Kolumne 9 | Sture Arme - Demo-Frey-Nutrition

Column 9 | Stubborn Arms

HOW TO FACE STUBBORN BICEPS MUSCLES.

Column 9 - Stubborn Arms
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Hello Andreas, I am 22 years old and weigh around 87 kilos with a height of 1.79 metres. So far I am actually quite happy with my physical development. My arms are just having a hard time. And because my shoulders respond very well to training, my arms look even thinner than they actually are. However, I don't want to have to cut back on my shoulder training - after all, broad, round shoulders always look good in a T-shirt.

Can you recommend a good arm program? Should I train my biceps and triceps separately? And what about special intensity techniques?

ANSWER

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Andreas Frey answers
In order to achieve success in terms of strength and muscle building, attention must be paid to training and nutrition. Both must be coordinated and optimized so that progress can be made.

NUTRITION

Make sure you increase your protein intake. Follow these guidelines:
  • Beginners: 2 g per kilo of body weight
  • Advanced: 3 g per kilo of body weight
  • Advanced: 3 to 4 g per kilo of body weight
  • Advanced dieters: > 4 g per kilo of body weight
PROTEIN-CONTAINING FOODS such as egg white, poultry, milk, curd and PROTEIN CONCENTRATES are suitable for this. During the build-up phase, keep your carbohydrate intake high so that you have enough energy for training. I recommend primarily complex carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, oatmeal and so on. Quickly available carbohydrates such as maltodextrin are only appropriate as post-workout nutrition and perhaps for breakfast in the morning to ensure that the nutrients are quickly absorbed into the muscle cells. The fat content should be between 0.8 and one gram per kilo of body weight. Vegetable oils such as safflower, rapeseed and linseed oil contain many healthy fats.
Cable bicep curls are effective, powerful and...

Biceps curls on the cable are
effective, efficient and...

...enables constant muscle tension!

...enable a
constant muscle tension!

The special emphasis on the negative aspects of a repetition leads to a higher growth stimulus.

TRAINING

Follow these basic rules:
  • maximum 60 minutes training time per workout
  • maximum ten sets for large muscle groups
  • maximum of six sets for small muscle groups
  • Training should always be short, intense, clean and difficult
  • special emphasis on the negative movement
The last point is particularly important. It has been proven several times that emphasizing the negative movement of a repetition, i.e. lowering the weights slowly, leads to a greater growth stimulus than is the case with conventional, fast-paced repetitions.

Clean and safe movement is important
To force the biceps muscles in particular to grow and to ensure optimal stimulation, integrate basic exercises into your workout. Barbell curls are very suitable for this. You can do them with a barbell or with a cable - both versions are equally effective! You can change the type of exercise after about 8 weeks to ensure a new growth stimulus.

Then do heavy dumbbell curls while standing or sitting. However, always be careful not to cheat, as this happens all too often with this exercise! Finally, do an isolation exercise, such as one-arm cable or hammer curls. Train your biceps directly after your back workout. This will save you a lot of time. Since the biceps are completely warmed up by the back work, you don't need to do any more warm-up sets and can devote yourself to the work sets straight away.

Biceps training twice a week in different load ranges is a clear option.
The combination of back and biceps is very useful
If your biceps still stubbornly refuse to grow, try training your biceps twice a week: the first session with heavy weight and in a range of eight to twelve repetitions and the second with less weight and in a repetition range of around 20. In this way, in the first session you primarily target muscle growth and in the second you target blood circulation by promoting capillarization, which ensures increased nutrient transport to the muscles.
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