Top 5 Workouts For Better Triceps

Quite a few gym-goers who do weight training, misinterpret that one must focus exclusively on biceps to build size on arms. But you would be surprised to know that it’s actually your triceps that comprises of 66 per cent of your upper arms mass.

To make your arms look, more like a shotgun than a pistol, you need to spend less time on your biceps in the gym, and devote more time on your triceps to get the desired results; well-defined titanic arms.

Here are 5 of the best exercises get your guns growing for triceps!

1. Triceps Dips – It’s one of the most effective and simple to perform move, which doesn’t require any major equipment. A dipping bar or two flat benches is all you need to get going on this style of workout. 

Traditional dips allows the body to handle more weight, therefore, are much better for building overall muscle mass.

2. Close Grip Bench Press - Bench press is the most effective exercise to work on your chest, but a minor change in the grip can expand your arms that destroy all three heads of the triceps at once.

Place your hand closer so your triceps, now lower the weight down until your triceps are parallel to the ground. Hold for a second at the bottom, and then accelerate back upwards.

3. Over-Head Triceps Extensions - Hold one dumbbell and raise your arm behind your head with your elbow bent. Bend elbow, lowering the dumbbell behind your head towards the neck. 

Extend elbow until your arm is almost fully extended. Make sure that the stretch is on the arm and not the forearm. The weight shall go on arms for better and defined results.

4. Cable Push Down - Cable push down is the most common triceps exercise. Surprisingly its results is magnificent.

Save it for the last in your workout schedule and finish your heavy duty workouts before you come to this. You can use the V-bar and straight bar attachments, instead of rope.

5. Barbell Lying Triceps Extension - Load a barbell bar with weight plates, lay on a flat bench with narrow overhead grip on a barbell and extend your arm straight overhead. 

Lower bar, to forehead by bending elbows, Extend arms. Repeat.

- Sanjay Verma

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What Does Alcohol Do To Your Gym Training

Most of the people, are aware of the imprecations when it comes to consuming alcohol and the potential effect it can have on their lifestyle. And hearing from your training partner that he/she can not come to the gym on a given day, because they partied too hard the night before, should not come as a shocker of a news.

This may just be a one-off example, but we are here to talk about what are the real effects of alcohol on your training over a lengthier period of time.

Concentration Levels: Scientific researches over the years have proved that alcohol severely reduces your mind’s ability to accept and process information and can occur almost instantaneously. It has also been seen to alter both hormonal functioning and glycogen metabolism and with reduced glycogen metabolism your body will always be short on receiving energy supplies.

Not only this, but alcohol consumption can also lead to errors of judgment and diminished levels of focus and motivation that easily be termed as detrimental to one’s normal life.

Dehydration: This probably is the most common after-effect of alcohol consumption and can play a major role in your gym regime going for a toss. It is a known-fact that your body’s water supply is heavily utilised during alcohol consumption in an attempt to metabolise the alcoholic toxins. And this results in water being diverted away from other bodily functions that are essential to keep you hydrated. Even small percentage adjustments away from your body’s optimum hydration levels can create large discrepancies in your performance levels, thus, bad or no gym sessions.

Energy Levels: Alcohol has a limiting effect on the metabolism of various substances within the body. And one of these substances, probably the most relevant to your workout too, is carbohydrate. If the process of carbohydrate metabolism is compromised, then ultimately, the fuel to power the body i.e. glycogen is reduced below the desired level. This can result in premature fatigue and diminished endurance and strength.

Recovery Rates: Intake of alcohol reduces your body’s ability to absorb protein, resulting in a less readily available supply for your muscles if you intend to gain a certain level of fitness. This reduction means, that both, recovery and growth rates are diminished.

This could ultimately affect your ability to continually train on consecutive days and can later become a more frequent habit. Alcohol consumption has also been negatively correlated with the production and release of your body’s own growth hormone.

Supplying Oxygen: One of the many side effects that alcohol consumption has is the heart’s ability to carry out its responsibilities to the fullest. This may not be noticed in a sedentary individual but for those undertaking training it can impact massively on cardiovascular fitness levels and the ability of the heart to supply oxygen to the working muscles.

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How To Do German Volume Training!

Brutally hard, but an effective way to pack on muscles and if you guessed it to be German Volume Training, then you definitely know the methods of bodybuilding.

Also known as ’10 sets method’, GVT was popularised in the mid 70′s by the then German Coach; Rolf Feser. It helps weightlifters in gaining lean body mass and shed unnecessary body fat. Targeting specific muscle groups and motor units to build massive muscles, this is a very intense workout with repetitions that pushes the body to adapt to the extraordinary, and of course, painful stress through accelerated muscle fiber hypertrophy.

The theory of GVT is to complete 10 sets of 10 repetitions  with the same weight for each exercise. When you select a weight level that is about 60-70 per cent of the maximum weight that you lift in your regular schedule, but do 10 sets of it with 10 reps, then you surely are following, the German way of exercising.

Core principles of GVT

Single exercise – As you will be performing a limited number of workouts every week, it is advisable to select workouts that recruit a lot of muscle mass and concentrate on that. Stick to heavier, compound-style lifts that can push the major muscle groups hard. Triceps and leg extensions can take a back-seat with bench-press and squats given more emphasis.

Tempo – For workouts like squats, dips and chins, use a 4-0-2 tempo; this means that you lower the weight in four seconds, immediately change direction and lift for two seconds. For movements such as curls and triceps extensions, opt for 3-0-2 tempo.

Rest intervals – Some might question the value of GVT in the initial sets, when you don’t feel the weight to be that heavy. However, with minimal rest period of about 45-60 seconds, the fatigue part will definitely come in, thus, resulting in the need of extra efforts and pushing it hard. The interesting part is, that you might feel stronger again by the 8th and the 9th set because of short neural adaptation and get back in the groove of it. Key is to keep an eye on the watch when you take rest, as you want to keep the process constant and not lengthen it any time during your workout.

Frequency of training – The first two words from the first line of this post i.e brutally hard, shall give you enough of indications for this. Because of the intensity of German Volume Training, the muscles take longer than usual to recover and need proper rest to recuperate. Therefore, one training session per body, every four to five days is plenty.

Stepping it up – Once your body gets used to the schedule of 10 sets with 10 reps and you find it easy to do, increase the weight on the bars by 5-7 per cent and repeat the process for improvement in results.

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