Biceps – considered by many men to be one of the most important muscles (right after the chest, or on a par with it), which means that it is the one they devote most of their time to training, performing all variations of curls, being deeply convinced that these exercises will provide them with a muscular hand like the guy on the cover of Men’s Health. It is because of the cult of the biceps (and chest) that the so-called disco training, i.e. chest + biceps, was created. There is nothing wrong with such a combination, if it were not for the fact that some “experts” at the gym only do this type of training, omitting other muscle parts or devoting much less time to them.
TRICEPS
It may come as a surprise to some of you, but it is the triceps muscle that is most important in the fight for shoulder size. Are you wondering why? Firstly, anatomically it has three muscle heads, biceps two. Secondly, in terms of volume, it often exceeds half the weight of the arm. In fact, with an upright and relaxed posture, the triceps, not the biceps, is the most visible muscle, so if you want your arm to look good in a natural position, and not just during “flexion”, spend a little more time on the triceps in your training. Some of the best exercises for triceps are, for example, dips on parallel bars or all kinds of French presses.
BRACHIAL MUSCLE
This is the most commonly overlooked muscle during arm training, mainly because most gym regulars are often unaware of its existence:). It plays a very important role in terms of strength and functionality, beating the biceps on the head in these fields. It is the strongest flexor of the elbow joint, works in all ranges and determines the strength of the upper limb in exercises such as pull-ups (e.g. overhand or neutral grip). Its belly is located under the biceps muscle, so omitting it during training will create a specific “hole” between the biceps and the elbow fossa, which should be filled by the brachial muscle. Thanks to it, our hand will look aesthetically pleasing and proportional. To guarantee optimal conditions for growth, check if your plan does not lack the previously mentioned variants of pull-ups, as well as bends in the hammer grip and grip.
FOREARM
Many men would like to have “big whips”, but they will not think about forearms. It’s a bit like women with buttocks – they want to have a big, protruding butt, but without expanding the thighs, and preferably with slimming them down at the same time. The forearm is very important because it is thanks to it that we are able to support a given weight. It often happens that during biceps exercises (or any other exercises in which we have to hold the load in our hands) we are unable to perform the exercise with more weight, not because the biceps are weak, but because the forearm is not proportionally strong and is not able to support this iron. That is why it is so important to develop the strength of the forearm so that it is able to cope with the increasing training loads.
DELTOID MUSCLE
And now let’s move on to the climax, which is … Shoulder! Without these “balls”, there is no chance for proportional and well-developed arms. Very often, people who train underestimate this muscle group and blame genetics for its lack of development. While in some cases genetics do matter, in the case of deltoids, hard work pays off!
To sum up, as you can see, a well-built hand does not consist only of the biceps, but a number of other muscles. If we focus only on the biceps, there is no chance that we will achieve the desired effect and be able to boast of well-developed and proportionally developed arms.