Building Biceps and Triceps are one of the most sought after muscle group for guys.

Note: Forearms

While training these muscles, your forearms will be getting a good workout at the same time. So, if you are just starting to develop the arms, you do not need to work your forearms right away. However, later on when your biceps and triceps are more developed, that will be the time to start working your forearms with specific exercises.

Two Important Tips

To Maximize Muscle Mass…

• You need to Eat the Right Foods and
• Mix Up your Training with Different Exercises

Eat The Right Foods

Protein and carbohydrates are the key ingredients for muscle growth. For more information on this topic, read my articles Foods For Muscle Growth and Whey Protein For Bodybuilding

Mix Up Your Training

Some people have a hard time seeing results in their arms. When you do one exercise over and over again, the muscle becomes adaptive to the routine and will not continue to grow. One trick to use is to confuse the muscle by switching exercises. This will make the muscle work differently and cause the muscle to grow. For more information about muscle confusion and other techniques, read both my articles Bodybuilding Weight Training To Gain Muscle Mass and Weight Training Techniques.

Here are some exercises you can do to develop huge arms…

BICEPS

STANDING BARBELL CURL

This exercise stresses the bicep muscle and the forearms. When doing this exercise, make sure you do not rock your body back and forth trying to force the barbell up with your back muscle. You can seriously hurt yourself.

Changing the width of your hands on the barbell will give you extra variations you can try and targets different areas of the bicep. Most people do these curls with their hands shoulder width apart.

STANDING DUMBBELL CURL

This exercise works out the bicep and the forearm muscles. To perform this exercise, have both dumbbells at your side with your palms facing inward. With one arm at a time, lift the dumbbell upwards and at the same time twist your palm until it is facing toward the ceiling. Lower that arm and lift upwards with the other arm at the same time. This twisting motions will give your muscle a better chance to grow because of the greater range of motion.

PREACHER CURL

The preacher curl helps isolate the bicep and really focuses all the energy into that movement. You can use a barbell, one or two dumbbells, or a pulley on the preacher curl.

TRICEPS

PULLEY PUSHDOWNS

This exercise develops the triceps. Using a pulley system, you can really focus on isolating the triceps into a good pump. You can use a rope, an angled bar, or a straight bar to grab on to.

TRICEPS DIPS

Using your body weight to build up your triceps is great. As you get stronger, you can place weight on your lap.

Basically, find two objects that are equal in height with a flat surface such as two chairs, two tables, two benches, you get the idea.

Now place the two objects parallel to each other with enough space between the two so you can place your back to one object while putting both your hands on the surface to lift your feet off the floor. Then put both your feet on the surface of the other object.

Push your body up with your arms until they are extended. Then lower your body down until your elbows are at a angle as shown in the above drawing. This is one rep.

BARBELL TRICEPS EXTENSIONS

To do this exercise you need to lay on your back on a bench and have a narrow grip on the barbell. Have your arms fully extended in the air like if you were doing a bench press. Lower the barbell behind your head and raise the barbell in the air using your elbows as the pivot. This is a great triceps exercise.

DUMBBELL KICKBACKS

Grab a dumbbell and lean forward with your elbow bent, extend your arm backwards and slowly lower it back to the starting position.

A Few More Tips

• To work your triceps more during your bench press exercise, use a narrow grip on the bar.

• To get the most out of these exercises, make sure your have plenty of rest in between your workout days. Give it one or two days rest between workouts.

• Make sure you eat plenty of protein to help your muscles grow.
  

Lets Break Down How to Build Muscle Mass And Getting Ripped

This article will take you through a two step process. The first half will cover how you can get Huge and Bulk Up. The latter half will go over how you can get Shredded. You can get Big and Ripped at the same time, but it will take you longer to reach your goal this way.

The key is to break up both goals into two different stages, Doing it this way will get you bigger and more ripped in less time. In both of the steps, you will have to focus on your…

• Diet and
• Weight Lifting

Building Muscle Mass

Getting huge is the easier of the two steps. First, your diet will consist of more calories then you need a day. This is because you need more calories to build muscles in your workout. These extra calories help in your energy during your workout and helps in the recovery of your muscles after your workout.

