How to Build Strong Full Spherelike Biceps and Thick Veiny Forearms

The Biceps are responsible for elbow flexion hence Biceps Curls being the most optimal biceps exercise. Chin-ups and Pull-ups both activate the biceps brachii. Curls can be done at three different angles. A close grip on a barbell, or curling a dumbbell inward toward your other shoulder will hit the long head of the biceps, which is the outer part. A wide grip, or curling outwardly works the inner biceps, which is the short head of the biceps. A curl with a standard grip or with a dumbbell that is curled neither inward or outward will hit both heads. Hammer Curls and Reverse Curls are good for hitting the biceps from a different angle as well as including some forearm muscles like the brachioradialis.

The Forearms can be hit in standard Wrist Curls, which hits the flexors (bottom of forearms), and Reverse Wrist Curls, which hit the extensors (top of forearms). They can also be hit through two other angles which can be done when your hand is turned neutral (hammer grip) and you point your wrist upwards. This hits the extensors from a different angle. The reverse of this hits the flexors from a different angle. Aside from these curls, Wrist Rolls are effective especially in the extensors. A high volume of pull-ups will work your forearms strongly as well as not using gloves or straps in all of your lifts.

Auxiliary Vortex: Recovery, Mobility, and Becoming Cut

I often find the times in which I design a new program, or come up with a new idea is when I"m injured. The injury will tell me how much volume and/or weight can injure said body part. The most recent injury to have plagued me is a minor roto cuff injury in my right shoulder. I think it's from cleaning and pressing 150lb over head. I don't train the clean at all, and that alone could have easily upset the roto cuff.

I took this week off from weight training, but have been hard at work in yoga, push-ups, and crunches. I can do a decent number of push-ups (172) without rest, and high total amount as well, but I haven't followed a routine for years in push-ups, and so I'm going to resume my previous push-up program, but have revised it to how I would prefer to do it. For example, I initially added push-up variations somewhat down the line from the start of the program, but I would probably do the variations from the start. I' resuming the program with Week 7. I completed the first three push-up workouts totaling at 832 push-ups for that week. This coming week will be 907 total.

In addition to the inclusion of the push-up program, I've gone back to my old pull-up program. I resumed week 5.5, which had 50 pull-ups total in 11 sets. My body had fallen apart after getting to about 125 pull-ups total and 750 push-ups total, so I'm starting at the half way point, and in three months expect to be in a very good place. I'm feeling the soreness from this past week's routines, and I'm a little worried about how the weight lifting will affect the pull-ups and push-ups. I'm looking at my weight lifting routine, and I'm trying to minimize it as much as I can, but the six lifts I want to do 5/3/1 with just seems to be too much work  My body will definitely fall apart after X number of months on this schedule (I'm aiming for three months), but hopefully I'll have reaped said forthcoming gains no matter how long I stay on it. I'll cut volume and lifts out entirely if I'm too beaten up. I think taking the joker sets (PR sets or +90% 1RM) out will keep me more fresh.

Furthermore into becoming more cut, I've been performing an ab circuit consisting of 69 total sit-ups. The first 45 are for the upper abs and the last 24 are for the lower abs. Yoga and foam rolling are recovery tools to keep your body mobile and functioning. Ultimately when devising this routine, I was looking for a way to continue strength training with heavy weight via 5/3/1 whilst having enough volume to act as a calorie burner, and a means to define the muscle. Programming push-ups and pull-ups in high volume serve that role. The crunches are something I may take into high volume, but are currently for a type of mere exercise to keep the abs strong and define them a little. Crunches have been known to strain your back and neck in high volume as well so the lower reps are good in that sense.

I am missing something for legs, and have been researching some leg routines, and hit upon a nice one today with decent volume, and after performing it, my legs felt very full. I'll do it a few more times, and continue looking around for others to compare and contrast more before I definitely structure something.

