Tag: Hammer

Tip: A New Way to Hammer the Triceps

While the close-grip bench press is great, MRI research shows that it emphasizes your lateral and medial triceps heads, not your long head (1). However, things change when you follow Mark Rippetoe’s advice to combine a pullover with a traditional skull crusher. EZ-Bar Pullover Triceps Extension While it looks like you’re cheating with your lats, the long head of your triceps is a two-jointed muscle. It extends your elbow and extends your shoulder. Yes, your lats help, but they simply work with your triceps and allow you to use more weight for more reps. Benefits You hammer the long head of your triceps – the biggest head which makes the biggest difference in your overall triceps size. Less elbow stress than traditional triceps extensions. Tips Bring the weight back behind your head like you’re doing a pullover. Get a nice triceps stretch, but don’t overdo it. As you come up, simultaneously move your elbows up as you extend them. Don’t bring your upper arm all the way to vertical; this will take tension off your triceps at the top. Start slow to get the hang of this, then add some controlled speed. Remember, your triceps are fast-twitch dominant muscles and they love speed. As you get stronger, hook your feet under a sturdy object or have a training partner hold your knees
Origin: Tip: A New Way to Hammer the Triceps

Tip: A New Way to Hammer the Hammer Curl

A “muscle round” is where you use a weight you could normally do about 12 reps with, but only do 4 reps with it. You rest 10 seconds and do another 4 reps. Do this 6 times. Then, on the last mini-set, you do as many reps as possible (AMRAP): 4 reps, rest 10 seconds 4 reps, rest 10 seconds 4 reps, rest 10 seconds 4 reps, rest 10 seconds 4 reps, rest 10 seconds AMRAP Here’s what it looks like with preacher hammer curls: Do these on the vertical side of a preacher bench. (If you use the angled preacher bench, there’s virtually no resistance at the top of the movement.) This gives you a built-in work to rest ratio because you’ll be swapping hands on each mini-set. The right arm does 4 reps, the left arm does 4 reps; back and forth like this for the entirety of the round. Do 2 complete muscle rounds to light the brachialis up, taking 2-3 minutes between each
Origin: Tip: A New Way to Hammer the Hammer Curl