How to Flex

Co-authored by Danny Gordon

Last Updated: January 21, 2022 References

Flexing your muscles is a great way to show off your gym gains, but did you know it can also be a workout in itself? That’s right—flexing your muscles can actually make them stronger.^{[1]
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Trustworthy Source
PubMed Central
Journal archive from the U.S. National Institutes of Health
Go to source} How do you do it though? We’ve broken down the best way to flex different muscles, like your biceps, abs, and pecs, in the steps below. We’ve also included tips on how to grow your muscles and get them looking even more defined than they do now.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Flexing Your Biceps

1
Make a fist. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed, but allow your shoulder blades to spread to keep your back wide. Form a fist with the arm you want to flex. The simple action of forming a fist already begins to tighten your muscles. It's impossible to fully flex your arms if you don't make a fist first.^{[2]
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2
Extend and tense your arm. Straighten your arm either downward or out to the side. This lets the arm start at its most expanded state. Starting with a straight arm and a fist gives you the best ending result.

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3
Bend your elbow slowly to tighten your bicep. Raise your hand upward and bend your elbow. Go slowly so the tension builds through your muscle as it tightens. Focus your energy into tightening the muscles in the arms. Turn your hands so that your closed fist is facing your head with your thumb pointing backwards. Hold the position to showcase your muscles. Don't hold a flex for too long before you release it.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Curling to Build Your Biceps

1
Use dumbbells or barbells to build your biceps. Choose whichever type of weight is available to you and you are most comfortable with. Use dumbbells to work each arm on its own, or use barbells to work both arms at the same time. Each has its benefits and limitations.^{[3]
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- Dumbbells give your arms a broader range of motion because the arms move separately, while barbells require your hands to remain in one position.
- A drawback to barbells is that you risk one arm doing more work than the other arm, which will grow your muscles unevenly.
- An advantage to barbells, however, is that they allow most people to lift more weight because your stabilizing muscles don't have to work as hard.
2
Start the lift with your arms hanging at your sides. Grab weights that you can lift. As you perform the lift, keep your elbows pressed tight to your sides. If you feel them starting to drift forward, resist that feeling.
- Drifting your elbows to the front of your body lets other muscles assist with the lift, which takes focus from the biceps.
3
Bend your elbow and raise the weights to the level of your shoulder. Perform the lift slowly, using only your biceps to lift the weights. Keep your back straight and don’t rock as you lift. Don't arch your back or you’ll engage other muscles, which reduces the strengthening of your biceps.^{[4]
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- If you have not lifted much before, it may take a few tries to find the weights that are right for you.
- As you are lifting, the main thing is to focus your energy solely on your biceps. Using any other muscles to assist in the lift reduces the effectiveness. This is also important for flexing because it will teach you to recognize the feeling of your muscle contracting, which you will later use to show off your muscles when you flex.
- Stop your lifts before your arm fully contracts so that the focus stays on your biceps. When you reach the top of the lift, your biceps stop working. Stop the lift at your shoulders.
4
Tense the bicep muscle while the weight is up. Push your biceps further by tightening your bicep muscles while your elbows are bent. This extra tensing of the muscle increases the strengthening of the muscle with each rep that you do.
5
Lower the weights slowly. After you’ve completed the curl and tensed your biceps, slowly extend your elbows so that your arm is almost straight but still slightly bent. Lowering the weights slowly is the most important part because it affects the strengthening of the biceps. This is when the most muscle tearing occurs, which is necessary for your muscles to increase their size as your body repairs the tears.
- It takes more work to lower them slowly than it does to let them fall, so slow is the most effective option.
- Your bicep should still feel engaged in between reps. If you fully straighten your arm or let it hang, your workout will not be as effective.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Defining Your Abdominals

