Triceps kickback

The triceps kickback works your triceps. Use caution if you have elbow or lower back problems.

Getting set
Hold a dumbbell in your right hand, and stand next to the long side of your bench. Lean forward at the hips until your upper body is at a 45-degree angle to the floor, and place your free hand on top of the bench for support. Bend your right elbow so your upper arm is parallel to the floor, your forearm is perpendicular to the floor, and your palm faces in (see photo A). Keep your elbow close to your waist. Pull your abdominals in and relax your knees.

The exercise
Keeping your upper arm still, straighten your arm behind you until the end of the dumbbell is pointing down (see photo B). Slowly bend your arm to lower the weight. When you’ve completed the set, repeat the exercise with your left arm.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO keep your abdominals pulled in and your knees relaxed to protect your lower back.
• DON’T lock your elbow at the top of the movement; do straighten your arm but keep your elbow relaxed.
• DON’T allow your upper arm to move or your shoulder to drop below waist level.

Other options
Cable triceps kickback: Put the pulley on the topmost setting and attach a horseshoe handle. Grasping the handle in one hand, position yourself in the same way described in the basic kickback, and perform the same exercise. You may have to step a foot or two away from the cable tower to prevent the cable from going slack.
Triceps kickback with a twist (harder): As you straighten your arm, twist it
so that at the top of the movement, your palm faces up.

Triceps pushdown

The triceps pushdown targets your triceps. Pay special attention to your form if you have elbow problems. Standing up straight with your abdominal muscles pulled in helps you avoid lower back problems.

Getting set
Set the pulley of the cable at the topmost setting and attach a straight or Ushaped bar. Grasp the bar with your palms facing down and your hands about a thumb’s distance from the center of the bar. You can stand either with your feet parallel or with one foot slightly in front of the other. Bend your elbows so your forearms are parallel to the floor and your elbows are alongside your waist (see photo A of Figure 14-6). You can lean slightly forward at the hips, but keep your abdominals pulled in and your knees relaxed. See photo B.

The exercise
Push the bar straight down, keeping your elbows close to your sides (see photo B). Then bend your arms to allow the bar to rise slowly until your arms are slightly above parallel to the ground.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO push down smoothly, exerting the same amount of pressure with both hands so both sides of the bar travel down evenly. _ DON’T lean too far forward or too heavily on the bar.
• DON’T allow your elbows to splay out to the sides, especially as you push down.
• DON’T let your arms fly back up as you return the bar to the starting position. Concentrate on controlling the bar.

Other options

Reverse grip pushdown (easier): Turn your hands around and use an underhanded grip. Because this version allows your biceps to assist your triceps a great deal, it’s less challenging than the basic version.

One-hand triceps pushdown: Attach the horseshoe, and grasp it with one hand in an underhand grip. (You can also use an overhand grip, although it’s tougher.) Place your other hand on your hip. Straighten your arm, pushing the handle until it’s alongside your hip. Then slowly raise the handle back up.

Rope attachment (harder): Use the rope attachment, and move your hands a few inches apart as you press the rope down. You may need to use less weight with the rope than you do with a bar.

Arm curl machine

The arm curl machine focuses on your biceps. Be careful if you’ve had elbow injuries.

Getting set
Adjust the seat so when you sit down and extend your arms straight out,
your arms are level with your shoulders and your elbows are lined up with the moving hinge or pulley of the machine. Sit down and grasp a handle in each hand with an underhand grip. See photo A in Figure

The exercise
Bend your elbows and pull the handles until they’re just above your shoulders (see photo B ), and then slowly lower the handles back down.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO make sure that you set the seat height correctly. If you set the seat too low, you’ll have trouble bending your arms and may place too much strain on your elbows.
• DO sit up tall and make an effort to pull exclusively with your arms as opposed to hunching up your shoulders or leaning back.
  
• DON’T use a chest pad to help haul the weight. If there’s a pad, use it for light support only.

Other options
Some gyms have arm curl machines that do a fair job of mimicking dumbbell work: The two sides aren’t connected so each arm has to do the work of lifting the weight. This type of machine is a good substitute or supplement for free weight work.

Concentration curl

The concentration curl is especially good for targeting your biceps and excluding all other muscles.
Be careful if you’ve had elbow injuries or are prone to lower back discomfort.

Getting set
Hold a dumbbell in your right hand, and sit on the edge of a bench or a chair with your feet a few inches wider than your hips. Lean forward from your hips, and place your right elbow against the inside of your right thigh, just behind your knee. The weight should hang down near the inside of your ankle. Place your left palm on top of your left thigh. See photo A.

The exercise
Bend your arm and curl the dumbbell almost up to your shoulder (see photo B), and then straighten your arm to lower the weight back down.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO bend forward from your hips instead of rounding your lower back to lean forward.
• DON’T lean away from your arm as you lift the weight up to help get better leverage. (Hey, that’s cheating!)

