It’s no secret that men spend about 50% – 60% on their hands during training in the gym. While the arms are only 15% – 20% of the total lean body mass. Usually, such an imbalance in the training process gives results for the first couple of months. Then the arms just stop growing. Guys start doing 4 – 5 exercises for biceps and the same amount for triceps, thinking that the arms do not grow because there is not enough exercise. They are pumped 2 – 3 times a week, but there is still no sense.
Sound familiar? Everything seems to be logical. If you want any muscle to become larger, you need to train it. But it’s not that simple. To begin with, I will tell you that 2 exercises per week for biceps and the same amount for triceps are quite enough for the growth of arm muscles.
So why swing your legs?
First, exercising your lower body is more conducive to testosterone production. Since such exercises involve more muscles. And the more testosterone in your body, the more prerequisites for muscle growth.
Secondly, our body is a single whole. And he strives to maintain certain proportions. With a big difference in development between the arms and legs, the arms simply stop growing.
Thirdly, to gain 1 cm in the bicep, you need to gain an average of 4 kg of muscle mass. And to gain this mass only at the expense of hands is unrealistic.
Fourth, doing too many arm exercises simply prevents them from recovering. There is such a nuance here that arm training does not take as much strength as exercises for the legs and back. Therefore, shaking only your hands, you will not feel strong general fatigue. And this creates the illusion that you haven’t loaded your biceps and triceps enough. This is dangerous because you start to train them even more, not giving them time to rest.
Hence the conclusion: stop raping your hands! There is no point in pumping biceps while standing with a barbell, then sitting right there with dumbbells, then sideways, cancer, then something else. Better instead, squat with a barbell, or do deadlifts.
That is, if you are a man and train 3 times a week for 2 hours (total 6 hours), then you should devote 1.30 to the legs and buttocks, 1.48 to the back, 36 minutes to the shoulders, 54 minutes to the arms, 18 minutes to the press and 54 minutes to the chest. And by the back, I mean both the latissimus and trapezius muscles and the extensors of the back.
Here I measure the load with time, not exercises. Since the exercises on the legs, as a rule, take much longer than on the arms. And it would be wrong to compare the load with exercises or sets.
I hope that I was able to convince you to pay no more attention to your hands than they “deserve”. If you liked the article, share it with your friends and subscribe to new ones. Good luck!
By the way, you can order yourself an individual set of exercises from Timko Ilya – the author of this article and this site.