These tricep and bicep workouts will help you develop stronger, bigger arms – As a rough rule, arms are split in 2/3 triceps and 1/3 biceps. Both need to be trained to achieve balanced and strong arms that are effective for performance. Check these 10 exercises out and add them into your tricep and bicep workouts.
Using the word ‘Biceps’ refers to the muscle group more accurately termed the “forearm flexors”. This is made up of include the biceps, the brachialis, and several other muscles and supporting muscles.
Bicep Workouts
If you generally don’t train biceps directly, yet still make gains in size and strength then no direct biceps work is really needed to keep your gains, so long as you’re doing plenty of pulling work (such as rows and deadlifts).
If you are accustomed to focusing on your biceps directly then 4-6 direct sets per week is a good number to keep in mind when you want to maintain your gains.
If you are an intermediate-advanced lifter then you will probably need at least 8 sets of direct biceps work per week to make gains. Experiment with this number is your program contains a higher focus on pulling work for the back (for strength, technique or speed) as you may be able to gain mass with lower numbers of sets per week.
The vast majority of people respond best between 14 and 20 weekly sets. Biceps play a role in shoulder flexion (they can get a great pump from from chest flys for example), and can be taxed significantly through close grip pulling during back training, but if you want to target your biceps precisely, add in a variety of curls.
LEGLESS ROPE CLIMB
The legless rope climb builds much more than just arm strength. This movement builds solid upper body, core and grip strength as well as improves balance and coordination.
Another useful benefit is that they will improve your self confidence in your own ability, because you are climbing higher and higher, and this puts pressure on you and your body to perform. If you fail a bicep curl then the weight doesn’t reach the full range of motion – not a big deal. If you fail a legless rope climb then the consequences can be a bit more painful. This is a good thing, as it will force you to perform when the pressure is on.
Here is CrossFit legend Mat Chan to demonstrate for you.
Technique
LEGLESS WORKOUT
- For Time
- 27 Thrusters (95/65 lb)
- 4 Legless Rope Climbs (15 ft)
- 21 Thrusters (95/65 lb)
- 3 Legless Rope Climbs (15 ft)
- 15 Thrusters (95/65 lb)
- 2 Legless Rope Climbs (15 ft)
- 9 Thrusters (95/65 lb)
- 1 Legless Rope Climb (15 ft)