Sound familiar? It’s time for your typical routine to take a back seat while you bust through plateaus with something new. Utilize these exercises.Be ready to have some tighter sleeves on your shirts with this one.
Exercise 1: Chin-Ups
The
good news is that doing work from overhead places a pre-stretch on this
muscle and therefore targets it much more effectively. For evidence of
this, find some high-level competitive gymnasts and examine their biceps
development and peak. Regardless of overall size, they likely have
otherworldly development in this area. The frequency and volume of their
overhead pulling (as part of their athletic programming) speaks for
itself where the gun show is concerned.
To
take things a step further, it’s not just a matter of doing chin-ups.
And, in a departure from good training advice, we’ll offer this.
Abandoning
good back-dominant form in favor of just pulling with the arms would
actually be a smart move if you really want the biceps and brachialis to
work hard. Just sayin.
Exercise 2: Dips
Compound
exercises create more muscle. Who knew? By including dips in your
workout, you’re allowing for a greater overload on the triceps than you
normally would in isolation. Plus, you are training your triceps to work
in concert with other muscles, which satisfies the performance-trainer
sect mentioned in the beginning of this article. The dip, which also can
be trained to greater overload using a weighted vest or dipping belt,
emphasizes that ever-visible outer head of the triceps.
In
order to keep the triceps fully engaged and to minimize the
contribution from the pecs, it’s important to keep your body posture as
upright as possible and your elbows tight to the body throughout.
Exercise 3: Band-Resisted Curls
If
you’re a sucker for biceps curls and need them to be in your program,
then upping the octane by attaching some bands to your barbell or
dumbbells would be a smart move. The science here is simple: In most
weight-bearing exercises, there are different parts to the force curve.
The amount of effort your muscles have to go through isn’t equal as you
progress through the rep. In conventional curls, the biceps usually have
very little work to do in the last 15 to 20 degrees of the movement.
The hard part comes from the fully extended arm position until just
inside 90 degrees.
Since
bands increase in tension as you stretch them — a principle known as
linear variable tension — they’re the perfect additives to make the
final segment of your curls more stimulating for the arms. Wrap one end
of a band around your dumbbells or barbell, and stand on the band
creating adequate tension. Next, go to town and curl to oblivion. As an
added bonus, feel free to drop the bands off mid-set and burn out with
just the weights for a great hybrid set. As an alternative, you also can
try dedicated band training with a cool set like the SPRI Exertube
Heavy.
Exercise 4: Skullcrusher Plus
Many
serious trainers rely upon the conventional skullcrusher — or lying
triceps extension — for triceps development. But if you’ve had to deal
with elbow stress when doing this movement, understand the biomechanics
of the movement rather than sidelining it altogether.
First,
using gravity to your advantage can be a good initial step, so put the
bench on a slight decline. This will change the force angle a bit and
allow your elbows to point back farther naturally rather than pointing
directly up or even forward. Second, remember your anatomy: The triceps
have three heads. The most elusive of the three for most lifters is the
long head, which is most effectively hit — you guessed it — via overhead
movements. Take that tip and run with it by adding a “pullover”
component to your skullcrushers.
As
soon as you get to skull level with the weight on your eccentric phase,
reach the weight down toward the floor by flexing at the shoulder joint
to move the arms behind the head. You’ll feel a huge stretch in the
triceps by doing this. Remember to keep the elbows facing forward; don’t
let them flare outward. Once you feel a good stretch, reverse the
movement and mimic a soccer throw-in pattern to return to the full
extension position.