The Psychology in Working Out

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Most of us don’t realize it, and many really never will, but there is a certain psychology in working out that leads people to not only desire bigger, stronger, and more defined and aesthetically pleasing set of biceps, but also crank out the needed willpower and commitment to actually engage in long-term exercises.

Pyschologists the world over have been fascinated by the human psyche involved when deciding to drop the procrastinating ways of the sloth-driven house mouse and to instead grab the barbells and start pumping away till their biceps bulge more than their buttocks.

The reasons for this behavioral shift may very well have been unearthed by tireless research and some uncanny surveying skills. The following are some of the interesting findings of discovering the psychology in working out.

Strength in numbers has always been a very influential factor in explaining why we do what we do. Whether in debates, thrill-seeking, and yes, even bicep workouts, there is that subconscious factor of belonging in a stable group that influences which side of the argument one wants to debate in, what forms of adventure and thrill-seeking one decides to partake in, and of course, why people engage on exercising.

Well, psychologists and anthropologists explain that humans are social creatures and much of the everyday things that people are do are governed by the approval, acceptance, and participation of their peers. Building your biceps is not exempted from this.

You see your best friend working out in the gym for two weeks now and you have noticed a considerable improvement in his gun packs. You suddenly get the urge to do the same and keep yourself at even footing with him or even surpass him. The social butterfly in you, as well as the competitive bee, is spurred into action in this instance.

Abraham Maslow describes this as the need for belongingness. After all, we’ve all had moments wherein we felt we did not “fit in” among the different social strata of high school, so we should be able to relate in some way.

Some couples engage in mutual exercising of whatever muscle group they care to acknowledge because researchers have also found that the rush of chemicals and hormones like endorphins stimulate the “feel good” receptors that elevate the mood of the couple. Sharing this sort of elation in exercise actually helps them stay attuned to each other and increase their sense of belongingness and understanding of each other, ultimately leading to a more healthy and stable relationship.

Others, total strangers perhaps, are spurred into workout action by simple observation of their fellow gym-goers. When one notices that another, particular someone of his own category, has been breaking his sweat at the barbells, he might want to subconsciously do the same or better, much like the previous example.

Psychology and society indeed have a knack of figuring us out even when we don’t want them to. For something as personal as a decision to take up the weights for a bigger bicep display, who would have thought that our unconscious mind had been the real culprit, and that our say in the matter may very well have been pre-destined by our primordial way of thinking? Psychology in working out is truly both marvelous and frightening at the same time.

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Working Out at Home

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If you can afford the time and money required to go to the gym and build your muscles there, working out at home is no longer entirely necessary. But for those who neither have the time nor the financial resources to do that, here are a few home exercises to get you started on your home workout regimen.

For every effective workout, there needs to be an effective cardio exercise in between the strength and power training. These cardio exercises improve the circulation of oxygen around your body and especially your muscles so you can burn fat around them effectively as well as improve your overall endurance.

Simple cardio exercises include performing jump ropes, stair lunges, step-ups, and burpies. Performing these for 30 to 60 seconds while going full out and giving around the same time for resting helps you achieve that circulatory stability and fat burn that will in turn facilitate a successful regimen.

Now off to the power training. If you have a set of barbells and dumbbells then you can immediately start on bicep curls, tricep curls, and weight lifting to set the mood for your upper arm, shoulder, and chest muscles. These basic exercises are the foundation of a good workout regimen for the entire body.

However, if you do not have these equipment, there are improvised ways to go about achieving the same desired output when working out at home.

Doing body squats and wall squats are exercises that you can do either at the gym or at home. You simply stand with feet apart and squat all the way down as low as you can using your own body weight as your counterforce. You may even hold large books balanced on your palms facing up lateral to your shoulders to help increase the weight.

Next up, you can make standard push-ups more difficult and intense by performing them on an exercise ball. If you don’t have one, you can use a basketball, volleyball, or better yet, a relatively large and sturdy beach ball. The extra muscle involvement for this exercise required for stability and counteracting the absorption of the force of the push-up, which does not happen when you do so on solid ground, helps to tone multiple core muscle groups at the same time.

You can also try tricep dips with an armchair that can easily support your weight. Hold your entire body up with your arms firmly upon the arms of the chair and slowly bring yourself down to sit on the chair. For added weight, you can even rest your heels on a table or bed in front of you and place weights like large books on your thighs as you perform the dips.

There are numerous other improvisations you can do when working out at home. Barbell and dumbbell replacements can be made with sturdy Gerry cans filled to the brim with water connected with a steel pipe in between. Use your creativity and just remember to keep committed to what you do. Constant conditioning of the muscles will inevitably result to stronger and better-defined musculature, but stopping the process for long periods of time will also see the developed muscles begin to weaken and atrophy.

Working out at home can be not just rewarding, but also fun.

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Trying Out the Bicep Workouts for Men

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The first step to getting ripped biceps is to choose to most appropriate of the different bicep workouts to perform. Depending on the individual’s commitment, preferences, and tolerance, the following bicep exercises may be used with varying personalized intensity and frequency.

Number one is standing barbell curls. Simply stand, keep your feet apart and your back straight, and use an underhand grip on the straight barbell or EZ bar. With the barbell hanging in front of you at arm’s length, start curling your biceps by bringing the barbell up to your shoulder area. This exercises both your biceps and your forearm muscles.

For maximum contraction force, hold the curl for a second or two before lowering the barbell back to starting position. Be sure not to lift excess weight and to use the momentum to bring the barbell to your shoulders fully. Repeat this as tolerated.

The second of the men’s bicep workouts is the variation of the barbell curls – the preacher curls. This utilizes a special preacher bench to isolate your biceps from the other muscle groups of your body.

How this works is you sit on the preacher bench and rest your arms facing up on the pad in front. Hold the barbell securely with both hands and then use nothing but your bicep power to curl up the barbell again up to the shoulder area. You will need a partner to hand you the barbells in this way. Using this variation gives the maximum weight bearing force to your bicep muscles and places the secondary force on your forearms – a great way of conditioning your biceps.

Another of these bicep workouts for men is the standing dumbbell curls. It isn’t principally different from using barbells but the variation of the weights allows for individual arm exercises.

Stand the way you do with the barbell curls and hold the dumbbells at the side of your body with your palms clenched sideways. Simultaneously or alternately curl up the dumbbells using only the forearms for movement until it reaches shoulder level. Your palms must be clenched facing up at this point. Hold this position to prolong maximum muscle contraction and then slowly lower after a second or two. As with the above exercises, repeat this movement as tolerated.

A variation of dumbbell curls is the hammer curls. They are essentially the same except for the fact that you do not rotate your palms to face upward when the dumbbells reach shoulder level for the hammer curls. This extends the weight for contraction to the brachialis muscles of the arms as well

One final variation of the dumbbell curls that we will enumerate in this article is the concentration curls. In this exercise, the biceps and forearms are isolated from the rest of the body muscles in much the same principle as with preacher curls.

This is done by sitting on a bench with legs apart and placing your curling elbow firmly braced against your corresponding knee. Curl the dumbbell up to shoulder level all the while keeping the elbow braced securely to the knee. Repeat this and alternate usage of arms as tolerated.

Whichever exercise you choose, it is important to note that they all need commitment and consistency and that not all of these exercises may work for everyone so a healthy combination and variation is advised. But with patience and hardwork, these bicep workouts will definitely pay off and make you a buffer man.

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