Your diet should consist of plenty of proteins throughout the day. Make sure you load up on complex carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are what gives you energy. Stay away from the simple carbohydrates though, they will only give you a short burst of energy and you will feel a energy crash in about an hour.

Also, stay away from junk foods including fast foods. They only hamper your progress. Always drink plenty of water throughout the day.

Method of Lifting to Build Muscle

The other part of getting huge is how you lift your weights. You should be lifting heavy weights with little reps and sets in between. Make sure you exhaust your muscles fast with the heavy weights. Increase your weights every week and always push your muscles on every exercise. If you are eating right and give your muscles enough time for rest, you should be able to see great gains in your muscle mass.

Getting Ripped

Now that you have built the muscle, you need to shred off that layer of fat you put on when you were growing muscles. The good news is that now you can lose more body fat faster. This is because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

Your Diet Is Critical

Your diet needs to completely change. This might be the hardest part of entire process. You now need to consume less calories then you use. The trick is not to starve yourself, but have more meals. That right, more meals. The key is to have these meals smaller then your usual three course portions. You will have to consume about 300 calories less then you use a day to see good results. Since it takes 3500 calories to burn one pound of fat, this three hundred calories goal is healthy and you will see results.

You will have to keep the protein levels about the same as when you were getting huge, but now you will have to lower the fat and carbohydrate count lower. Try to cut most of the fats out of your diet. This will be hard but effective. You will not be able to completely erase all fats from your system, just try to lower them as low as possible.

And, the carbohydrates will have to be eaten in the morning and afternoon to give you that energy for your workout. Try to eliminate all fats and carbohydrates at night before you go to bed. Instead, load up on proteins. This will help you burn calories at night when you are recovering from your workout. And as always drink plenty of water.

Method of Lifting Must Now Change

Your workouts will have to change in order for you to get shredded. Instead of lifting heavy weights with low reps and sets, you will now do the opposite. You will lift lighter weights with more reps and sets. You will have to combine different exercises into a giant set to fatigue the muscle and get the muscle defined. Trisets and Giant Sets are great for this type of getting ripped exercises.

It is also advisable to add some form of cardio into you routine. High Intensity Interval Training gets the best results for losing weight and keeping the muscle mass you have recently gained.

Conclusion

You must always get huge before you can get shredded. You have to build the muscle and then burn the fat. Building more muscle will help you shred off that layer of fat. Diets plays a big roll in building Muscle Mass and Getting Ripped.

When you’re training to gain a Lean Muscle Body, you need to do a certain type of workout that allows you to lose weight (that unwanted fat between your muscles and skin) and still build muscle at the same time. Thats right, you will want to keep growing some muscle mass while burning off the fat. However, keep in mind in order to achieve a Ripped and Lean Body means you do have to give up the full potential of your maximum muscle growth.

In the beginning, when you start bodybuilding, your goal should be to lift weights for muscle mass and not worry about the lean muscle aspect. Later, after you have gain the proper amount of muscle mass, you will want to change your workout and train to get ripped. I’m assuming that you’ve been working out for a while, gaining muscle mass. This will make it easier for you to lose the weight. Up to this point you should have been lifting weights with low reps and low set with a lot of weight. Now is the time to take that muscle and shape it.

Tip 1: Weight Training - Reps, Sets and Weight

You must use more Reps and more Sets with Lower Weights. This is the tricky part. You don’t want to use too little weight which will cause you to lose the muscle mass you have gained and you don’t want to use too much weight or you will not get that lean muscle effect. To find out what is the right amount of weight, you need go through a trial and error to test the amount of poundage which is right for you.

Tip 2: Diet

The second most important thing you need to change to get a more lean muscle appearance is your diet. You are used to eating lots of carbohydrates and protein and your calorie intake was higher when you were building muscle mass. Now, you must cut back on the carbohydrate and the calories so you will start losing the fat. The protein must stay relatively the same because if you are lifting weights right, you are still gaining muscle mass but not as much as you were before.

