The four day workout - Wednesday, biceps and triceps

This week we’re going to go over a relatively basic 4 day workout. This workout has a good general makeup that allows a person to cover all the major muscle groups. It’s not geared towards any specific goal and it uses a minimum of specialized equipment. When I do this workout, I usually do four sets of each exercise with ten reps in each set. That means a single set is ten repetitions of the same exercise without a break for rest. After those ten you rest, do another set and so on for a total of four sets. By the way, even though the article titles are going to have specific days in them, there’s no reason why you can’t change the days around. Feel free to make Tuesday your legs day put some of these workouts on a weekend day. Remember, the best schedule is the one you’re comfortable with. Now let’s take a look at today’s workout.

Biceps and triceps

Biceps and triceps tend to get too much attention, especially from guys. We tend to think women look at nothing but our upper arms. We also think that if they see some bulging biceps they’ll just swoon and fall into our arms in joyful bliss. Well, the truth is that most women don’t care as much about biceps as we think they do. In fact, there are a number of recent studies that show women look far more often at a man’s back, butt and shoulders than they do at biceps. However, be that as it may, the upper arm area is still an important part of your body and needs to be worked out.

Workout Basics

I like to alternate my muscle groups as I work out. That means one exercise will work a specific area and then I’ll move on to a different area with the next exercise. For today, that means these exercises will alternate back and forth between biceps and triceps. I like this method because it lets me rest a specific area without halting my workout. That way I maximize the use of my time in the gym.

Also, keep an eye on your form. Biceps are one of the most commonly abused areas during a workout. You’ll see people lifting more weight than they should and then get their whole bodies involved in the movement. That’s just plain silly. Try to keep the rest of your body stable and engage only your arm in the movement. Yes, you might not curl quite as much, but you’ll get a far better workout.

The exercises

Bar curl - We start with a simple curl using a barbell. If you are doing this at home and do not have access to a barbell, you can substitute two dumbbells. Look at the video included with this exercise. Do you see how the guy’s body swings back and forth as he lifts? That’s something you want to avoid. Your lift should be smoother, slower and more stable than the one shown in the video.

Skull crusher - Staying with the barbell but moving on to our triceps, we’re going to do an exercise called the skull crusher. Don’t be intimidated by the name, it’s actually very easy to do. Again, if you’re doing this at home, you can substitute two dumbbells for the barbell.

Hammer curls - Back to biceps for one of my favorites, the hammer curl. It’s a simple exercise done with dumbbells. Keep your body stable and your lift nice and slow.

Standing Extension - And now the opposite exercise for the triceps. Notice how this works? One exercise for a muscle group followed by another exercise for the opposite muscle group. It allows you to rest a muscle without stopping your workout. You could even alternate sets if you want. One set of biceps followed by one set of triceps, whatever feels comfortable to you.

Concentration curls - We finish up biceps with concentration curls, another dumbbell exercise. At this point, if you’ve been using the right weight, you’re going to have a lot of trouble getting that weight up, especially on the fourth set. That’s good, it means you’re working out to just the right level.

Kick back - And the last triceps exercise, the kickback. By the way, you don’t have to use the same weight for all these exercises. Many people find that their triceps are stronger than their biceps. So you may want a heavier weight for those exercises.

Summary

And there you go, a simple biceps and triceps workout, most of which can be done at home with just a set of dumbbells.  Again, feel free to modify this workout to suit your needs.  For example, you may want to do 3 sets of 15 instead of 4 sets of 10.  I often see women do fewer but longer sets because that’s supposed to increase muscle tone while not bulking you up.  If that’s what you want, feel free, and as always, enjoy.

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