Biceps are also known as Biceps Brachii, Latin for two-headed muscle of the arm. The bicep muscle has two heads - the short head and the long head. The biceps are usually worked using dumbbells but the simplest way to work the short head inner bicep, and long head outer bicep is to use an EZ Bar standing which has inner and outer grips.
Biceps play a big role in the majority of physical activities and support your larger muscle groups i.e. your back when doing exercises such as Pull-ups or Lat Pulldowns and even help when running.
They also provide stability while your body is in motion. Biceps are also essential for everyday functional movements, such as picking an item up off the floor, lifting, carrying and pulling movements and so on.
My top five bicep exercises are:
- EZ Bar close and wide grip bicep curls
- Dumbbell hammer bicep curl
- Wide barbell bicep curl
- Regular barbell bicep curl
- Dumbbell bicep twist and curl
Triceps are also known as Triceps Brachii, Latin for three-headed muscle of the arm. The triceps are a larger muscle group than the biceps and have three heads: the long head, the lateral head, and the medial head.
Triceps can simply be worked doing tricep dips using a bench in your gym or your local park. Doing tricep exercises works the muscle entirely, all three heads.
The function of the tricep muscles is that they enable us to push any weight out in front of the body, over the head or to the sides of the body.
My top five tricep exercises are:
- Lying back close grip EZ Bar tricep extensions
- Bench tricep dips
- Dumbbell tricep kickbacks
- Gym ring tricep dips
- Standing overhead EZ Bar tricep extensions
Please note exercises can be performed with the barbells on their own without weights.
Kieran Keenan is an advanced personal trainer and the owner of Fitsquad. Consult your physician or other health care professional before starting a new fitness programme.
