Building Muscles

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Top Position

Top Position
Here is where you can make this into an excellent exercise. Once the weight is at the top, you should try to flex or contract the bicep muscle. Similar to what you would do if you were showing someone else how big your biceps are. With this contraction at the top of the movement, you will pump extra blood into the muscle fibres. This creates an excellent burn in the muscle which will speed up the growth of the bicep.  You will find that you will get fantastic growth without too much extra effort. It is all about how well you train and not about how much you do. Make each rep count when you train and you will reap the rewards. 

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Midpoint Position

Mid Point Position
As you can see, it's only the bicep that's taking all the strain. They rest of the body must be totally relaxed. What is really important is the movement through this position - both up and down must be controlled. The positive part of the exercise is when you bring the weight up to the chest and the negative part is when you are lowering the weight to the full out stretched arms. It will be controlled when you are in the positive stage, as you are working the weight up to your chest. When you return the weight, the negative part of the movement, you must be in full control. You must guide the weight down slowly. This will help to stimulate the muscle fibres in the bicep which will cause excellent growth. If you allow the weight to return down too quickly, you will miss out on a really important part of the building process. 

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Start Position

Start position

It is considered that preacher curls are one of the finest exercises for building biceps. Many people don't do them is because they are a very strict exercise. Because they are so strict, you will find you cannot use much weight when you do them. This has an effect on the ego, so rather than let people think that we can't lift too much, it's better to do an exercise that is not quite so strict - like normal bicep curls.

You will see from the photo that in the open part of the rep, the arms must be straight. What often happens at this point is the arms are slightly bent, which is not quite correct. It is advisable to have a very slight pause in this position so you get the bicep to do all the work. Be careful not to adjust the body to compensate for the weight.

When you start the curl from this position, the biceps are put under a great deal of stress and they really have to work. This will help with the overall growth you are going to get from the exercise.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Huge triceps| Midway Bad position

I thought it would be a good idea to show you what not to do. This is what will happen when you are training with weight that is too heavy, and you are trying to impress the people at the place of your training. You can see the position of the elbows. They are completely wrong and you will see that the traps are having to work along with lats and a bit of the shoulders.

When your form goes out the window because of the amount of weight you are trying to train with, none of the muscles will benefit. Leave your ego in the changing room  - it really has no place in the gym.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Huge triceps| Bottom position

This is where you make a good exercise into an excellent exercise. At the bottom of the movement, when the arms are fully extended, you need to pause for just a moment. At this point contract or flex the triceps. The harder you can contract the better. You will be forcing in extra blood into the muscle. The burn you will get after just a few reps will be quite incredible. I have found that doing this gives a much better result in a very short space of time. There really is nothing better than a genuine focused training.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Huge triceps| Midway position

You can see from this photo that the elbows are still tucked tight to the side of the body. This is what good form is all about. It is not a quick rush movement to get the weight up and down. You will get the most from the exercise when you take it slightly slowly. Make sure you can feel the muscle (triceps) doing all the work. During each rep make sure you are really focusing your mind on the full movement you are doing. When you use your mind with your training you will get quicker and better results than with a rushed "getting the exercises done" method.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Huge triceps| Start position

The triceps muscles make up about 2/3rds of the bulk of the arm so it makes sense to really get involved and train them right.

You will see from the photo that, at the start of the exercise you need to have your elbows tucked tightly to your side. You have to be careful that you keep them as still as possible during the movement or you will tend to let the lats help with the exercise. Then you are not going to get the full benefit of the workout. Make sure you stand quite straight. You can lean slightly forward but not like I have often seen in the gym where the person is leaning far forward. That would normally indicate that the weight is too heavy and that is the only way they can do it.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Shoulders| deltoids| Shoulder presses with dumbbells (3)

Top position

You must be straight up from the starting position and neither forward or backward. At the top, hold for a split second and then return the weight to the starting position.  When you come down make sure you are in total control of the weight. If you allow gravity to return the weight you are only half training and not getting the full benefit of the training. By being in control when you are on the return of the weight, you will be putting a lot of extra stress on the deltoids and you will build better. The return, which is the negative of the exercise, is just as important as the positive when you are pushing the weight up to the top position. Train deliberate and controlled and you will get better results for the effort you are putting in.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Shoulders| deltoids| Shoulder presses with dumbbells

Midpoint Bad Position

In this photo you can see that the shoulders are brought up to get the traps to help with the training and you will see the there is not too much control of the weight as it is not going straight up and down. Never lose control of the weight and allow it to go to forward or to lean toward the rear. This is when you can do damage to your shoulder joint. Lifting weights must be in a very relaxed state but with great focus of the mind.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Shoulders| deltoids| Shoulder presses with dumbbells (2)

Midpoint

You must have absolute concentration at this point. Make sure you can feel the deltoid doing the total lift. It is easy to bring the traps in to help with the lift and then you will train heavier but not really getting the best result. The minute you raise the shoulders slightly the traps will then help with the lift and you are not getting the true benefit of the shoulder press. Keep your shoulders down and as relaxed as possible and let the deltoids do all the work. This will give you maximum intensity and you will have a great training.