The volume of Jean-Claude Van Damme's biceps - how many centimeters is it?

The brachialis plays a very important role in the development of the arms - this is a muscle that many do not attach much importance to, but with high-quality pumping it can give the biceps an impressive appearance.
This muscle is especially noticeable when you are working on “drawing” the arm muscles. By the way, if I may say so, a “shaped” biceps can look much more beautiful than a biceps that gains larger muscle mass without a shape. You can pay attention and compare the world bodybuilding stars of past years and today, and you will notice that brachialis hypertrophy is much more pronounced in contemporaries. In the volume of the biceps, or more precisely the arms, the biceps muscle itself does not take up that much. A significant part of the arm’s volume is made up of the triceps and brachialis.

Not all athletes pay due attention to the development of the brachial muscle; most focus on the biceps and triceps. However, if you make the necessary adjustments to your training program to train the brachialis, you can increase the size of your biceps.

I think you already understand how important this muscle is from an aesthetic point of view. This can be clearly seen in the example of the hand of Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Van Damme's biceps look good thanks to the developed brachialis

His arms are not as big as those of professional bodybuilders, but we can clearly see the effect of this muscle. That is, a well-developed brachilis gives volume to your biceps and visually makes your arm more “high quality”. This becomes especially important when you are wearing a T-shirt with sleeves that reveal only the lower arm. The fact is that the brachialis is located under the biceps and by developing it you seem to push the biceps upward, due to this the volume of the arm increases noticeably.

Early years

As a child, Jean-Claude wore glasses, studied classical ballet and did not enjoy authority among his peers. Everything changed after entering a karate school. At the age of 16 he became a member of the Belgian karate team, at the age of 18 he received a black belt, and at 20 he received the title of European Champion. Van Damme was predicted to have an excellent sports career, but he chose cinema. The qualities acquired over the years of sports were very useful on the rather thorny path to his acting fame.

Van Damme's biceps at the peak of his sports career

Before becoming an actor, Van Damme had a successful sports career, becoming the European champion in karate and kickboxing, scoring 53 victories out of fifty-five fights. In 1979, he became the absolute bodybuilding champion, winning the Mr. Belgium championship. At the peak of his athletic form, with a weight of 85 kg and a height of 177 cm, Jean-Claude’s biceps volume was 43 cm.

How was Jean-Claude Van Damme's training?

Van Damme trains six times during the week. The training on Monday, Tuesday and Friday involved working on the muscles of the back, thighs, chest and abs. On the remaining days of the week (Sunday was a day off), in the morning Jean-Claude worked on his lower legs, abs and shoulder muscles. As you may have noticed, Van Damme actively works on his abdominal muscles, and his favorite exercises for training this group are crunches (reverse and vertical) and side turns.

In terms of nutrition, Van Damme never used strict dietary programs. Although in preparation for filming he had to sacrifice something. For example, while working on the film “The Monk,” Jean Claude did not eat meat. According to him, he had to be as fast as possible, and had to eat only fruit. We also note that the actor considers oatmeal to be the best product for bodybuilders.

See more about Van Damme's training program here:

43-year-old Terry Crews (in the film - Hale Caesar) is a former National Football League player. His sports career ended 15 years ago, giving way to a vibrant film career. But according to Terry, all these years he did not slow down and continued to train as if he had a World Cup ahead of him:

Terry Crews' signature exercises and diet: preparing for The Expendables. Source - bodybuilding.com

49-year-old Randy Couture (Tall Road) is a former multiple champion in Greco-Roman wrestling and mixed martial arts. Randy remembers his years in the ring with some pleasure, but in his opinion, professional athletes push themselves too hard, not giving their bodies time to rest. The same applies to protein-protein diets: the star of “The Expendables” suggests not getting hung up on them and eating as varied as possible.

How to build super muscles without overworking yourself and staying healthy? Randy Couture on preparing for The Expendables. Source - bodybuilding.com

His personal trainer Gunnar Peterson spoke about the training regime of the creator of The Expendables and The Expendables 2, 65-year-old Sylvester Stallone. How many hours a week do you think Sly spends on the gym? Fifteen? Twenty? But they didn’t guess: maximum seven. How does he manage to remain such a strong man?

Thanks to hard work and a wise attitude towards his body, Stallone, at 65, will give a head start to younger “jocks”. Here's how he prepared for the filming of the action movie "Bullet in the Head" (Russian theatrical title - "Unstoppable"), which is scheduled to premiere in 2013:

Stallone performs his signature Dragon Fly exercise. Source - selfdiscipline.com

51-year-old Jean-Claude Van Damme did not participate in the first “The Expendables,” but, to the delight of fans, he agreed to play in the second film. The role of the main villain is a big responsibility, and the Belgian actor, a former famous karateka and kickboxer, took his task very seriously.

Van Damme is preparing to film The Expendables 2. Source – JCVD ​​online

“Brussels Muscle” is an example of how you can turn your body into a real work of art without having outstanding natural abilities. The main thing is to listen carefully to yourself and not get carried away by any one type of training to the detriment of all others. And then age will not be scary.

Another Van Damme workout: variety is key. Source – JCVD ​​online

"The Expendables" and "The Expendables 2" are not only fast-paced, exciting action films with beloved actors, but also a source of inspiration for those who dream of doing the impossible. The strength and dexterity of the charming “veterans” of the genre, who effortlessly perform the most difficult tricks, prove that absolutely anything is possible—you just have to really want it. It is possible that the wild success of the first film about the Expendables was connected with this. And on August 16, the second one will be released.

