Arm Farm Friday Special Ep.05

In week 5 we bring in special guest and coach Adam Komatsu aka Mr Snap Down. 

This week Adams going to go into a deeper dive questioning the generic thought process of arm training. Adding to the exercise library of tools you can use to assist yourself or if you're a coach, your clients, with their upper body training.

Enjoy.

 

Isolated arm exercises often get a bad wrap, particularly in athletic training, as it isn’t deemed ‘functional’ or important. It is often an afterthought in programming and you’ll often see ‘triceps choice’ or just some random assortment of curls and extensions thrown together at the end of a workout. 

 

Arm training has the potential to be so much more than that. As Isaac has covered in previous arm farm episodes, the biceps and triceps cross through the shoulder joint. Because of this, our biceps and triceps play a role in shoulder function and health. 

 

The shoulder doesn’t have much structural stability in comparison to other joints, it relies much more on the muscles around it to stabilise. Even more reason to get big strong arms, particularly if you play a contact sport. 

 

Broadening our lenses outside of just ‘bro’ arm training we can also look at how different arm positions impact the rib cage and how we can use arm training to improve mobility & function of the ribs, shoulders and scapula.

 

Arm exercises are some of the easiest ways to incorporate reaching patterns in different degrees of shoulder flexion and have potential to improve expansion of the ribcage. Low reaches will bias upper back expansion, mid reaches will bias mid back expansion and high reaches will bias lower ribcage expansion. 

In the gym, the majority of the exercises we do live in mid shoulder flexion and are often cued to keep your shoulder blades pinned and back. So getting into low and high shoulder flexion as well as allowing the shoulder blades to protract can get your shoulders and upper back feeling a million bucks. 

 

When performing the exercises, focus on breathing out on the concentric and breathing in on the eccentric and trying to fill the back of your ribcage with air. There isn’t set tempos on the exercises, but just focus on a nice controlled movement throughout to give yourself time to get air in and out. 

 

Arm wealth = Shoulder health

 

 

Arm Farm Ep.05

Again, all the exercises are hyperlinked for you. Click on the exercises to see a video from our YouTube.

 

Movement Prep;

Arm Bar Cross and Stack - 2 sets of 8 each side
Dead Hang - 2 sets for as long as possible (aim for 45-90 sec)

Big Movements;

A: Alternating DB Z-Press - 3 sets of 8 each side (Rest 60 seconds after each set)

 

B: Dips - Hollow Position - 3 sets of 8  (Rest 90 sec after each set)

 

Pump Chaser;

C1: Single Arm Cable Tricep Extension - Overhead 3 sets of 10 reps each side (Rest 30 seconds)
C2: Low Reach Squat Cable Curl 3 sets of 10 (Rest 60 seconds)

Finisher;

D1: Concentration Curl - 3 sets of 12 each arm (Rest 30 seconds)
D2: 90 90 Alternating DB Tricep Extension - 3 sets of 12 each arm (Rest 60 seconds)

 

Written by Adam Komatsu.