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Hit each section of abdominal muscles. When training the abs, you might think of them in terms of the upper torso, the lower torso, and the sides of your torso. Make sure that when you are doing ab exercises you specifically target each of these parts of muscle group. Each part adds to the overall look of your abs.^{[5]
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- There are many ab exercises that target each part of your abs, so do some research to find exercises that you feel the most comfortable with.
2
Try curl-ups for a good all-around ab workout. Lie on your back and keep your feet flat on the ground so your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Press down on the floor with your heels and lower back so they don't move around while you exercise. Activate your abs and lift your shoulders off of the ground. Sit up until your upper body is at a 30-degree angle to the floor and hold the position for a count. Then slowly lower yourself back to the floor.^{[6]
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Expert Source

Danny Gordon
Certified Personal Trainer
Expert Interview. 18 October 2019.}
- Do 2–3 sets of 12–15 curl-ups.
3
Perform the bicycle crunch to work your lower abs. Lay flat on your back with your legs straight and your hands behind your head. Bend one knee and lift the opposite elbow up to touch the knee. Repeat with the other leg and arm.^{[7]
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- The number of reps that you do is up to you. Start with a low number of reps and work your way up to more reps.
4
Perform V-ups to work your upper abs. Lay flat on your back with your legs out straight on the floor and your arms extended overhead on the floor. Slowly raise your legs and arms at the same time until they are in a “V” shape. Hold it for one second, then slowly lower your arms and legs back down.
- This may be difficult for you if you have not done a lot of abdominal work before. Perform only as many reps as you feel comfortable with.
5
Perform Russian twists to work your obliques. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your upper body leaning backwards just slightly. Hold a medicine ball or a weight, or don’t use a weight at all but lock your hands in front of you. Twist slowly to the left as far as you can and hold the position for one second. Then twist to the right as far as you can and hold it.^{[8]
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- Repeat this motion for the desired number of reps.
- You’ll get a harder workout with a weight, but this is a good exercise for you if you have not done many ab exercises before.
6
Work out your abs consistently. Don’t expect to do one day of abs each week and make significant progress. You also can’t do three hard days in a row and then take two weeks off. Get on a routine that works for you and stick to it. It’s good to do an ab routine three non-consecutive days a week.^{[9]
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Reduce the number of calories you take in.^{[10]
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Expert Source

Danny Gordon
Certified Personal Trainer
Expert Interview. 18 October 2019.} If you want to see your abs, you need to lose spare fat that’s stored on your body. Doing lots of ab exercises will not help if you don’t reduce your calorie intake. Commit to an eating plan that reduces your overall intake. Defining your abs starts with your diet.^{[11]
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- You don’t have to join a specific diet program like South Beach or Weight Watchers, although these can help. All you need to do is evaluate how much you are eating and work to consistently reduce the amount.
- Besides quantity of food, this also deals with quality. Reduce the fat, sugar, and overall calorie count of your daily food intake.
8
Flex your abs by bracing your stomach. Pretend that someone is about to punch your stomach and draw it in. Pull your sternum towards the top of your pelvis to flex your six pack abs and pull your waist in from the sides to flex the obliques. It takes practice to do these all at the same time, so try it out in the mirror before flexing for others.
- When you flex, you should try to recreate the feeling you have in your muscles when you work them.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Emphasizing Your Pectorals

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Move your hands closer together when you do push ups. Place your hands so that they are almost touching forefingers and thumbs in a diamond shape. Lower yourself slowly and engage the pecs when you push up.^{[12]
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- Standard push ups place your hands about shoulder width apart, but moving the hands closer together targets your pectoral muscles, as well as your triceps.
2
Do a high number of reps with lower weight on bench press. Muscle is built over time with multiple reps, not by busting out the highest weight possible on one rep. It’s okay to push for a high max once in awhile, but don’t forget that reps are what build your pec muscles.^{[13]
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- Doing 3 to 5 sets of 6 to 10 reps will build muscle mass.
3
Rest your muscles so that they grow. Exercising your muscles is sort of like tearing them, while resting gives them a chance to repair. Do pectoral exercises twice a week, a few days apart, and let them rest and grow on the other days. Flex and stretch them on the days where you are not doing exercises.
4
Flex your pecs by pushing your shoulders forward. With your arms down at your sides, shift your shoulders forward slightly. As you do so, contract your muscles like you do during a workout. This should show off all of your hard work.
- You should practice in front of a mirror before showing others.