Muscles matter: Work your arm muscles with these exercises
Every gym goer loves to perform exercises for strong arms, but not everybody understands the anatomy of the arm muscles. Your arms contain many muscles that work together to allow you to perform all sorts of motions and tasks. Before learning about the exercises that target each of your arm muscles, it is important to understand how each of your arm muscles functions.
Biceps
This muscle is located in the front of the upper arm and is responsible for flexing the elbow and helping rotate the forearms so that the palms face upward. It also helps stabilize the shoulder joints. You can perform bicep curls, chin-ups, and hammer curls to strengthen your biceps. These weight-training exercises will target the biceps and improve their strength and size.
Triceps
Located at the back of the upper arm, the tricep is responsible for extending the elbow. It is larger than the biceps and makes up a significant portion of the upper arm. Tricep pushdowns, tricep extensions, and close grip bench presses can help strengthen it. Neglecting to train the triceps can lead to imbalances in arm strength and contribute to elbow and shoulder pain.
Deltoid
The deltoid muscle is a large triangular-shaped muscle that gives the shoulder its rounded contour. It helps lift the arm front, side, and backward. You can do strength training exercises such as overhead presses, lateral raises, and front raises to target the deltoids and improve their strength and size. Inadequate deltoid training can lead to imbalances in shoulder muscle strength.
Pecs
Pecs, or the pectoralis major, is a large, fan-shaped muscle located in the chest and helps in pulling your arm across the front of your body. It is involved in other movements, such as rotating the arm inward and extending and bringing the arm overhead. Exercises such as chest presses, chest flies, and push-ups can strengthen your pectoralis major muscles.
Lats
The lats, or latissimus dorsi, is the largest muscle on the back and is responsible for rotation, extension, and adduction of the arm. These two triangle-shaped muscles are found just below the shoulder blade on each side. They play a crucial role in stabilizing the neck, shoulder, back, and hips. To strengthen your lats, you can perform exercises such as pull-ups, chin-ups, and rows.
Forearm
The forearms are the muscles and bones that run from the wrist to the elbow. The forearms are involved in many daily actions, including writing, typing, lifting objects, and gripping. Wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, and hammer curls are examples of strength training exercises that can be used to target the forearm muscles and improve their strength and size.
