with a heavy weight. Even after the first set, you will experience the best pump you have ever felt in these two muscles!

Lastly, you can use time-under-tension (TUT), also referred to as rep cadence or tempo , to influence the biceps, brachioradialis and brachialis. Utilizing a slower rep cadence will allow you to recruit more of the brachioradialis and brachialis muscles.

To maximize stimulation of the biceps when implementing the strategies discussed prior, you must perform with an explosive rep style!

Mindful Biceps I - Growth

These tips are a surefire way to thicken your biceps! Yet they are merely basic in nature and sculpting a pair of mountains entails much more than mere hypertrophy.

Contrary to what some believe, you can influence their appearance through region-specfic concentration-style movements. The second half of this article will heighten your understanding behind the concept of concentration curls and your biceps will have no choice but to follow suit!…

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Boulder Shoulder II

Boulder Shoulders II

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Boulder Shoulders II – Presses are essential to maximize the potential for size and development of your shoulders. Most of you already know this and so you include presses to ensure that you have done all you can to blast your delts into new growth.

Even so, I must ask you, on what day are your front delts sorer, after chest or shoulder day? For most of you, I know it is after chest day, with some of you acquiring extreme soreness from pressing at a flat bench angle. Basically it boils down to the fact that a great deal of fiber in your front delt region was better stimulated, not during your shoulder routine, but during a workout where you made no deliberate attempt to work them. sbobet

Boulder Shoulder II

This peculiar scenario has led me to think outside the box with respect to pressing for the delts and I desire to share my reasoning with the discussion that follows. agen bola

Many believe presses to be the best exercise to increase the width of the shoulders. The front delts will certainly contribute toward this effect, yet it is actually the side region of the delts that is most responsible for creating the illusion of width. Even with the most concentrated effort, presses will only target the frontal portion of fiber in the side delt region, primarily when performing them while sitting upright. You will therefore find it beneficial to rely on pressing movements to aid in the development of the front delts, and you can take them to the next level by opening the doors to include new angles from which to press. https://www.mustangcontracting.com/

There is much to applaud with regard to the design of mainstream resistance training regimens, as the implementation of the vast majority of them will safely and effectively achieve goals for a wide audience. Nonetheless, when it comes to the most advanced levels of muscular development, they tend to fall short in certain areas. Such is the case with the upright bench (85-90-degree angle) being accepted as the standard shoulder pressing angle in most routines. While it is necessary to press from this angle, one could argue that it is the most unnatural and least effective out of the vast number of constructive pressing angles for the shoulders. This is especially true if it is done while trying to keep the back firmly against the pad to maintain a strict upright position.

Performed properly, one must slightly arch the back when lifting overhead and this includes pressing on a standard upright bench. If you want proof, simply lift something over your head and you will notice that you naturally fall into this position. As this implies, I am against using a behind the neck press in an attempt to better target the side delt region, as it hinders strength and wreaks havoc on the rotator cuff, delivering only half of what an upright row or side raise can do. Again, apart from targeting a small portion of the side deltoid region, shoulder presses primarily work the front delts. To most effectively activate the front delts, you must keep the arms in front of the body in addition to bringing the arms together as you press upward. This is why they are sorer after chest work than from pressing in the upright position on shoulder day and the basis for integrating higher-level inclines into your shoulder routine.

While it might vary based on individual structure, your front delts will perform the bulk of the work when pressing above a 50-degree incline and up. If you had to pick, you would be wiser to eliminate the beloved 90-degree angle than you would forsaking those between 60 to 85-degrees. They are unrivaled in terms of being the most natural angles from which to press and stimulate an incredibly vast area of fiber while drastically minimizing rotator cuff damage. Similar to chest work, pressing angles must be systematically rotated, with each ending up at the beginning of your workout consistently over time.

Will your upper chest be worked at some of the lower angles in this range? Yes, just as your front delts are inevitably worked when doing incline work for chest. And given that the upper chest is a very common weakpoint, extra stimulation from time to time isn’t such a bad thing. In fact, I sometimes find it worthwhile to hit both the upper chest and front delts together simply because of the great extent of which these two muscles work in conjunction with each other.

I am not a fan of working the front delts after a thorough chest workout or skipping them altogether. Some profess this believing that chest presses will allow for adequate stimulation of the front delts. Like every other muscle, I believe they need to be worked both directly and when you are fresh for best results. Only for the sake of swaying you away from this, I will state that I have developed a pair of freakishly thick, round, and separated front delts. Moreover, I did it by working them on their own day for the last fifteen years, with absolutely no sign of tendonitis or even a hint of rotator cuff pain.

