Dumbbells give your arms a broader range of motion because the arms move separately, while barbells require your hands to remain in one position. A drawback to barbells is that you risk one arm doing more work than the other arm, which will grow your muscles unevenly. An advantage to barbells, however, is that they allow most people to lift more weight because your stabilizing muscles don’t have to work as hard.
Drifting your elbows to the front of your body lets other muscles assist with the lift, which takes focus from the biceps.
If you have not lifted much before, it may take a few tries to find the weights that are right for you. As you are lifting, the main thing is to focus your energy solely on your biceps. Using any other muscles to assist in the lift reduces the effectiveness. This is also important for flexing because it will teach you to recognize the feeling of your muscle contracting, which you will later use to show off your muscles when you flex. Stop your lifts before your arm fully contracts so that the focus stays on your biceps. When you reach the top of the lift, your biceps stop working. Stop the lift at your shoulders.
It takes more work to lower them slowly than it does to let them fall, so slow is the most effective option. Your bicep should still feel engaged in between reps. If you fully straighten your arm or let it hang, your workout will not be as effective.
There are many ab exercises that target each part of your abs, so do some research to find exercises that you feel the most comfortable with.
Do 2–3 sets of 12–15 curl-ups.
The number of reps that you do is up to you. Start with a low number of reps and work your way up to more reps.
This may be difficult for you if you have not done a lot of abdominal work before. Perform only as many reps as you feel comfortable with.
Repeat this motion for the desired number of reps. You’ll get a harder workout with a weight, but this is a good exercise for you if you have not done many ab exercises before.
You don’t have to join a specific diet program like South Beach or Weight Watchers, although these can help. All you need to do is evaluate how much you are eating and work to consistently reduce the amount. Besides quantity of food, this also deals with quality. Reduce the fat, sugar, and overall calorie count of your daily food intake.
When you flex, you should try to recreate the feeling you have in your muscles when you work them.
Standard push ups place your hands about shoulder width apart, but moving the hands closer together targets your pectoral muscles, as well as your triceps.
Doing 3 to 5 sets of 6 to 10 reps will build muscle mass.
You should practice in front of a mirror before showing others.