The Road to the 500lb Deadlift

I'll briefly comb over the routines I used with Deadlifting to get to my current PR of 480lb, which is shy a mere 20lb from 500lb. I first started Deadlifting three years ago with two 28lb dumbbells. I immediately loved the feeling of having my posture corrected. I hadn't ever worked my spinal erectors before that. Unknowingly while doing calf raises with a barbell at my hips, I was rack lifting the weight off the flat bench in order to start each set. This gave me some confidence in handling heavier weight.

I Deadlifted 135lb for 8 reps and felt exhausted, and recovered after a few days, and went up 5lb and did 8 reps until I was Deadlifting 385lb for 8 reps. At that point, I deloaded to about 225lb and did 8 reps, 2 sets, and climbed back up to 385lb. This was a routine I thought of myself which is as simple as it can get, which is how beginner routines should be. This gave me a strong lower back, and a stronger back in general, and also upped my muscle endurance and increased my CNS's ability to recover and take a beating.

After that, I somewhat neglected Deadlifting for a while because I had inadvertently ignored my other lifts comparatively. When I went back to Deadlifting, I focused on pulling heavy singles (405lb+). I hurt my spine on 420lb the first time I lifted it, and came back two weeks or so later and pulled it for twelve singles. I realized at around the 430-465lb range that my technique suffered very badly to the point where it was injuring me. This led to less Deadlifting, and made me even doubt my own strength, thinking what if 465lb was my maximum ability. I don't think in terms of maximum ability and ceilings though. I'd rather shoot for the stars and hit the ceiling than to implement an artificial ceiling when things feel like they're getting tough.

Dropping the straps, using a belt, and using a mixed grip launched me out of the 430-465lb range to 480lb as of two days ago, and it was not a hard pull, meaning my true PR is higher. The chalk is my latest added element that's increased my total lift weight. A funny note on adding my weight belt is that it makes crouching a bit harder because you're less mobile in the belt because of its tightness, and so I couldn't easily crouch down to tie in my straps. It was another reason to ditch the straps.

I've been using the 5/3/1 routine the past year, and it's a good method of progression that has you lifting in all three rep ranges of 5, 3, and 1. I find that lifting heavy weight for lower reps feels better on my body and is less harsh on my joints than higher reps with less weight. The amount of volume you do in any given lift is still customizable, so that you can also get significant time under tension and a high amount of muscle contractions.

Chalk for Weight Lifting

The subject of accessories such as gloves, straps, and chalk is important albeit sounding like a frivolous issue. The reason all three of those things comes up is because of grip strength and how conditioned your hands are to lifting. Gloves may sound like a good idea to prevent damage to your hands and to prevent the weight from slipping, but instead it acts as a handicap. No glove will fit correctly, and most limit finger and hand movement. Like doing yoga with bare feet for better friction, it is better to handle weights with your bare hands.

Upon the starting of Deadlifting, I ran into grip strength issues around 315lb. I started using straps on every set for about two years. My back got very strong as did my shoulders and lats, but my grip strength although stronger wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. I plateaued at a 465lb Deadlift using prone grip with straps, and I realized that using a prone grip changes how your back is set compared to a mixed grip. I had heard it to be silly to use a mixed grip with straps since you are using the straps, and that the bar won't slip regardless, but what I've learned is that mixed grip is indeed significantly different than prone grip.

I taught this lesson to myself by forcing myself to not use the straps in Deadlifting to prove I had good grip strength. I was able to pull 405lb, and pulled a bit heavier than that, and the more I pulled without straps, the more I realized my technique was improving, and I ditched the straps entirely. I tried mixed grip with straps, but didn't like the feeling, and knew bare hands were better. Now I'm pulling PRs with no straps bare hands and better technique.

The chalk is something that I didn't think would be necessary for myself. I figured I would stick with straps as to not limit my total weight lifted, but as I switched to bare hands, I noticed my hands ached from both volume and heavy weight. The answer was chalk. When applied before a set, you feel ten times stronger and more confident. Your grip is so snug that it feels like your flesh would be ripped off or your fingers broken before you would drop the bar by means of it slipping. This tightness in the grip along with its high friction forces you to keep your hands still, and so you don't mess around with your grip after you take it, and I feel you can set your back and entire frame in the lift better because of this.

