What are the arm muscles?
The arms are made up of three types of muscles. ” There is the biceps brachial which is formed of two portions, one long and one short, the muscle brachial who is responsible for elbow extension and which is composed of an anterior and posterior compartment. These two muscles participate in the flexion du bras », explains Valérie Leduc, doctor of medicine and co-founder of Maison Epigenetic. And there is the forearm which is the “grip” muscle, without it, you can’t carry anything.
Arm strength training, why it is important
“It is very important to ensure that we keep a good muscle mass, car from the age of 30 the muscles begin to melt », alert the doctor. And muscle wasting, called sarcopeniais a harbinger of aging. “To combat this phenomenon, it is important to do resistance training and to have a diet rich in protein”says Dr. Valérie Leduc.
Prioritize protein-rich foods
The best sources of animal protein are for 100 g:
- dried meat (51 g),
- Grisons meat (37.4 g),
- parmesan (34.9 g),
- raw ham (31 g),
- the veal cutlet (31 g),
- beef tenderloin (29.1 g),
- poultry (28.9 g),
- l’emmental (28,4 g),
- with a ton (27.6 g),
- smoked salmon (23.2 g).
The best food sources of vegetable proteins are per 100 g:
- spirulina (65 g),
- soy (36 g),
- hemp seeds (26 g),
- pumpkin seeds (25 g),
- azuki beans (25 g),
- le fenugreek (23 g),
- and tempeh (20 g),
- walnuts (20 g),
- chickpeas (19 g),
- chia seeds (17 g).
How to build arm muscles without equipment?
Before starting an “arm session”, “it is important to have ado good basic posture, recalls Helen Haynes. That is to say, you need to have your back straight and well held, your shoulders open, low (away from your ears) and in slight external rotations to have your collarbones horizontal and not tense your trapezius muscles. »
Here are some arm-strengthening exercises from Pilates teacher Helen Haynes.
Strengthen your triceps
It is do standing push-ups. Push-ups allow you to quickly strengthen your arms.
- Standing facing a door or a wall, place the palms of the hands on the door or the wall, at the same height and the same width as the shoulders.
- Step back.
- The elbows once morest the body, bend them while counting 1, 2, 3, directing them towards the ground by taking the pelvis well (the buttocks must not point backwards and redfold them while counting once more 1, 2, 3 .
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Build your biceps
- Hold your arms out in front of you at shoulder height and shoulder width, palms facing up.
- Bend the forearms slowly as if something was resisting. The elbows should not move, they should remain at shoulder height.
- Perform this arm muscle strengthening exercise 5 times in front of you and 5 times with your arms at your sides.
Strengthen your forearms
This Pilates exercise is called ‘the Castanets’.
- Turn the palms of the hands towards the sky, the fingers apart.
- Bend the little finger and bring it towards the middle of the palm of the hand and unbend it.
- Then fold the ring finger towards the middle of the palm of the hand and unfold it.
- Perform this exercise 3 to 5 times in a row for each of the ten fingers of the hand. “This exercise is great for dexterity and strength in the hands, as well as the wrists and forearms”explique Helen Haynes.
What are the best exercises to strengthen your arms?
You can do an “arm session” with several exercises. With material, ” it’s necessary get some weights weighing between 500 g and 2 kg to perform exercises once morest resistance”, advises Dr. Valérie Leduc. “You can also use a towel, a tea towel or an elastic to have firm arms”adds Helen Haynes, Pilates teacher, Epigenetic House.
The exercises are to be performed 2 to 3 times a week for 30 minutes. “And rather in the evening, advises the doctor, because the metabolism and the temperature of the body reach their peak around 4 p.m. »
Tone your arms
The exercise proposed below is quite complete. “It works the shoulders, deltoids, upper back, triceps and forearms”lists Helen Hayes.
Material: a towel or a rubber band.
- Stand up.
- Hold the ends of the towel or rubber band in your hands.
- Raise your arms in front of you, horizontally, with your elbows slightly unlocked.
- Pull the end of the cloth or elastic outwards, counting 1, 2, 3 and release.
- Do 5 to 10 repetitions of the exercise.
Build your biceps
Equipment: weights of 1 to 2 kg (or 2 bottles of water).
- Take a weight in each hand.
- Elbows glued to the body, slowly flex ‘consciously’ by raising the forearms towards the shoulders.
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take arms
This exercise strengthens the triceps.
- Sit on a chair, buttocks at the edge, hands placed on either side of the hips, feet flat on the ground.
- Lift your buttocks slightly from the seat of the chair, keeping your back as straight as possible.
- Think of directing the elbows backwards as if they wanted to touch each other.
- Repeat the exercise 3 to 5 times.
Equipment: a chair or a coffee table.
- Place your hands on a chair or low table.
- Step back.
- Elbows bent along the body, we relax them slowly and we fold them.
This exercise can be repeated between 3 and 5 timesadvises the Pilates teacher. No more so as not to wear out the joint, risk tendonitis and because if you do too many repetitions, the exercise is done automatically and therefore less well. »
In video: Muscle your triceps with dumbbells
Strengthen your forearms
Equipment: 2 small weights (500 g) + a chair
- Sit on the chair, feet resting on the ground, elbows and forearms resting on the knees, wrists in front of the knees, in a vacuum.
- Take a weight in each hand and face the palms up.
- Keep the wrists horizontal and flex the wrists in one direction then in the other (by lowering the wrists towards the ground, then by raising the wrists at 90°).
- Turn the forearms the other way, palms facing the ground and perform the same exercise.
How to strengthen the skin of the arms that hangs?
Take the weight in your hand. Bend your arm behind your head then extend your arm above your head, towards the sky. “This exercise acts directly on the triceps and will have an action on the sagging arm »says Valérie Leduc.
How to strengthen your arms following 60?
In fact, the exercises of bodybuilding arms do not change. “On the other hand, to obtain the same results, from the menopause, it is necessary work your arms more to firm them up, because you lose muscle and skin elasticity”, explains Helen Haynes. Bad news !