To avoid these conditions, you simply need to organize your shoulder presses around your chest workout to avoid over-training. Aside from structuring your chest and shoulder workouts days apart from each other, a general model might be to start with side delt work, using raises and upright rows, on weeks where you begin your chest work from an incline angle. In order to maximize development in the shoulders, you will have to rotate the emphasis of the three deltoid heads anyway. And given that the side delts are the least activated during other upper-body movements, being stimulated mainly during your shoulder routine, it would be a good idea to start with them more often than not, especially if they are lagging behind.

Speaking of side deltoid development, a fail-proof method to ensure that you never reach your full muscular potential in this region is to rely on side raising movements to build them. Compound movements are essential to maximize hypertrophy of the side delt region just as they are for every other bodypart. Why would they be any different? Relying on side raises to maximize growth of the side delts is like depending on flys or cable cross-overs for maximum hypertrophy of the chest, extensions for the quads, or front raises for the anterior deltoids. So, you should not rely on side-raises as the chief exercise for the side delts, with the consistent application of the various forms of upright rowing movements being necessary to maximize the flare of this region.

Lastly, you will find it very efficient to exhaust a region of the delts and transition to another. An example would be to first perform your side raises and upright rows, move onto presses that work a portion of the side delts, and hit higher angle incline presses that primarily target the front delts from there. Ultimately, each weekly regimen should allow for the orderly stimulation and adequate recovery of every muscle on a consistent basis.

Boulder Shoulder II

Making use of the raising, pressing, and rowing strategies discussed in these articles will have a very positive effect with regard to a thorough stimulation of your delt region. Surely, they are essential if your goal is maximum development! Of course, they must be combined with the other principles and strategies at your disposal, namely, the strategic usage of range-of-motion, rep cadence, and rep range, among others. The correct combination of these variables will allow you to achieve your own unique goals with absolute certainty!…

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Boulder Shoulders I

Boulder Shoulders I

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Boulder Shoulders I – Because the shoulders function during practically every upper body exercise, either directly or indirectly, they are quite easy to stimulate. Performing any direct shoulder exercise is a virtual guarantee that you will activate fiber in this muscle group. In fact, they are so easy to activate that they commonly interfere when directly working other bodyparts, such as the chest, and precautions must be taken to minimize their usage.

Boulder Shoulders I

Even so, the intricate nature of the deltoids does present a challenge when aiming for thorough stimulation. As we explore the anatomy and function of this muscle group, it should become apparent as to why this is the case. judi bola

Though it appears as one round muscle, the shoulders are usually divided into three distinct regions, namely the anterior, lateral, and posterior heads. The anterior deltoid (front delt region) originates on the clavicle (collar bone) and inserts on the humerus (upper arm bone), functioning by raising the arm up to the front of the body. The lateral deltoid (side delt region) originates on the scapula (shoulder blade) and inserts on the humerus, allowing you to bring your arm out to the side. The posterior deltoid (rear delt region) also originates on the scapula and inserts on the humerus. The rear head allows you to bring the arm backward. Because all three regions of the deltoid insert into the upper arm, fiber recruitment in each head will shift relative to even the slightest changes in arm rotation and angle of execution. This means that numerous variations of presses and raises will be needed for full, round, delts. taruhan bola

Most of you are aware that the most effective and commonly used exercises include overhead presses, upright rows, and various versions of the dumbbell raises. With regard to performing the latter, I find that many encounter rotator cuff pain and have trouble experiencing a strong contraction. Throughout this article, I will expound on the vague topic of positioning as it pertains to getting the most out raising movements. If you grasp the concepts that follow, I am certain that they fry your deltoids to the extreme! americandreamdrivein.com

In order for the following positioning tactics to be most advantageous, it is essential that you consider the fiber direction between the attachment points when working the delts. This will provide insight in terms of positioning yourself to optimize the path of travel, enhance muscular contraction, and maximize fiber stimulation when targeting a region of the delts. Basically, each section of the deltoid will move the arm according to its fiber direction and the objective is to correlate this with the line of tension.

Consider front raises for the anterior deltoid region. Although these are commonly performed by bringing the weight straight up from the sides of the body, this is not ideal way to work the fiber from a full stretch to peak contraction. Given that the fiber forms at an angle, the most effective execution of a front raise entails moving the weight from the side of the body in toward the midline. This particular variation is intensified by keeping the hands midway between the pronated and neutral position. Because the fiber direction of each head swerves in various directions from origination to insertion, virtually every raising movement will demand moving the weight at a slight angle.

As you will soon realize, there is a great deal of similarity between raising movements that target the front and side delts, but you can use a basic spectrum to track the target fiber in these two regions. Take a moment to raise your arms from the sides of your body and touch your hands together at shoulder level. This would represent point A in the spectrum. Next, keep them raised and move them directly out to the sides of the shoulders so that your upper body forms a sort of cross, and you have point Z.