Tip 3: Cardio Exercise

Finally, you must add some sort of cardio routine into your workout program. Intensity Training is a great way to help lose the weight and get your body into shape. For example, if you run 5 miles, every fourth of a mile on the mile, you should sprint as fast as you can and then jog the rest of ¾ of the mile, then repeat every mile. This will get you into shape fast and burn the calories. Since you are sprinting every mile, you are exhausting your body and you will use the reserve calories that are stored in the body. These reserved calories are called fat. Note, the Intensity Training can be applied to any exercise, such as biking, swimming, etc.

Conclusion

When putting all three Tips into effect…

• Weight Training
• Diet
• Cardio Exercise

…you will achieve that lean muscle appearance. Lean muscle workouts are more then just hitting the gym and lifting weights. It is dedication, will power, and knowledge all combined to shape your body into whatever you want it to look like.

Fact is, the more Muscle Mass you gain and keep during Bodybuilding will result in Greater Fat Loss. The simple reason is, it takes calories to grow muscles therefore, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you will burn.

Doing Basic Exercises using Free Weights will Burn Fat more Efficiently then Cardio Exercises

To maximize your fat loss, you need to target the big muscle groups like…

• Chest
• Back and
• Legs.

These muscles are the largest on your body and will burn more calories then the other smaller muscles. After you finish your exercises, your body will continue to burn calories. This is because the muscles need to recover from the workout. What happens is, right after exercising each muscle, blood rushes to these muscles to begin the healing and repairing of the damaged cells. For the next 48 hours or so, your muscles will grow. This will cause your body to use more calories and that is how fat loss occurs.

Now, lets take this Bodybuilding Muscle Mass Fat Loss to the next step

The key here is you need to use exercises that work the large muscles while involving other smaller muscle too. Some of the best exercises to do that are…

• Squats
• Bench Press
• Bent Rows
• Dips
• Cable Crossovers

You can get a total body workout with these few exercises. Keep your rest short between the sets and push your body to the limit. You will get your heart rate up and you will be out of breath when the work out is over.

Some of the elements to promote body weight reduction in bodybuilding isn’t only strength, you have to consider speed and conditioning. These element need to be combined to get the most beneficial fat loss results.

Remember, it is wise to see a doctor before starting any type of exercising activity, especially one like the above.

Bodybuilding is easy once you know what to do to get results. One of the nice benefits of gaining muscle mass is you will burn a portion of your fat during the time you are building muscle. The reason is two fold. First, it takes energy (calories) to repair and build muscles.  Second, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will use throughout the day.

Basic Bodybuilding Exercises

For those of you who are just starting out lifting weights, you need to focus on the big muscle groups to gain the most out of each workout. You will see more results building these bigger muscles rather then exercising smaller, individual muscles. Some exercises that focus on the larger muscles are…

• Bench Press - develops the whole Chest and Triceps
• Bent Rows - develops Back and Biceps
• Squats - develops Thighs and Calves
• Barbell Curls - develops Biceps and Forearms
• Calf Raises - develops the Calves

Rest & Recovery

The time period of rest is very important to the growth of muscle mass. Between bodybuilding workouts, you will have to rest your muscles at least 48 hours after each workout. The harder you exercise, the longer you need to rest the muscles. When starting out, you need to take it slow and get your body used to the new stress it will under go. If you workout too hard in the beginning, you may injure yourself or become very sore and may not be able to lift until your muscle(s) recover. This is a lost of weight training time you can avoid. Also, if you do not give each muscle the right amount of time to rest, you will stunt the growth of your muscles.

Listen To Your Body

The human body is amazing. It communicate to you every minute of your life. All you have to do is pay attention to what it is telling you at any moment. For example, during each exercise, tune into the muscles that are being worked…

Is there pain in the joints…

Possibly you are using bad form or too much weight or it maybe a small injury from the last workout which you did not notice.

Learn the Burn…

This will take several weeks, but once you get this right, your growth should improve. Too much burn will cause soreness during the rest period and not enough burn will result in little muscle growth.

This is just a small sample of what you can learn from paying attention to your body.