Here are some secrets to working your arms and shoulders, although it’s no secret that developing these body parts will do wonders for your physique.
Everybody wants big and/or shapely arms, but a key to a good physique is well-developed shoulders. Fortunately, it’s not too hard to have both.
There are three parts to the deltoid—the muscle that caps the shoulder. The front, or anterior, deltoid gets a lot of work in bench presses, so if you do presses, you may not need to work the anterior deltoid separately. A classic exercise that works the whole shoulder, while emphasizing the anterior deltoid, is the military press. Stand with your knees slightly flexed, holding a barbell at shoulder level with your elbows bent, palms forward, and hands outside your shoulders. Press the barbell straight overhead, without leaning backward, until your arms are straight but not locked out, and return to start. Do not do the version behind the head, as this can strain the shoulders. The same exercise, although called a shoulder press or overhead press, can be done seated, or with dumbbells either standing or seated. Try some variations when it comes time to change exercises. Many weight training machines have a shoulder press station.
The side raise is a good way to develop the middle deltoid, and also work the supraspinatus, part of the rotator cuff. Stand holding dumbbells at your sides. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows and your knuckles pointed up, raise your arms out to the sides until your hands are even with your shoulders, then return. You can also work the middle deltoid, plus biceps and trapezius, with an upright row. Although the classic way is to use a barbell, dumbbells are easier on your shoulders. Stand with your dumbbells at arms length, in front of your thighs, palms facing back. Raise the dumbbells up until they are at your collarbone, keeping your elbows as high as you can comfortably, with the dumbbells close to your body throughout.
Biceps development calls for a variety of biceps curls. You can use a barbell or dumbbells. You can alternate dumbbells or do them together with palms facing out, or do a twisting curl where you start with your palm facing your body at the side, then turn it forward as you begin the curl. The key to biceps work is to keep your elbow close to your side and not move at the shoulder or lean back. Machines sometimes have a variety of preacher curl, where your upper arms are angled out. You can use this if you have it, but if you don’t, don’t bother to rig one up. You will get a good workout from a seated dumbbell curl, either upright or at a slight incline, where you start the curl with your hands a little bit behind you. A hammer curl, like a dumbbell curl but with your palm facing your body, works both the biceps and brachioradialis, which runs from your upper arm into your forearm. Do the curl with your palm facing down, and you will shift the emphasis to your forearm. This can be done with dumbbell or barbell.
The triceps, at the back of the upper arm, takes up more of the arm than the biceps, so if you want big arms, you need to develop the triceps. Women, who tend to carry excess fat at the back of the arm, also want to work the triceps, but the result is most likely to be firming, not size.
The most common way of doing triceps exercises on a machine is to put a slanted handle on your lat pulldown station and do pressdowns, keeping your elbows at your sides and straightening your arm downward by moving at the elbow. With dumbbells, the French press behind the head is a good one. Point your elbow straight up and, starting with the dumbbell between your shoulders, straighten your arm out, finishing with the dumbbell overhead. You can hold your upper arm with the other hand to keep it from moving. For a kickback, lean over from the waist, either with your hand and knee on the opposite side from the one with the dumbbell on a bench or bracing that arm on a counter or other solid surface, and keep your elbow next to your side while you move the dumbbell from your shoulder to straight out parallel to the floor behind you. Move only at the elbow. You can also do a pressout. Lie on a bench with your elbows pointed up, start with the dumbbells by your ears and straighten your arms so the dumbbells are overhead. The barbell version of this exercise is called a “skull crusher” and should only be done when you have a spotter. A multi-joint exercise that emphasizes triceps is the close-grip bench press, where you do your benching with your hands about 18 inches apart and your elbows close to your body.
The only downside to developing or toning your arms and shoulders is that you may have to buy some new shirts.