The Brachialis - Often Neglected, And Limiting Factor In Arm Development

The brachialis is a relatively small elbow flexor that, when developed, adds a third dimension to one’s upper arm development (along with the lateral head of the triceps), very much the same way a pair of developed rear delts give the shoulders a three dimensional appearance. When relaxed and viewed from the front, the brachialis ads thickness and width to the upper arm more so than any other local muscle (especially noticeable in bodybuilders in the front relaxed pose). Reigning Mr. Olympia Phil Heath, and former Olympia competitor and bodybuilding fan-favorite Lee Priest, are perfect examples of this as they each display a pair of developed brachialis muscles that seemingly pop out of their arms in virtually every single pose.

Doublé - How To Divide The Workload And Maximize Results

Get Rid Of The Garbage

When it comes to building size or strength, most people spread themselves too thin by performing too many garbage sets/exercises. ‘Garbage’ in this case being time and energy spent doing anything that does not maximally contribute to the end result. More often than not, time is best spent focusing on fewer movements, those which provide the greatest return on investment, instead of wasting time and energy performing more sets/exercises that provide a lesser return. In fact, performing too many sets/exercises can be counterproductive if the nervous system is engraining motor patterns for movements that aren’t major factors in producing results, or the body cannot recover from the excessive workload.

But doing the same thing over and over, regardless of whether or not it provides the most return on investment, can get boring, which is why people veer off and tack on other exercises during a workout in the first place. There is a way however, in which more time can be put towards the ‘money’ movements, which also happens to be a very effective way to boost results, and this is with the ‘doublé’ method.

Anabolic/Androgenic Hormonal Profiles

Hormones play a major role in who we are, and even subconsciously influence our decisions, but as it relates to performance in the gym or in competition, they play the biggest role of all. Anabolic and androgenic hormones in particular aid in recovery, among other things, which enables you to train or compete more frequently and ultimately help you make gains that would otherwise be impossible. The higher level of anabolic hormones in the body, the bigger, faster, stronger you will be. Unfortunately there is only so much of any given hormone that the body will “naturally” make. Therefore, to increase the amount of these powerful hormones, one must take them from an unnatural, outside source.

This article is not so much about when or where synthetic hormones came from, but more so will cover the different popular ones commonly used by strength trained professional and amateur athletes, bodybuilders and physique competitors, and guys just looking to get big! I am by no means trying to promote the usage of synthetic hormones, simply just relaying information that some people would benefit from, and prevent “curious” users from making any irreversible mistakes.

How To Use Static Contractions To Maximize Dynamic Strength, And Increase Size

Dynamic vs Static

A dynamic contraction is one in which there is a change in muscle length, as it either lengthens (eccentric contraction), or shortens (concentric contraction), while producing force. A full range repetition consists of both, as the involved musculature produces enough force to shorten and ‘overcome’ the resistance, before reversing the motion, while still producing enough force to ‘yield’ the rate in which resistance lowers, as the muscles lengthen.

A static (isometric) contraction refers to a muscle generating force without physically seeing a change in its length – the fibers may actually shorten as they produce force, but the relative joint angle remains the same.