I'm referring to biceps, those relatively large muscles on the top of your upper arms that for some reason are nicknamed "guns" by the weightlifting set. As a runner, I force myself to spend time in the gym doing resistance work, mainly on my upper body so I don't shrivel into one of those scrawny old-man runners who can cover great distances but look like plucked chickens with collapsed chests and boney shoulders because they don't exercise any other parts of their body.
So to distract myself from my miserable reps, I end up observing serious weightlifters and their routines. And I've never seen a weightlifter not do millions of arm curls to build up excessive mass in their guns. Many have skinny legs, under-developed hips and narrow forearms--but they all have great guns!
Of course they also do a lot of work on their chests, belly and shoulders, but the overall effect is a mismatch of bloated arms and torso and broomstick legs.
But about guns--what good are they? How often do you really use over-developed biceps, unless you move a lot of furniture. Maybe it's the influence of the old Popeye cartoons in which he'd pop open a can of spinach and down it in a gulp, resulting in the appearance of battleships on his guns firing away and propelling our hero into the latest demolition of Bluto, his Nemesis.
Do you need great guns to get through your daily activities? I don't. But still I find myself doing several reps of bicep curls with 30-lb weights, just like everyone else. It's what guys in weight rooms do.
So do I have great guns? No, not really, I'd put them in the water pistol category. But maybe they'll help me type better, or run a little faster.
So to distract myself from my miserable reps, I end up observing serious weightlifters and their routines. And I've never seen a weightlifter not do millions of arm curls to build up excessive mass in their guns. Many have skinny legs, under-developed hips and narrow forearms--but they all have great guns!
Of course they also do a lot of work on their chests, belly and shoulders, but the overall effect is a mismatch of bloated arms and torso and broomstick legs.
But about guns--what good are they? How often do you really use over-developed biceps, unless you move a lot of furniture. Maybe it's the influence of the old Popeye cartoons in which he'd pop open a can of spinach and down it in a gulp, resulting in the appearance of battleships on his guns firing away and propelling our hero into the latest demolition of Bluto, his Nemesis.
Do you need great guns to get through your daily activities? I don't. But still I find myself doing several reps of bicep curls with 30-lb weights, just like everyone else. It's what guys in weight rooms do.
So do I have great guns? No, not really, I'd put them in the water pistol category. But maybe they'll help me type better, or run a little faster.
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