Always Use Good Training Form
Although not a lot of bodybuilders and trainers talk about it, it is an unsaid rule that when performing an exercise you should always use good training form. Good training form often referred to as perfect training form is about performing every exercise in a strict fashion usually holding the back perfectly straight. With almost all standing exercises your back should be slightly arched with your chest up and your shoulders back in a typical military style standing position throughout the entire movement from start to finish. Never should you perform an exercise with your back hunched or leaning forward while in a standing position.
Since this website focuses primarily on big arm development I will concentrate the information on good training form as it relates to building arm size and strength. I will address each of the muscles in the arms individually and explain good training form technique.
When training the biceps with perfect form you always want to complete a full repetition for each rep in a set. Let’s say you are performing standing barbell curls, the correct training form for this exercise is as follows. Stand with you back upright in the straight position with your chest up and your arms by your sides, slowly bring the weight up, bringing the bar up near your chin, flex your biceps at the top of the movement then lower the bar down to the bottom position with your arms out totally straight, then perform the same rep again. The whole time while performing this exercise your back stays in the upright position, never do you lean forward to help swing up the weight. If you need to lean forward to help swing up the weight you are using a weight that is too heavy. Also, by using your lower back to swing up the weight you are putting your lower back in a vulnerable position and increasing the chance of an injury. The same thing goes for all other forms of curls for the biceps, whether using a bar, dumbbells or cables, you always need to keep your chest up and your back straight. Always keep your back straight while performing any of these exercises whether standing or seated and always perform a full repetition during every set or at least until the failure point of each set, that’s when it’s time to finish the set.
If you are training the triceps using any type of pushdown movement you always should keep your back straight throughout the movement and bring your arms up to the point where your forearms are parallel with the floor at the beginning of the exercise. Pushdown on the cable from the parallel point until your arms are both straightened at the bottom of the movement and flex you triceps at the bottom. Slowly raise the arms back to the parallel position with your elbows neatly tucked into your sides throughout the entire movement and then pushdown for another rep. Once again the only time you will not be able to complete a full repetition is if you reach the point of muscle failure. When performing any lying triceps movements you also want to complete a full rep each time, if you are doing close grip bench presses you should be lying on your back but your back should be arched enough so you could fit your hand in between the bench and your lower back. While performing lying tricep extensions your back should once again be arched and when you lower the bar you should take it all the way to the top of your head bending your elbows to the maximum point. Often I see people performing lying tricep extensions or skullcrushers and they only slightly bend their elbows. If you cannot bring the bar all the way to the top of your head almost touching the top of your head then you are using a weight that is too heavy. If you are doing behind the head seated tricep extensions with a dumbbell you should keep you back straight and your chest up to avoid injury to you lower back and place more resistance directly onto the triceps muscles you are targeting.
Training forearms with proper training form is as equally important as all other muscles so if you are performing reverse grip barbell curls you need to keep your back straight and always complete a full rep until failure. Many other forearm building exercises consist of curling weight at the wrist and to do this it’s usually possible to sit down and concentrate on the wrist but once again use good form when using any of these exercises by bending the wrist out and squeezing in hard as you wrist curl the weight back towards your body.
Using good training form every time you go into the gym will not only allow you to build full and impressive muscles, there will be less chance of an injury occurring that could potentially halt your progress. Adopting proper training form is also a great habit to get into as it places more resistance on the muscle you are directly working and less stress on other joints in your body and your lower back.