I really recommend using chalk, and even if you're a beginner (if you are serious). It'll improve pull-ups, deadlifts, bench press, military press, curls, rows, muscle-ups, and dips. There is actually quite a large safety element in the use of chalk as well. In a pull-up, you could slip off the bar or in bench press you could drop the bar for example.

Intensity Unlocker - A Larger CNS Pool

An elusive variable to the lifting game is the size of your CNS pool. The Central Nervous System can take only so much abuse before your CNS is fried. A few years ago, and even recently I trained two days a week, performing huge workouts that spanned 2-3 hours or longer, and I felt I was able to keep up with the pace despite often hearing people recommending to keep workouts no longer than 1 hour. I did make gains at the time, and improved, but to comparatively look at a routine that has you in the gym four days a week for example with the same volume as the two day routine, but spread out amongst those four days, we can see that the CNS pool will be larger and allow us to lift with more intensity on each exercise.

Intensity in lifting terms is part of the trio in the formula intensity, frequency, and volume. To raise one of those three, you must lower one of the other two or both. Frequency is how often you lift, volume is the amount of reps per lift, and intensity is the available strength and power that you have at that given moment. A fallacy would be for someone to claim that they are so great their intensity is always ten out of ten, which is simply impossible. To excel in lifting, is to bend time to your advantage. For instance, any given muscle can take 24-72 hours to recover, and thus to hammer those muscles with lifting as soon as they're recovered will allow you to be more efficient.  The 24-72 hours rule is not a hard rule. For example, if I do only five reps of biceps curls, it won't take 24 hours to recover.

Muscles and their recovery is one aspect of lifting as are tendon strength, joint strength, and your CNS. It is easy to picture muscles, tendons, and joints, in our minds but the CNS is much more of a global aspect than a localized one. Compound lifts are often prescribed in many genres of fitness because they involve multiple joints, and thus work more of the body than an isolation exercise. Compounds will drain your CNS more so than isolations. The Deadlift especially is known for zapping the CNS, which is why it's often heard of that people do not program their Deadlift as frequently as other lifts, and many people seem to rely on their Squat to carry over to the Deadlift, which it does and not vice versa. I believe that reason is because they're both hip-dominant, although the Squat is more knee-dominant.

Deadlifts are infamous for making your lower back sore. Though I've noticed it is less the case when using a belt. The lower back (which is not a muscle in itself) takes longer to recover than any other muscle in our bodies. The lower back is part of the spinal erectors, which can often go neglected because they're hit the hardest in Deadlifts, and not everyone Deadlifts. I was recently Deadlifting after I had done the Back Squat and Front Squat at my heaviest weights, and therein it's clear that my CNS pool wasn't that large going into Deadlifts every week. I find grip strength, and having recovered hands (pain-free) is also a key aspect in training. I feel a soar of confidence when I have both my CNS and grip strength at disposal.

Upper Chest Information - A More Connected and Tighter Core

There are many chest related tidbits I'd like to hit upon. Firstly, a chest contraction is achieved by crossing the humerus (upper arm bone) across the sternum. So the most popular chest exercise - the Bench Press - can be hard to achieve a good chest (pec) contraction. It is more of an anterior deltoid (front of the shoulder muscle) and triceps exercise. If your arm angle is 90 degrees, you can hit the chest more easily, but the shoulders are left more vulnerable as are its interior rotator cuffs.

The Bench Press is commonly done on one of three bench positions - Flat, Incline, or Decline. There is much debate over the effects of using each bench position. For instance, bench pressing at a decline eliminates leg drive, shortens the range of motion, and decreases anterior delt activation, but is said to target the lower chest as well as the entirety of the chest. Dips when performed leaning forward can also hit the lower chest. Incline is said to hit the upper chest and the anterior delts more so than flat or decline. Lastly, flat is said to hit the mid chest.

