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Transcript

Quick Wits: Best Exercises for the Arms [Biceps & Triceps] (Lifting for Muscle Series) · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:00
  Philip Pape: On today's lifting series.
• 0:01
  Philip Pape: We are getting into the arms your biceps and triceps.
• 0:06
  Philip Pape: Bys and tris are more than just a show muscle.
• 0:08
  Philip Pape: They are crucial for strength and functionality and they're pretty important in almost every lift you do.
• 0:14
  Philip Pape: Today we're breaking down my four favorite exercises for sculpting strong biceps and triceps.
• 0:21
  Philip Pape: Get ready for some serious guns.
• 0:27
  Philip Pape: Welcome to the Whits and Weights podcast.
• 0:29
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, phillip Pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition.
• 0:40
  Philip Pape: We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset, with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry, so you can look and feel your absolute best.
• 0:51
  Philip Pape: Let's dive right in.
• 0:52
  Philip Pape: This is the lifting for muscle series of Quick Whits, where we give you the fast track to fitness wisdom, and today we're zoning in on arm training Specifically, we're going to separate it into biceps and triceps and I'm going to give you five exercises today, just as a little extra bonus.
• 1:12
  Philip Pape: To fit these in.
• 1:13
  Philip Pape: Biceps is what we're going to start with.
• 1:15
  Philip Pape: That's the muscles that everyone loves to flex, but, as you're going to find out soon, triceps are really where the size come in.
• 1:22
  Philip Pape: But let's start with biceps.
• 1:23
  Philip Pape: Chin ups.
• 1:24
  Philip Pape: Yes, you might be surprised, but chin ups are usually seen as a back exercise.
• 1:29
  Philip Pape: I mentioned them in the back episode, but they're fantastic for biceps too.
• 1:33
  Philip Pape: When you are pulling yourself up, your biceps are definitely hard at work.
• 1:37
  Philip Pape: Even though you're pulling with the back.
• 1:39
  Philip Pape: The biceps have to get engaged and if you have that full range of motion and pull your chest all the way to the bar, where your chest touches the bar, with a controlled movement, you're going to get some maximum bicep engagement there.
• 1:52
  Philip Pape: So chin ups is number one, and then number two is really all the forms of curls, and this could be 15 different exercises.
• 1:58
  Philip Pape: Let's be honest Barbell curls with a straight bar, with an easy bar, dumbbell curls, hammer curls you could do them synchronized or alternating.
• 2:07
  Philip Pape: You can sit on a bench, you can sit on a seat, you can stand.
• 2:10
  Philip Pape: There are preacher curls with an easy bar.
• 2:12
  Philip Pape: Preacher curls, independent, with dumbbells.
• 2:15
  Philip Pape: There are spider curls I mean there's everything and they hit the bicep from all different angles.
• 2:20
  Philip Pape: So it's really up to you.
• 2:22
  Philip Pape: They're all going to pretty much hit your biceps and they're going to be effective as long as you train hard.
• 2:27
  Philip Pape: If you want to specialize, include two different movements one at a lower rep with a heavier load and one with a higher rep, like something like drop sets, for example.
• 2:37
  Philip Pape: So those are the curls.
• 2:38
  Philip Pape: We've got chin ups and curls for biceps.
• 2:40
  Philip Pape: That's going to pretty much cover the gamut for that.
• 2:43
  Philip Pape: Now let's switch to triceps, which make up two thirds of your arms muscle mass, and when you see someone that has kind of really big, broad, nicely defined arms, it's probably the triceps that's really getting them there.
• 2:56
  Philip Pape: I've found that with personal experience, so I'm pretty proud of my arms development and a lot of that comes from the triceps.
• 3:02
  Philip Pape: So the first on the list is, of course, going to be a barbell movement, the close grip bench press.
• 3:09
  Philip Pape: It is not just for your chest when you're really close in with that grip, it heavily involves the triceps If you keep your arms close to your body and you can get a really good solid workout and lots of load that way.
• 3:23
  Philip Pape: Next up we have all the different types of extensions, and the two that I love are lying triceps, extensions with an easy curl bar, where you're lying on a bench and the bar's coming behind you as far back extended, rotating the shoulders as you can.
• 3:39
  Philip Pape: Not just a skull crusher to the bench or to your head, take it way back and rotate that shoulder, you're going to be able to load a lot more on that bar and really hit the triceps through the range of motion.
• 3:51
  Philip Pape: The other extensions I like are overhead and I've seen studies and even heard of the community that those tend to be the most effective versions of extensions.
• 3:59
  Philip Pape: But again, you can't load them as much when you're using dumbbells overhead.
• 4:03
  Philip Pape: So you can use either dumbbells or you can use an easy curl bar in what's called a French press.
• 4:08
  Philip Pape: You could even do seated extensions.
• 4:10
  Philip Pape: There's so many ways to do extensions and they all target slightly different heads of the tricep.
• 4:15
  Philip Pape: So it's really just keeping your elbows steady, focus on full extension of your arms and rotating that shoulder through the range of motion.
• 4:22
  Philip Pape: And, as a bonus, any press down movement, usually on a cable machine.
• 4:27
  Philip Pape: I mean you could use bands as well, but we're talking rope press downs or just kind of a fixed bar type press downs.
• 4:34
  Philip Pape: It's a nice finisher.
• 4:36
  Philip Pape: I like that as a finisher in your arm workout to get that pump, get that burn in the tricep muscles and there you go.
• 4:41
  Philip Pape: So we've got.
• 4:43
  Philip Pape: For biceps we have chin-ups and curls.
• 4:46
  Philip Pape: For triceps we have the close grip, bench press all forms of extensions and press downs.
• 4:53
  Philip Pape: If you combine these in different combinations and progress them over time which is the key train really hard, train close to or pretty much at failure with these, it's easy to do for these they are definitely gonna enhance the size and the aesthetics of your arms, but also contribute to overall upper body strength that may then carry over into some of your other lifts.
• 5:14
  Philip Pape: So remember, training arms is not just for looks, even though guys, I know a lot of us do it.
• 5:19
  Philip Pape: For that reason, it also helps with your strength and stability.
• 5:22
  Philip Pape: So until next time, I want you to keep lifting, keep learning and keep growing those guns.
• 5:27
  Philip Pape: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights.
• 5:33
  Philip Pape: If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up there Wits or Weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode.
• 5:47
  Philip Pape: Until then, stay strong.