exercise equipment

The aim for beginners to weight training must be to lay the foundations for the intensive workouts that their bodies will eventually be subjected to. Obviously successful bodybuilding involves bringing together disparate elements such as nutrition and rest but choosing the right exercises is crucial. In this article we'll outline the barbell exercises that will enable new bodybuilders to develop the general strength and body conditioning needed.

Initially beginners should aim to complete two sets of ten to twelve reps but after a few weeks
when you have developed sufficient control and basic strength
experiment with one set of six to eight reps to failure. This will maximize your muscle growth and give you the impetus to move on to the next stage of development. Before long you'll find the use of this single piece of equipment restricting
so later in this series of articles we'll pull together a muscle boosting program that utilizes other equipment to take you to the intermediate level. In the meantime
get to work with these exercises in order to get used to working your muscles.

Biceps brachii – The Two muscles at the front upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulders. The biceps is actually a smaller muscle then the triceps. It is on the front of the upper arms. There are two heads of the biceps muscle (hence the bi in biceps).

Beneath the biceps is the brachialis
a flat muscle group that runs about half way up the upper arm bone from the elbow joint. From the rear you can see the brachialis as a well-defined band of muscle between the triceps and biceps when a muscular bodybuilder flexes his/her arm.

Triceps brachii – The Three muscles at the rear upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulder. The triceps is a three-headed muscle that is on the back of the upper arm (hence the name tri in triceps).

Forearm – The several smaller muscles that run from the elbow to the wrist. There are three primary muscle groups in the forearms. The forearm flexors lie along the inner sides of the forearms. The forearm extensors run along the outer sides of the forearms. And the supinators that lie on the upper and outer sections of the forearms.

It is essential that when you do any exercise that you perform the movements correctly
if you don’t you will receive less then optimum benefit from the exercise. It is very difficult to unlearn bad exercise habits
so it is best to learn the right exercise technique from the very start.

The key to developing the arms is to avoid overtraining these small muscle groups. The arms are used as secondary muscles in almost all chest
back
and shoulder exercises. For example
the biceps are used when doing any type of rowing movement for the back. The triceps are used when doing any type of pressing movement for the chest and/or shoulders. And the forearms are used whenever you have to grip the weights.

Whether you want to tone and define weak arms so that you can wear something sleeveless with confidence or you want to increase muscle mass
working the muscles in the front and back of the upper arms will help you get there.

Most people new to bodybuilding pay a lot of attention to building big arms
sometimes to the point of overtraining. Don't forget
the arm muscles are brought into play during most exercises aimed at other body parts so care must be taken not to overdo things.

Having said that
the arms are complex body parts in their own right and deserve a properly focused exercise program. In basic terms the arm consists of three main muscle groups:

1. Biceps brachii - two muscles at the front upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulders.

2. Triceps brachii - three muscles at the rear upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulder.

3. Forearm - several smaller muscles that run from the elbow to the wrist.

We're really stuck on wanting to look good and that's alright
but it's really one goal of the arm exercise benefits. "Exercise is a body tune-up
and if we're keeping our body exercised
we're keeping it tuned just like a car." When working the arms
be sure to balance the body.

We tend to make the mistake of exercising only our show muscles. And that is actually an imbalanced program. We pay too much attention to the muscles in front of our body and not enough attention to the back of the body.

On the most basic level
this doesn't build the whole muscle.

The reality is
if you want big arms
you've got to work both sides of the arms. When someone flexes their biceps
it's the whole arm that's working. The triceps are a part of that.

You should vary your grip and width when performing not only these exercises
but all others. Why? Consider the barbell curl as an example. Most guys tend to use a wider grip
which works the short head of the biceps on the inside of the arm
while forgoing a narrow grip
where the biceps' long head is emphasized. When someone who does this places his hands on his hips
the long head on the outside of his arm is usually small and disproportionate compared to the inner arm. By using the same grip or width all the time
you create an imbalance in size and strength.