Cross Training Workouts - Top Ways to Build Your Biceps and Triceps


Building big arms can either be a result of exercise or genetics. However, there are people who have gone overboard and piled on drugs so that they can grow their biceps.

CrossFit workouts

On average, a lifter has to work harder and a bit smarter if they have to build arms through CrossFit workouts. Understanding the basics of muscle building is important if you are to follow a path that won’t expose you to unnecessary dangers.

Mechanical Tension

To achieve this, you have to utilize substantial weights and perform your CrossFit exercises through a full range of motion for a given duration. The time you spend under tension brings about mechanical tension in your muscles. If this time is significant enough, the mechanical tension will be significant as well.

It is therefore advisable to lift heavy and use slower eccentrics in your quest to build biceps. The interesting bit with mechanical tension is that the stronger you get, the greater your capacity to recruit more muscle fibers for growth.

Metabolic Stress

When you train in sets that have a longer duration and relatively shorter rest periods, your muscles will accumulate lactic acid, creatinine, hydrogen ions, and many other metabolites which are the result of muscular contractions.

Since your muscles are being constantly assaulted while doing CrossFit workouts, it becomes difficult for blood to escape and this creates blood pooling effect.

CrossFit workouts

What You Need to Do to Build Arms

There are several things you can do to build your arms.

The first step is building a sufficient base of strength. A foundation of strength will allow you to create enough tension as well as make higher rep pump work much more effective. CrossFit workouts such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, and pull-ups can help you in setting the base.

The second step is to train for the pump. Experts point out that the sweet spot for building muscle is working out within the 8-12 reps range with moderate weight. This brings about metabolic stress and tension. There is a suggestion to add training methods or exercises that are a bit unfamiliar so as to moderate muscular damage.

The third step is to vary your grips. Do not stick to the same grip one workout after another day in day out. This leads to overstressing of the same muscle recruitment pattern and movement. Because of lack of variety, your elbow can be aggravated from overuse thereby leaving you with unbalanced arm development.

The different grips you can explore include wider grip, narrow grip, neutral grip, and shoulder width grip. The last step is to control the eccentric. Achy elbows are one of the commonly cited pain points for Olympic weightlifting enthusiasts.

CrossFit workouts

This could be occasioned by the athletes attacking curls as they would a max deadlift. When this happens, they lose control on their way down thereby taxing their tendons instead of biceps. It is always important to have the end goal in mind to maximize the mind-muscle connection, stimulate the muscle, and get a pump.

 


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