Dubbed trailer for The Expendables 2

Jean-Claude van Damme was born in Belgium, in the municipality of Sint-Agatha Berchem. His real name is Jean-Claude van Varenberg. When he first came to Hollywood in 1981, he took the pseudonym Frank Cujo. But even as Cujo, he couldn't find work either as an actor or as an athlete.

He worked in a carpet store, was a driver, a pizza delivery man, a trainer, a bouncer, and took English courses.

In 1984-85 he received his first roles in the films “Monaco Forever” (1984), “No Retreat, No Surrender” (1985), and some other low-budget films.

He was married five times and has three children from his third and fourth marriage.

Jean-Claude van Damme's training regimen

Film career

The actor's filmography began in 1979 and includes more than 50 films. His movie characters are, as a rule, athletic, agile, muscular guys. To embody such images, the actor trained hard all his life, keeping in shape.

In the 90s of the twentieth century, Van Damme became one of the most popular actors and won the sympathy of the world audience. Having a beautiful, well-proportioned body with well-developed muscles and an attractive appearance, for three years in a row he was nominated for a film award in the “Most Desirable Man” category. He managed to achieve great success thanks to his ability, no matter what, to patiently and persistently go towards his goal.

Workout

For his training, Jean-Claude Van Damme uses barbells, dumbbells, parallel bars, considering the goal of strength exercises to be to maintain muscle tone and harmonious development of the muscles of the whole body. Therefore, during training he is content with light weights. But this is now, and during the peak of his athletic form Van Damme bench pressed 130 kg with a weight of 85 kg.

And today, at 60 years old, Jean-Claude Van Damme works out regularly. Prefers to train every other day. His sports schedule includes cardio (mainly cycling), weight training, kickboxing and, of course, stretching.

Brachialis function

The brachialis muscle (brachialis) flexes the arm at the elbow joint. Works in conjunction with the biceps.

When you bend your arm so that your thumb is pointing up, the biceps is placed in a weaker position than with the other hand position. Bodybuilding practice says that it is the brachialis that takes on the load.

Even if the brachialis works more with hammer curls, this does not mean its automatic hypertrophy. If you think differently, then you should try spider curls. After several repetitions of this exercise, the brachialis will inflate like balloons.

Note:

If there is an imbalance in the development of the brachialis and biceps, you may experience pain in the area of ​​the elbow joint, which will limit your movements when pumping up the biceps.

What exercises to use to train the brachialis?

To train the brachialis, there are four main exercises. Of these, two exercises are related to the position of the hands - reverse and hammer grips. They can be performed equally successfully both with free weights and on block machines. You can also experiment a little with the angle of the brushes. The other two exercises are quite specific - spider curls and overhead cable curls; they use the anatomical features of the position of the biceps. The brachialis carries a greater load the closer they are to the head.

Below are exercises for training the brachialis, I will tell you about the exercise mentioned above, “spider curls”.

Exercises to train the brachialis (brachialis muscle):

Lifting the barbell with a reverse biceps grip Lifting dumbbells with a hammer grip Raising the barbell with a biceps curl on a Scott bench, etc. reverse grip (overhand grip) Exercises in block machines with a reverse grip (analogous to biceps curls) Spider curls

Reverse grip barbell curl

This exercise is performed with the same technique as the biceps curl.

Technique:

Stand up straight, back straight. Hang the barbell shoulder-width apart with an underhand grip (as shown in the picture). Keep your elbows lightly close to your body and do not pull them back while performing the exercise. Bend your elbows as shown in the figure to a slight stop and lower the bar (bar) to its original position.

This exercise can be performed with a straight bar, as well as with a curved one; it is also good to train the brachialis with such a bar where the grip is vertical (few places have such a bar). You can perform the brachialis lift in the same way, but in a pulley (the cable goes from below, and you lift the weight by bending your elbows or training each arm separately).

“Hammers” (lifting dumbbells in a vertical position)

This is an exercise with dumbbells, the technique is the same as when doing dumbbell biceps curls, only the dumbbells need to be held vertically, not horizontally. The external head of the biceps and the radialis muscle (highlighted in yellow) are also involved in the work.

Technique :

Stand up straight, back straight, elbows near your body (do not tilt your elbow back). Bend your elbows until slightly resting. Return your hand to the starting position. You can lift dumbbells either one at a time (with one hand, after the second and again with the first) or simultaneously with two hands at the same time. You can perform lifts with both hands immediately until failure occurs after “finishing off” the muscle with alternating lifts.

Bicep curls on a Scott bench, etc. reverse grip (overhand grip) The exercise can be performed both on a Scott bench and on any other similar bench. The technique is the same as when performing biceps curls, but only with a reverse grip or a vertical grip.

Arnold does a reverse-grip barbell lift to pump up the brachialis.

You can perform this exercise with a straight bar, a curved bar, or a bar with a vertical grip (handles vertical), as well as with dumbbells with a hammer grip (described above). The grip width should be shoulder-width apart, but you can experiment and try to make the grip narrower, but you must definitely feel the muscle that you are pumping. With dumbbells, the exercise can be performed alternately with each hand or with both at the same time.