🔥 PULL HYPERTROPHY DAY

✅ In the “pull” workout you train all the upper body pulling muscles, i.e. the back and biceps. This means that you get the maximum overlap of movements within the same workout, and the muscle groups being trained get an overall benefit from this overlap.

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• Target muscle: Posterior Deltoid
• Synergists: Lateral Deltoid, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, Middle and Lower Trapezius, Biceps Brachii, Brachialis, Brachioradialis
• Stabilizers: Upper Trapezius, Levator Scapulae (not highlighted in illustration)
• Mechanics: Compound
• Force: Pull

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🚨 Comments and tips

• Although the upper trapezius and levator scapulae only act as stabilizers, they are significantly activated when heavy weights are used.
• For shoulder safety, avoid using a narrow grip with all upright rowing exercises. To learn more, read the Upright row concerns section of the barbell wide-grip upright row.

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🚨 Two-Headed Biceps 

✅ The two main actions of the biceps include flexing the elbow and turning your palm and forearm upward, or supinating the hand. The biceps separates at the top of the muscle, attaching to the shoulder blade in two different places. The two heads come together at the bottom of the muscle and attach to your forearm just below the elbow. Because the long or outer head of the biceps crosses two joints — shoulder and elbow — it also contributes to shoulder flexion and works with the front shoulder muscle to lift your arm in front of you.

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🚨 Training Two Heads

✅ Different types of curls will stress different phases of the range of motion, according to “Optimal Muscle Training” by Ken Kinakin. While the mid-range is stressed by the standing barbell curl, the preacher curl emphasizes the beginning of the movement and the concentration curl puts the most pressure on your biceps toward the end of the flexion. To isolate the short head, perform curls with your arms positioned in front of your body. If you do curls on an incline bench with your arms behind your trunk, you’ll isolate the long head. Also, the flexion strength of your biceps increases the higher your arm is positioned relative to the shoulder. In contrast to a dumbbell curl, which begins with arms down by your sides, a chin-up will put more pressure on your biceps.

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✅ Although the biceps get all the spotlights, there are four major upper arm elbow flexor muscles: the biceps brachii, the brachialis, the brachioradialis and the teres pronator. The brachialis is the muscle under the biceps that contributes to elbow flexor size. If your pronated curling strength is not 82% of your supinated grip strength, your brachialis is weak and most likely under-developed.