WGBJ 3 - Workout 50 – Habit Nest

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    WGBJ 3 - Workout 50

    Workout 50: Biceps & Triceps 

    Bicep Exercises

    1. Preacher Curl

    1. To perform this movement, you will need a preacher bench and an EZ bar. Load your desired weight onto the bar and adjust the seat on the preacher bench so that your upper arms sit comfortably on the padding when you’re seated.
    2. Grab the EZ bar using an underhand grip with your palms facing upward. Lift the EZ bar to shoulder height.
    3. As you inhale, slowly lower the bar until your upper arms are extended and your biceps are fully stretched.
    4. As you exhale, curl the bar up until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at your shoulder height. Try to squeeze your biceps tightly and hold this position for a second if  you can.

    2. Single Arm Underhand Cable Curl

    1. Set up for the one arm cable curl by attaching a single grip handle to a low pulley cable and selecting the weight you want to use.
    2. Stand in front of the cable machine and grasp the handle with an underhand grip.
    3. Keeping your body fixed, elbow tucked in at your side, and eyes facing forward, slowly curl the weight up as far as possible.
    4. Squeeze the bicep at the top of the movement, and then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position. 
    5. Repeat for desired reps, and then repeat for the other arm.

    3. Overhead Cable Curl

    1. To begin, set a weight that is comfortable on each side of the pulley machine. Make sure the weight selected is equal on each side.
    2. Adjust the height of the pulleys on each side so that they’re positioned higher than shoulder height.
    3. Stand in the middle of both sides and use an underhand grip to grab each handle. Your arms should be fully extended to each side and parallel to the ground. Your palms should be facing upward and your feet positioned shoulder-width apart. 
    4. Keep your elbows in a fixed position as you slowly squeeze your biceps and curl your hands toward your shoulders. You should be squeezing in your biceps until your forearms and biceps touch.
    5. Lower your forearms back to the starting position while keeping your entire body stationary.

    4. Zottman Curl

    1. Stand upright with a dumbbell in each of your hands at arm's length. Your elbows should be tucked in close to your torso. Make sure your palms are facing your body before beginning the movement.
    2. Contract your biceps as you curl the dumbbells upward; only your forearms should be moving. As you curl up, rotate your wrists so that your palms are facing upward, like in an underhand grip. Continue this movement until the dumbbells are at your shoulder-level.
    3. Try to hold the contracted position for a second while sweeping your biceps. Then, in the contracted position, rotate your wrists again until you your palms are facing down, like in an overhand grip.
    4. With this overhand grip, slowly lower the dumbbells back down.
    5. As the dumbbells approach your thighs, rotate your wrists to return to your original grip with your palms facing inward towards your body.

    Tricep Exercises

    1. Dumbbell Skull Crusher

    This is just like doing a normal ‘skull crusher’, only you’re using dumbbells rather than an EZ bar or straight bar. With dumbbells, you sacrifice the amount of weight you can use because there’s less stability, but anytime there’s less stability, there’s more core strength involved, and the pressure on the muscle should be a little bit more dramatic. 

    1. Get either a flat or incline bench ready, and lie on the bench holding two dumbbells. Raise your arms so they’re perpendicular to your body.
    2. Make sure your wrists are straight and your hand isn’t bending over your wrist towards your body. Using your triceps, only extend your elbows up towards the ceiling. Avoid allowing your upper arms to move back and forth from their position as you raise and lower the weight. 
    3. As you power the weight back up, stop just short of full extension so that you're unable to rest in the top position, which keeps tension on the muscle throughout the range of motion.
    4. Keep your elbows in tight as much as possible and avoid elbow flare to ensure the triceps do the bulk of the work. Allowing your elbows to flare out reduces the triceps' workload.

    2. Dip

    1. Hold your body above the bars with your arms fully extended and nearly locked into the starting position.
    2. Inhale and slowly lower yourself downward. Your torso should remain upright and your elbows should stay close to your body to help to better work your triceps. Lower yourself until a 90° angle is created between your upper arms and forearms.
    3. Exhale and push your torso back up using your triceps (feeling a slight stretch in your shoulders) to bring your body back to the starting position.

    3. Overhead Rope Extension 

    1. Start standing with your feet shoulder width apart and dumbbells held in front of you.
    2. Raise the dumbbells above your head until your arms are stretched out straight.
    3. Slowly lower the weights back behind your head, being careful not to flare your elbows out too much.
    4. Once your forearms move beyond parallel to the floor bring the weight back up to the starting position. 
    5. Repeat!

    Your upper arms and elbows should remain in place throughout the movement


    4. Cross Body Tricep Extension

    1. This is similar to the ordinary single arm tricep extension you’ve been doing, only here you’re extending across your body rather than straight down and back. The crossbody extension focuses on the lateral head while the ordinary tricep extension hits the long head in the back of the arm (although both exercises work the entire tricep!
    2. Lift a cable pulley all the way up and make sure there’s a single arm handle on it. 
    3. Grab the handle, and stand horizontally in relation to the the cable like the picture above. 
    4. Keeping your elbow in place and your wrist still, pull down and out until your tricep is completely flexed, hold for a moment, and slowly go back to the starting position. 
    5. Switch sides when you’ve finished. 

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