How Your Arms Work: Your Arm Muscles
Your arms work by using a few different muscles.
From lifting to reaching, your arms contribute to a great deal of what you do. If you’re going to the gym to work on your arms, you may want to become familiarized with each muscle and how it functions in the arms because knowing how the arms work will help you to target the muscles that you wish to focus on. Additionally, gaining knowledge about your arm muscles will help you establish which exercises are best for the muscles you’re going to center your attention on.
Your arm is comprised of four main muscles: the biceps brachii, triceps brachii, brachioradialis and the thenars, Your bicep brachiis are the ones that are responsible for bending your arms toward your shoulders and bending your lower arm toward your upper arm – both of which are forms of flexion. When you straighten your lower arm, which is a form of extension, you use your triceps brachii. Your brachipradialis, however, is used to move your lower arm toward your upper arm. This particular movement is a form of flexion. The last muscles in your arms are the thenars. The thenars assist with bending your thumb and moving it toward your palm.
Simply put, how your arms work occurs through these muscles working together in order to execute tasks like lifting a box or shaking hands. For instance, when you throw a football, you’re utilizing your biceps and triceps, especially when you initiate throwing. On the other hand, if you reach for something up high, you’re working your triceps, biceps and brachioradialis.
Simple tasks like lifting a box or carrying your child around may work your arm muscles; however, there are specific exercises that can target these muscles, so you may tone these muscles or build them. Bench pressing, for example, works your triceps, since these muscles are the ones that are primarily responsible for straightening the arm at the elbow. Other muscles used during this exercise include your pectorals and your anterior deltoids. By doing bicep curls, you’re focusing on your biceps. This particular exercise can be done on a machine, or you can use any type of resistance such as resistance bands or dumbbells. In order to work your brachioradialis, you should do a reverse curl, which is just the opposite of a bicep curl.
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