Arm Exercises: Understand the Proper Techniques and Avoid Injury!
Have you ever done these things? Don’t do them anymore! • The point of lifting weights is to isolate specific muscles or muscle groups for the purpose of challenging them and building more muscle. There’s no specific exercise that can work every muscle in the body. On that note, don’t heave up dumbbells to your chest using every ounce of muscle tissue you have available. I constantly see people doing biceps curls, or should I say, “body curls”. They’re using their entire body weight to force up a dumbbell that’s much too heavy for them to lift with their biceps alone. This is a real pet peeve; the only thing their doing for their body is getting out of breath and tired (more cardio work than weight lifting!). This is also a good way to overextend your back. It’ll be fun explaining to your doctor that you pulled a muscle in your lower back while working out your arms, won’t it? The most common cause of this is too much ego – lift a weight you can handle! If you find yourself doing this herky-jerky motion, in any exercise, then you need to go for a lower weight. There’s no shame in moving down a few levels on the weight rack. In fact, it deserves some respect because it shows you understand what your body can handle! • Do not straighten your elbows to the point of no return. What I mean is, there’s no reason to completely lock out your arms during arm exercises, or any other exercise for that matter. This is an excellent way to develop tennis elbow and tendonitis, especially when you’re lifting heavier weights.
• Don’t forget about your wrists! These are important too – without strong wrists, your biceps and triceps strength is minimized. Avoid Injury! Maintaining the muscles surrounding joints, such as the elbows and wrists will help prevent damage to these areas. Remember tennis elbow? Basically it’s an uncomfortable inflammation of the elbow due to weak supporting arm muscles. A few years ago I had stress fractures in my spine because I had weak lower back muscles. All I’m saying is that where you have weak muscles, you’re likely to experience problems.
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Arm Exercises and Common Blunders!
• Remember what I said about the biceps being powerful supinators? If you want to isolate the other function of your biceps, the flexion at the elbow, then be sure to keep your elbows in a static position. You’ll be able to lift more weight if you’re elbows bend inwards towards your body, but that’s only because you’re also using the supinating function of the muscle (or outwardly rotating your palms). Try to keep your elbows in an even position throughout the motion. The best way to avoid this is to use a weight you can handle! The second you start coming out of your technique, stop. That was your last repetition. If it was your first, however, then you should opt for a lighter weight.