The arms are a strange beast. They come in every size available and no
matter what they look like, and as a general rule, people don't mind
showing them off or posing them for their friends or the opposite sex.
In the hot months of summer, many people, man or woman walk the
streets, beaches, parks and clubs with this particular body part
exposed. Watch how the guys place close attention to tensing their life
worth when their picture is being taken in an attempt to make their
biceps appear bigger. Witness the woman cover their arms in toning
creams combined with fat fighting gadgets in attempt to make them
appear smaller. Simply put, generally, both sexes fight for different
goals but both want the same thing '
better biceps!
The majority of people have different goals in regards to what
reflection they would like to have staring back at them when they flex
their biceps in the bathroom mirror. Above, I have just listed two of
the most common ones, so, in the following article I will address how
to obtain both of these goals but within the same training scheme.
I like to call this customized training ritual '
The Rack'.
It has been named this term because it entails the trainee having to
ascend up the weights rack before descending within a single workout.
It has become relatively common knowledge to the weight training
population that higher repetitions sway a more toning effect whilst the
heavier/lower repetition persuades the muscle to grow, but with this in
mind I want to make one thing perfectly clear before I continue my
outline of this regime. To all my female subjects out there, please do
not worry; you will not build big bulging biceps from this regime,
however, it is imperative that you build muscle to tone it, you cannot
tone around fat.
OK, let's get it started. The goal here is to attack the bicep from
several different advantage points and take it away from its regular
comfort zone. Firstly, I want you to select a barbell and load it with
enough weight that will allow you fail at around 50 repetitions. By
doing such high reps for the initial set will eradicate the need to
warm up the joints and muscles because the chances of injury at such a
high rep pattern are very slim to none.
Once completed and after a minute or so rest, more weight should
be placed onto the bar which will allow failure to set in around the 35
repetition mark. Again this rep range will stretch the muscle's fascia
and in turn, approve more blood to be allowed into the muscle. The red
muscle fibers are being stimulated at this time which sculpts the
attention to detail, thus the 'toning' effect.
The next weight selected on the barbell should target failure at 20
repetitions. At this time the muscle should be extremely pumped, and
now 50- 80% more blood flow will be passing through the muscle.
Nutrients will be shuttled at an impressive rate to this area and
localized attention will promote the body's ability to repair this
muscle as soon as possible. The faster a muscle repairs, the faster and
better end result for you. As you will appreciate, the importance for
readily available fuel (food) is extremely important so a predetermined
nutrition plan should be in place.
The next set will be much heavier, allowing failure at around 12
repetitions. Attention to strict form should be high on your priority
list when using this weight as all focus and isolation needs to be
placed on the worked muscle, not on secondary or assisting muscles. The
white muscle fibers are the ones mainly recruited with this poundage
which is a perfect environment for muscle building and progressive
strength. This particular set and the following are definitely the
building blocks to
bulging bicep peaks.
I recommend the next set to be done on a preacher bench to keep the
form extra strict and to avoid any injury or unnecessary swing because
this, the final set is going to be heavy. If there isn't a preacher
bench available within your facility, then a leaning tightly against a
wall will suffice. The failure repetition range will fall at around
five reps. Blood, oxygen and nutrients are all now within the localized
area of the bicep. The fascia of the muscle has been stretched to give
adequate breathing space to the white fast twitch fibers that will be
the primary movers of this set. Tendons and ligaments are as equally
prepared to carry the force of the five repetition final set. Chances
of injury are at its very lowest, possibility for growth is at its very
highest.
Once you're final five repetitions is completed, so is the pyramid of
five sets you have just endured. The fun part of the rack has yet to
come. Once you have caught your breath and stretched out your biceps, I
would like you to descend back down the weights for four sets following
the same pattern in reverse, aiming for 12, 20, 35 and finally 50
repetitions to burn out your biceps. The weight selected will need to
be lighter on the descending sets than on the ascending due to the
setting of fatigue and the build up of lactic acid.
The practice of this program is recommended every fourth bicep
workout in order to shock the muscle and prevent it from slipping into
an environment which it is comfortable. Keep a diary of the sets and
repetitions completed in the workout, compare and aim to improve on the
next occasion you pursue '
The Racks'.
The idea is to shock the muscle to tone, separate and build the muscle
within the one workout, but try different regimes in between to keep
the muscle guessing. Remember, do what you have always done; you will
get what you have always got.
* Please note barbells do
not have to be the application of force to this bicep manipulating
workout. Dumbells, preacher benches and machines can be used as an
alternative device.
Good luck!
Kris Gethin