Other options

• Slant biceps curl: Sit on a bench with the back inclined a few inches. Lean back and curl the weight up. You can do this one hand at a time or with both hands together and with a twist as you curl upward or without a twist.
• Standing concentration curl: Hold a dumbbell in one hand. Stand alongside a flat bench, lean over, and place your other hand on top of bench. Let the arm holding the weight hang straight down to the floor. Bend your elbow so the weight moves up and in toward your armpit, and then slowly lower it back down.

Dumbbell reverse biceps curl

The dumbbell reverse biceps curl focuses on your biceps. Use caution if you have lower back or elbow problems.

Getting set
Hold a dumbbell in each hand with an overhand grip, and stand with your feet as wide as your hips. Let your arms hang down at your sides with your palms facing toward the back. See photo A. Pull your abdominals in, stand tall, and keep your knees relaxed.
The exercise
Curl your right arm close to your shoulder so your arm faces out away from your shoulder at the top of the movement. Slowly lower the dumbbell back down, and then repeat with your left arm. Continue alternating until you’ve completed the set. See photo B.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO keep your knees relaxed and your posture tall. This prevents you from swinging your body forward and back to help move the weight.
  
• DON’T swing your elbows out wide as you bend your arm to raise the weight. Keep your elbows close to your body without supporting them on the sides of your stomach for leverage.
• DON’T just let the weight fall back to the starting position. Lower it slowly and with control.

Other options

• Hammer curl: Instead of beginning with palms facing back, start with palms facing in and keep your palms facing in throughout the motion. Imagine that you’re pounding nails into a board with two large hammers. This version of the exercise puts more emphasis on your forearm muscles, as well as some of the muscles that reside underneath the biceps.
  
• Zottman curl (harder): Instead of beginning with palms facing back, begin with palms facing front with an underhand grip. As you curl your arm upward, rotate your palm in toward your body and bring it up and across to the opposite shoulder. This version of the dumbbell curl is slightly harder than the basic version.
• Seated biceps curl: If you find yourself cheating too much even with light weights, try sitting on a bench or a chair.

Barbell biceps curl

The barbell biceps curl targets your biceps.
Be especially careful if you have elbow problems. Whenever you add weight and bend a joint, it increases the stress to that joint. Therefore, if you have a weakened joint, you need to exercise extreme care not to overdo it and cause an injury. If you have lower back problems, you may want to choose a seated biceps exercise instead.

Getting set
Hold a barbell with an underhand grip and your hands about shoulder-width apart. Stand with your feet as wide as your hips, and let your arms hang down so the bar is in front of your thighs (see photo A of Figure 14-2). Stand up tall with your abdominals pulled in and knees relaxed.

The exercise
Bend your arms to curl the bar almost up to your shoulders , and then slowly lower the bar almost to the starting position.
Do’s and don’ts

• DO keep your knees relaxed. This protects your lower back.
• DON’T rock back and forth or lean way back to lift the weight. If you need to do that, you should be arrested for using too much weight.
  
• DON’T just straighten your arms and let the bar drop down to your thighs like a sack of rocks. Instead, lower the bar slowly to get the most muscle power from the exercise and to protect your elbows. And don’t lower the bar all the way back down because you lose tension on the muscle.

Other options

• Reverse-grip biceps curl (harder): Do the basic version of the barbell biceps curl holding the bar with an overhand grip. You feel this exercise more in your wrists. (Hint: Use a lighter weight for this version.)
• Cable biceps curl: Place the cable on the setting closest to the floor and attach a short or long straight bar. Hold the bar with an underhand grip and stand about a foot away from the cable tower. Curl the weight up and down exactly as in the basic version of the barbell biceps curl.
• Double biceps curl: Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing up, elbows resting lightly against your sides, and arms hanging down. Curl the dumbbells up and down together as if they were a barbell.

Avoiding Mistakes When Training Your Arms

Some people use such herky-jerky form when they perform arm exercises that they look like people dancing under a strobe light. Keep the following tips in mind when training your arms:

• Don’t cheat. If you contort your whole body to lift the weight, you work your whole body, not your arms. Rocking back and forth is also a great way to throw out your lower back. Think about how you’ll feel explaining to your friends that you wrenched your back while exercising your arms.
• Don’t skip your wrists. Few people pine away for forearms the size of Popeye’s.
• Go easy on the elbows. Exercise captions throughout this chapter tell you to straighten your arms. This, however, doesn’t mean snapping your elbows into a fully straightened position.
• Keep your elbows still. When your elbows veer out to the side during many biceps and triceps exercises, you’re able to lift more weight. However, this is only because you have more leverage; your arms aren’t getting any stronger. When you’re doing biceps exercises such as the dumbbell reverse biceps curl, you may also have a tendency to pull your arms and elbows forward to lift the weight. You can’t avoid this extra movement completely, but keep it to a minimum.