Obviously, I have designated these points A-Z to shed light on the versatility of shoulder movement when performing raises, but you shouldn’t get carried away by trying to track changes in millimeter increments. The point is simply to get you to be mindful enough to change up the path of travel each time you perform a front or side raise to avoid stagnation and build fuller delts. To get the full effect, this spectrum is to be used in conjunction with upper body posture and arm rotation to maximize stimulation and avoid rotator cuff injury.

Though it is commonly recommended to perform dumbbell raises out to the sides of the body to recruit side deltoid fiber, this is only relative to keeping the upper body placed upright. As it stands, some of the most natural and effective side delt raising variations involve elevating the arms at an angle where most mainstream regimens recommend raising for the front delts. Yet, they are only effective when bending the upper body forward to properly position the side delts against gravity. When using dumbbells, you should bend your upper body forward more so relative to the degree that you move the arms toward the front of the body when raising for the side delt region. Once your mind-muscle connection evolves to the point to where you attain a powerful pump, burn, and contraction, you can transfer this concept over to cables to vary the tension pattern and shock the delts into extreme growth!

You can use arm rotation at the shoulder joint to influence the degree of front or side delt emphasis. If you stand in front of the mirror and elevate your arms out to the sides at shoulder width, you will see the side delt region rise up as you pronate the hands, and vice-versa. In relation to this, the side delts will become very difficult to stimulate while standing upright unless you pronate the hands, so that the back of the dumbbell is a bit higher than the front, almost as if you were pouring out a drink. Likewise, emphasis will shift to the front delts relative to the degree of supinating the hands. In correlation to the raising spectrum described earlier, arm rotation will allow you to shift fiber emphasis even while raising at one single point. This means you can effectively target fiber in the front delts by raising from angles commonly used for the side delts and vice-versa.

It is both safer and more effective to shift the hands toward the neutral grip on many variations to both enhance stimulation and reduce the potential for rotator cuff injury when working the side delts. Again, this will require tilting the upper body forward and this is best learned while sitting on a bench. Equally, you can achieve incredible stimulation in the front delt region when using a neutral grip and elevating the arms a bit wider than shoulder-width while standing upright, as you normally would for the medial head with a pronated grip.

Total isolation of a region of fiber within each head is impossible, but this absolutely does not imply than you cannot significantly shift the stress to various locations across the muscles! Performing raises at any point in between the two ends of this spectrum will indeed stress the front and side deltoid regions uniquely, especially when combined with arm rotation. In fact, if you play around with this, you will feel the peak contraction transfer across a single head, most apparent within the side delt region, as you elevate the arms to contract the delts along various points in the spectrum.

Thinking in terms of a spectrum will also serve you when performing raises for the rear deltoid region. One end point is extending back so that the arms form a straight line at shoulder width and the other is with arms to the sides, with each causing a shift in fiber emphasis. As is the case with the front and side deltoid regions, arm rotation is a key variable within this framework. The rear deltoids are not directly influenced by the biceps and forearm function with regard to wrist rotation, however, a conscious selection of either the pronated, neutral, or supinated positions will best allow you to control this variable. I won’t go into much detail with applicable forms of raises within this range as it pertains to fiber stimulation simply because I feel you might benefit most if I describe the rare style of repetition that I most commonly use for mass building.

Analogous to pressing for the front delt region, the rear delts are involved with power movements generated by the back muscles. I therefore advocate the usage of rowing type movements to maximize your potential for mass and development. One of my favorite styles of “raising” actually equates to a sort of row, as there is a sharp bend in my arms at the top of the movement. I find it very effective to bring my elbows out slightly while using a grip within vicinity of the neutral and supinated position. This is similar to sitting in reverse on a pec-deck and elbowing backward, except that the resistance is stronger and more natural throughout the range-of-motion (ROM) when dropping the elbows slightly and using dumbbells.

When mass building, I keep the weight moving and come nowhere close to straightening out the arms so that I remain in the power range of the ROM. This brings the traps into play to some extent, and I use a bit of momentum at the bottom of the movement. Yet, this is natural given that the body is meant to work as a unit. Moreover, a synergy is created, allowing the delts to undergo much more stress than they would merely isolating with a light pair of dumbbells. Granted, I also use this version, but mostly to bring out separation and detail, just as I would perform front raises for the front delts in addition to presses.

This should broaden your mindset enough to begin incorporating many more forms of dumbbell raises into your routine, targeting specified regions of fiber within each head. However, even if you add a significant amount of muscle and enhance your development with the strategies discussed here, you will still need to incorporate compound movements into your routine to maximize your potential.

Boulder Shoulders I

But before you continue on with the standard pressing variations that you are accustomed to, consider that this movement offers just as many opportunities as those discussed here. If you desire to learn a few, I encourage you to check out part two of this series!…

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