78 MUSCLE & FITNESS JUNE 2017
GOA L NO.7 BUILD BIGGERBICEPS
● THEY MAY NOT BE the most functional muscles
you need to grow, says Murphy, but that doesn’t mean
you don’t want to look great at the beach. Here are three
moves to add to your routine twice a week.
The first is the towel pull-up. Drape two towels
evenly over a pull-up bar, take hold of both ends (palms
facing each other), and perform pull-ups. You’ll activate
a ton of muscle fibres with this and because the towels
thick and you have to constantly squeeze them,
l also smoke your forearms and develop an iron
erform 50 total pull-ups in as few sets as possible.
mer curls are also an outstanding exercise
s growth,” Murphy says. “Everybody focuses
ceps brachii – or the biceps itself – but the
is runs beneath the biceps and hammer curls
e brachialis in particular. A bigger brachialis
s the biceps up further, making them appear
er.” Working the brachioradialis also increases the
ze of the forearm, which makes the arm appear more
full. Using a weight that allows 10 to 12 reps on your
first set, perform five sets in total, pushing each one
until you’re one rep shy of failure.
Finally, work in some barbell chain curls. The
chains make the lift more difficult at the bottom
of the exercise, and lighten as you curl up. This
allows you to overload your biceps with more
weight. Do five sets of eight to 10 reps.GOAL NO.8 (^) TEASE OUT YOUR
TEARDROP
● THE VMO, OR VASTUS medialis oblique, is the
most impressive leg muscle to define, if only because
it’s the only quad muscle visible when you’re rocking
boardshorts. Located in your lower quad, a fully
developed VMO not only creates a teardrop-shaped cut
just above your knee, but it also acts as an important
stabiliser that guards the joint against injury. For his
part, trainer Nick Tumminello recommends focusing on
exercises that hit the entire quads hard.
“If you develop the quads overall,” says the trainer
and founder of Performance University, “you’ll get
the coveted teardrop.” Mix these exercises into your
regularly scheduled leg workouts once a week for a
teardrop that would make any pro cyclist jealous.
Start with the leg extension, Tumminello says, “which
complements squats and lunges because it loads the
quads in part of the joint range you don’t get from those
movements.” When you’re standing at the top of a squat
or lunge and your knees are extended, you’re not getting
any force through your quads, but the leg-extension
machine keeps the tension on through the entire range.
Expert tip: you can work the quads harder by
elevating your heels with 2.5-kilogram plates during
squats. Set up as you would for a normal squat, only
elevate your heels 2.5-5 centimetres using the weight
plates. Bend your knees and lower your body in a
controlled manner until your hamstrings touch your
calves and your glutes are below your knees, then
return to starting position.
Hammer curls
work the arm’s
underlying
muscles to
make them
look fuller,
bigger and
veinier.
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BUILD THE PERFECT BODY