One of the first things that may determine someone’s strength or fitness level is the definition and size in their arms. It is a very misleading measurement of fitness, but there is nothing wrong with having good looking arms. After all, it’s one of the only body parts that people see when you are in the gym or walking in the mall. If you are going to work on your fitness, you may as well work on your aesthetics at the same time. Use these 8 steps to getting the arms of your dreams.
1 – Familiarize Yourself With The Anatomy
If you want to change something about your body, the first thing you should do is get familiar with it. The diagram below shows you the main muscles in the arm. When most people think about getting more toned and muscular arms they think about biceps, and bicep curls. That is fine, but don’t count out the triceps. That muscle makes up about 2/3 of the muscle mass in the arm. It would be a smart decision to make the triceps a high priority for training.
Knowing where specific muscles are in your arm is beneficial for training. You can use deductive reasoning to figure out what exercises target certain parts of each muscle. That way you can make sure you are hitting every part of the arm muscles in your workouts.
2 – Work Your Arms Hard, But Make It Brief
First you have to understand that arm exercises should absolutely not be the primary exercises of any workout. Unless you are lifting purely for bodybuilding purposes only.
The best way to work these muscles are at the end of a workout for only a short period of time. The arm muscles are type II fibers which means they are explosive, but tire quickly.
To properly stress these muscles you should do sets of 8 to 10 repetitions and keep the weight heavy. Every second or third arm workout you should use lighter weights and increase the rep count significantly. This is just to keep your muscles guessing.
3 – Mix Up Your Exercises
There are only so many ways to perform a bicep curl or a tricep extention. The best way to mix up your exercises is to use different grips. There are several types of bars, shown below, that allow your hands to be positioned at different angles. This will force different parts of your arms to be places under more stress.
4 – Get Proper Rest
For your muscles to grow and regenerate you must get proper sleep. This is the time when growth hormones are released and your body does most of its maintenance. Additionally you will feel mentally recharged and more energetic throughout the day. You have to have energy to get your workout done in the first place!
Around 8 hours of rest is typically a good goal to shoot for on a nightly basis. Everyone is different so you have to figure out how much sleep your body needs to feel its best. Too little sleep, as well as too much can be detrimental to your health so be aware of your body’s needs.
5 – Eat Plenty Of Nutritious Foods
In order to grow the formula is simple. You have to intake more calories than you expend. In order to get leaner you must intake less calories. Your body will repair worn out muscles as long as you give it enough carbohydrates and proteins for fuel.
Be mindful of your diet. You want to intake plenty of calories so that your body can function and repair itself properly. There also must be enough vitamins and minerals to support the immune system and metabolism. Also, take into consideration that the more you eat doesn’t mean the more muscle will be produced. There is a point where the nutrients become stored as fats. In this article you can learn All You Need To Know About The Practical Diet
6 – Use Supplements
Eating the right foods should absolutely be a top priority, because our bodies are designed to digest real food. If you want to make sure you are getting the right amount of calories and nutrition, a good way is to use supplements. Don’t think that you need to supplement in order to build muscle. This article may answer your questions on Getting Bigger And Stronger Without Supplements.
If you have the extra cash and the desire to make sure your nutritional needs are being met, some good supplements to use are multivitamins, protein, and creatine. Multivitamins will give your body the small doses of micronutrients needed for your metabolism and immune system to function at its best. Protein supplements will often give you an extra calorie boost with additional protein building blocks for your body to use as needed. Creatine has shown to help build lean muscle. It also pulls water into the muscle which makes it look fuller, among other benefits.
7 – Get Rid Of Body Fat
Body fat can form a layer over the muscles in your arms that cause them to look less defined. Water retention can cause the same effect, but body fat is longer lasting. Eating cleaner and doing cardio, especially sprints, will burn the extra calories and force your body to get rid of the fat that may be reducing the definition in your arms. You don’t have to effect your body composition that much to see a big difference in this area.
8 – Stretch Your Muscles
Stretching is beneficial for your whole body, not just your arm muscles. It can prevent injury and increase the performance of the muscles.
Muscles also tend to grow more if they have the room. Lengthening muscles and keeping them flexible gives them room to grow efficiently.
Use these 8 steps to getting the arms of your dreams. You might as well look good if you are going to train hard for your health and fitness. If you have any questions about training for specific goals then you can contact me and I will get back to you immediately.
About Adam Pegg
