Arnie is an idol for many athletes today. Everyone listens to his advice. Find out what Arnold recommends to maximize your chest and biceps muscles. No one will argue with the fact that the bench press is one of the most popular movements. At the same time, it is very effective, especially for beginner athletes. More experienced lifters know that it doesn't make a lot of sense to use a lot of weight when doing the bench press. In bodybuilding, muscle mass is important, not personal records in various exercises. Today we will reveal to you the secret of long lasting contractions in bodybuilding from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Prolonged contractions are a stimulus for muscle growth
In the classic form, experienced athletes perform the bench press as follows. The bench tilts at an angle of 30 degrees. The projectile is taken with a grip slightly wider than the shoulder joints, while the elbow joints are spread widely to the sides, forming an angle of 90 degrees with the body. It is also important to press your back as tightly as possible against the bench. The movement is carried out thanks to the muscles of the chest and shoulder region.
In this situation, you will not be able to set a new record in any way, which, in principle, is useless for you. It is much more important to build muscle mass, and this can be achieved only with the above-described method of performing the bench press. In this case, the muscles of the chest and shoulder region are used as much as possible.
In turn, to perform the power press, almost everything must be done the other way around:
- The bench should be located in a strictly horizontal position, and the grip is as wide as possible, which will reduce the amplitude.
- The elbow joints are located closer to the body, thereby engaging the triceps.
- At the time of the press, you must tear your lower back off the bench. With this execution of the movement, the pectoral muscles receive a small part of the load, which, of course, does not contribute to their growth.
The main stimulus for muscle growth is the duration of the interval of maximum muscle contraction. It is for this reason that any strength movements will not bring you the expected results, since they are performed thanks to explosive strength. This allows the muscles to tense up to the maximum possible value, but the duration of this tension is extremely short and the growth mechanisms cannot be activated. Therefore, athletes should try to achieve the maximum muscle contraction time delay at all times. For this, only two methods can be used, which are the fundamental concepts in bodybuilding that will allow you to achieve great results. Most bodybuilding enthusiasts are not familiar with them and for this reason their training is often not so effective. Coming to the gym, they simply do not know what they need to achieve in the first place. In their opinion, only large working weights can help in the development of muscles, which is the main mistake. At first it really works, but then the strength indicators stop growing and the athlete, as a result, loses confidence in himself. And they just use the wrong technique. We will now look at both fundamental principles in bodybuilding.
Principle 1 - continuous muscle contractions
Coming to the hall, for its implementation, you must act as follows. From the lower position of the amplitude of the entire movement, the sports equipment must be lifted at a slow pace, completely controlling the entire movement. In the same way, the movement in the opposite direction should be performed. If you use large weights, then you will not be able to achieve the maximum long-term contractions in bodybuilding from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
First of all, in this case, you will need to start with a sharp movement at the start, while helping yourself with your body. After that, the projectile will acquire inertia, which you will not want to use yourself. All this will only lead to the fact that the target muscle does not receive the load. You will not be able to, and lower the projectile, controlling its movements, the weight will simply carry you along. The muscle contracts for a fraction of a second, which cannot cause tissue growth.
You also need to make sure that the target muscles contract evenly throughout the entire range of motion. This can only be achieved by performing the exercise slowly and feeling this contraction. When you start doing everything right, you probably won't be able to complete the same number of repetitions. In this case, reduce the weight of the projectile. You must remember that in bodybuilding, increasing weights is not an end in itself, but one of the tools for building muscle. This must be done wisely.
Principle 2 - peak muscle contraction
This is a very simple principle and it will not be difficult for you to understand its essence. At the moment when the target muscle is contracted to the limit, pause for a couple of seconds. Only then return to the starting position.
In practice, beginner athletes do the opposite, which we will now consider using the bench press as an example. They are confident that muscle will only grow when using large weights. For this reason, they quickly pass the first stage of the movement and push the projectile onto straight arms. By doing this, they only unload the muscles of the chest, which cannot be done.
You need to slowly squeeze the projectile up. It should be remembered that the longer the muscle works, the more tissue growth is stimulated. When the elbow joints are practically straightened, stop the movement and pause. Then also slowly lower the projectile.
That's all the secrets of long-term cuts in bodybuilding from Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I wanted to tell you about today.
Learn more about muscle contraction technique in this video:
