Train with your brain

Q

What muscle is the best signal of full-body strength?

A: The forearm

Hand-grip strength is a good predictor of total-body muscular strength and endurance, according to a study in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research — while other studies show that a powerful grip’s also linked to longevity. Strengthen yours with fatgrip moves: wrap a towel around the bar before rows, curls or deadlifts, and you’ll strengthen your grip alongside your other muscles.

Q

Are dumbbells or barbells better for chest growth?

A: Dumbells

True, you can probably shift more weight with a bar. But technically, the main function of the pectoral muscles during pressing exercise is “transverse adduction”, or bringing the arms towards the centre of the body. Obviously, there’s a limit to how much you can change your arm position with a bar, but dumbbells will give you a longer range of motion: let your hands go below chest level at the bottom of the move and then bring the dumbbells together at the top.

For a highdefinition finisher, do a final set of pushups on a medicine ball, stopping at the top of each rep to “squeeze” your hands together as hard as possible — you’ll feel your pecs activate. Hold for five seconds, then do four more reps for a set.

Q

Which activates your back muscles better — a pullup or a chinup?

A: It's a tie

Just to clarify: chinups are when your palms are facing you, pullups are when they’re facing away. And depending on what you’ve been told, you may be surprised to find that in a study published by the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, electromyographic (EMG) signals were collected from volunteers doing both exercises, and muscular activation in the latissimus dorsi — the biggest muscles of the back — was roughly the same for both.

The difference? Chinups average higher activation in the biceps, while pullups make the lower trapezius muscles — the triangle-shaped bit in the middle of your back — work harder, so it’s worth doing both. Combine them as a finisher: set a timer and do sets of two to four pullups every 30 seconds — then when you can’t do any more, switch to chinups and carry on.

Q

Which athletes have the best calf strength?

A: Dancers

Jumping and sprinting are highly dependent on your posterior chain — that’s your glutes, hamstrings and back muscles — which is why it’s possible to have tiny calves and still be successful in anything from basketball to the 100m hurdles. One place you can’t get away with it, though, is ballet. To stand in the position known as demi-pointe, dancers train for up to ten hours a day, mostly with a variation of the calf raise known as the relevé.

“A normal person should be able to do 20 single-leg calf raises on each side,” says trainer Chad Waterbury. “But most people can’t. Do three or four unsupported calf raises on each side to activate your ankle muscles, then put your fingers against a wall or desk for balance while you do an all-out set on each side, starting with your strongest leg. Repeat three times a day, take 48 hours off, then do it again. In a couple of weeks you’ll have bigger, stronger calves.” Tights optional.

Q

Name the three muscles in your upper arm

A: The biceps, triceps and brachialis

You probably got the first two, but it’s the third you should focus on if you’re heading for the gun show. The brachialis sits directly underneath the biceps and plays a key role in making your arms look bigger. Training with hammergrip curls will help, but it’s not the full story — as speed of movement increases, brachialis activation downshifts, pushing more stress onto the biceps. Fix them with super-slow curls: squeeze your muscles throughout each curl, then pause for two seconds at the top of each rep, trying to squash your biceps with your forearm. Do ten reps, then finish the set with a 20-second squeeze. You will burn — but you will grow.

Q

Which of your leg muscles should you train to prevent knee pain?

A: The VMO

It stands for vastus medialis oblique, but don’t worry about that. Known as the “teardrop” muscle by bodybuilders, it connects your patella (kneecap) to your femur (thigh bone) and plays a key role in running, jumping and almost any other movement that involves extending your knee. Not surprisingly, your local broscientist might tell you that leg extensions are the best way to train it, but don’t head for the machines just yet — a study in the Journal Of Biomechanics found that shearing tension on the ACL (the fragile ligament that football players are constantly tearing) is higher during leg extensions than even on heav y squats or leg presses.

The solution? Use 1¼ squats, which Olympic skiers swear by to slope-proof their knees. Squat down slowly, taking five seconds to hit the bottom, come up a quarter of the way, then go back down and come up until your knees are short of lock-out. That’s one rep. Do four sets of four.

Q

What’s the best piece of equipment for building a stronger core?

A: The abs wheel

Forget the crunches. In a study comparing “traditional” abs exercises including crunches and sit-ups with moves using kit like suspension trainers and the Abs Revolutionizer (no, us neither), the wheel was the clear winner, scoring higher muscle activation across the upper and lower rectus abdominis (that’s your six-pack) and obliques. Add a “pulse” for optimum time under tension: do ten reps, stop at the end of the movement, then do ten minireps where the wheel moves only a couple of centimetres. You’ll still need to eat right to see your abs, but at least you’ll know they’re there.

Q

What’s the strongest muscle in the human body?

A: The gluteus maximus

Fine: if you’re being pick y, it’s actually the masseter muscle in the jaw, which works on a shorter lever than the bigger muscles and can exert up to 4,337 New tons of force. But in terms of cross-sectional area — and overall muscle-fibre count — it’s the glutes, which are key in ever y thing from squatting to sprinting. To make sure they ’re awake and firing, do wall squats before leg day. Stand with your feet shoulderwidth apart and toes touching a wall, then squat back and down without your knees brushing the brick work. Do three sets of five and you’ll feel your glutes firing during weighted moves.

B R A I N W O R K O U T S C O R E S HOW MANY DID YOU KNOW?

0-2

Do you even science, bro? Nobody’s saying you need a degree in biology, but knowing which muscles you’re working helps.

3-4

Not bad, but a quick refresher wouldn’t hurt. Ask a PT what muscle groups you’re working during your next session: you might be surprised.

5-6

You certainly know your gastrocnemius from your gracilis (probably), but there’s room for improvement.

7-8

Near-flawless, as long as you’re converting those brains into gains by hitting the iron as well as the books.