At first I used just the flat bench, then switched to all 3 bench positions, then switched to just decline for a while, and hit my heaviest bench weight (275lb). After that, I stayed on flat for a long time to work on technique. I switched from a wider grip to a more narrow one to hit the triceps harder and to protect my shoulders for the long run. I often didn't feel comfortable with a wider grip, and had much elbow pain in the past from too many pull-ups and other elbow hinge joint movements. Lately, I've switched to incline bench only, and it's been a godsend.

The past few months I've been very focused on the Military Press especially, and have found a greater technique in keeping a tighter back and grip throughout the entirety of the movement. This has allowed me to lift heavier weights with more confidence and having less luck involved in making lifts. I allow the weight to slide upwards through the tension of my lats until it's overhead. I feel the incline barbell bench press in a similar way, but with much more chest involvement, and more anterior delt than my standard military press.

In having hit the incline bb bp consistently for a few weeks now, I can feel the entirety of my chest more easily. Everything is tighter around my upper chest are, and thus it allows me to have more tension. Any part of your body you feel lacks muscle activation can be brought up by working the surrounding muscles. The larger you grow your muscle bellies, the more beneficial they are in the terms of levers, which allow you to lift heavy weights.

I've been pairing my incline pressing with flat dumbbell bench pressing. I prefer using heavier weights for it, and have been using the 90s and 95s lately for reps. There is definitely a difference in using lighter weights versus heavier weights. I can often feel an ache in a limb or part of the body, and after doing a heavy weight lift utilizing that aching part, it feels better instantly.

300lb Squat

Squats didn't come easy to me. I had nowhere near the needed mobility and flexibility to hit the main key parts. I have long legs, and I think that makes for a slower and more awkward knee bend. I find my hamstrings are very strong, but my quads don't get worked as much. It's easier to load the hamstrings via the Deadlift than load the quads via the Squat.

I started with Low Bar Squats and switched to High Bar Squats about a year ago. I found them to target my quads much better than Low Bar Squats. I had to lower the weight though and learn a new technique. On a really crazy run, I hit 300lb in my squat, and hit 315lb the very next time, but haven't hit that since. Although I lift for strength, I also lift for building muscle mass, and I like to feel the weight a certain way before I increase it too much. I find that too heavy a weight, even if liftable, may not be as helpful as doing lighter weight with a better mind-muscle connection.

My last three squat days, I hit 300lb+, and the weight is very heavy, but it's a nice accomplishment. I think 315lb is a grab away, and thus a steal, so 405lb is the next goal.

Lat Control In Military Press and Incline Bench Press

I was doing the 5/3/1 routine, and I've been having trouble recovering fast enough, and have opted for only two workout days a week. Because the focus is on the Bench Press, the Squat, and the Deadlift, I've neglected my overhead press a bit. I stayed with Flat Barbell Bench Press for a long time (over a year), and have gotten to try many rep ranges, and have a good idea of where my strength is and the technique I have for it is quite nailed down. I wish I had a spotter, as I don't feel I can train as hard as I could. I'll have to try out the power rack one of these days.

I've decided to cut the flat barbell bench press and switch in Incline Barbell Bench Press and the Military Press. I also Front Squat on that day, and on the other day, I Squat and Deadlift.

My technique on the Military Press recently changed to having a much tighter back. After military pressing, I do Incline Barbell Bench Press, which is a very similar movement. It hits the shoulders well and hits the upper chest in a way that flat barbell bench press can not hit effectively. I also inlcude Lateral Raises and Rear Delt Rows. I think Front Squats work in well because they're not as taxing as Back Squats - one reason being the weight is lighter (half the amount). I also feel there's less back work in Front Squats, and less central nervous system overload like the big three.

This workout taxes my lats and shoulders heavily. The weather's changed recently, and I feel like my conditioning is a bit lacking. I can endure long workouts, but it feels a bit too tiring and draining at times. I Deadlifted 420lb for three singles this morning. I've switched from using straps to bare hands with mixed grip, and it feels really great on the body, and awful on the hands of course. I feel I can't lift for as many reps if I use just bare hands, but I think it may be just as beneficial. Having the grip to Deadlift 500lb for example would likely make every other lift that much easier because you've conditioned yourself to withstanding such weight.