Protruding veins are a sign of a body in perfect shape. Bodybuilders, pro wrestlers, and other super-muscular athletes always seem to have arms with bulging veins. The easiest place to make the veins stand out is the forearm, and you can achieve this either if you are thin or by losing body fat to make the veins more visible on your body.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Bringing Out the Veins
Step 1. Try doing 20 push-ups
If you've noticed that the veins in your arms stand out more in some situations, get down on the ground and do 20 push-ups. This is the quickest and easiest way to make your veins stand out. This type of exercise pushes blood towards the forearms, and gravity helps too.
If you've never seen the veins in your arms before, and push-ups doesn't help, you may need to exercise to lose fat before your veins stand out. In this case, skip to the next section
Step 2. Flex your forearms
If you don't feel like doing pushups, or if you can't do it, strengthen your forearms a little by opening and clenching your fists. Place your hands on a flat surface with the palm facing up. Now grab both hands and clench your fists hard, then let go. Keep repeating these movements.
- This movement should push the blood into your forearms; this is an effect called vasodilation, because you force your muscles to require more oxygen and therefore more blood, making the veins more noticeable.
- Stress balls or spring-loaded pliers are useful tools to offer resistance to punches.
Step 3. Let your arms hang down
If you have thin arms and large veins, sometimes all you have to do is let them dangle and wait for as much blood as possible to reach the extremities - at which point the veins will stand out. It's an easy method and it works.
- If you can, help with the back of a sofa, kitchen counter, or some other surface that you can rest your armpits on and let your arms dangle.
- You may start to get a "teasing" feeling if you let too much blood go into your arms, and they will lose sensation. If that happens, stop immediately.
Step 4. Wear a shirt with tight sleeves
T-shirts with tight sleeves are often worn to bring out the muscles and veins. While it is not recommended to wear clothing that hinders blood circulation (not healthy for veins, muscles and heart), you can roll up the sleeves of a shirt to make them tighter, or wear a tight-fitting shirt to have the same effect.
Obstructing blood circulation to any part of the body is not recommended. Never use tourniquets or elastic to make the veins in your arms stand out. If you wear them for too long you could cause permanent tissue damage, or even risk losing the limb
Part 2 of 3: Making the Veins More Visible
Step 1. Exercise to lose fat
To put it simply, the lower the fat, the more your veins will stand out. Most people begin to show abs when fat is 12-10% of their body weight, and veins begin to appear on their arms and other parts at about the same point.
The great thing about the arms is that they don't contain a lot of fat, so it's easier to bring out the veins in the forearms and biceps than in the abs, where most of the fat is concentrated
Step 2. Exercise your upper body
In addition to cardio exercises and a healthy diet, the best way to lose weight and make your arm veins stand out is to train your upper limbs in particular. You have to choose the right exercises to inflate your arm muscles and add lean muscle mass to your biceps, triceps and forearms. The following exercises are very useful for making the veins stand out:
- Flexion of the biceps.
- Extension of the triceps.
- French press.
- Narrow Grip Bench Press.
- Pull ups.
- Forearm flexions.
- Forearm extensions.
Step 3. Make loud sets
To make your veins more visible, you need to do exercises to tone and not to gain mass. This means less weight at higher volume. For example, instead of doing 8 sets of 22kg push-ups, do 40 sets of 13kg. This way you will be able to tone and strengthen the particular area you want to focus on.
Step 4. Do grip exercises
Farmers walks, forearm pushups, reverse grip biceps pushups, and other grip exercises are a great way to gain lean arm muscle and increase vasodilation. You should notice that during these exercises the veins will stand out more.
- In general, it is recommended to do an appropriate number of sets of forearm exercises to achieve muscle failure. More sets, less weight.
- If you don't have access to a gym, you can try doing pull-ups using a door frame. This way you can better vascularize your forearms and gain strength in your arms and fingers. Grab the top door frame with your fingers and let it dangle as long as you can. Repeat the exercise every day, and then add some real pull-ups as well.
Step 5. Add cardio to your training program
Vascular health is a key component of getting muscular and making the veins in the arms stand out. There are two types of cardio that you can decide to incorporate into your fitness program. Slow, steady cardio is the standard type, where you do moderate-intensity exercises like using the elliptical, the treadmill, or cycling.
- The other type of cardio is called HIIT (high intensity interval training), and it involves doing very high intensity cardio for a very short time (20-30 minutes) with small intervals in between for rest. An example of HIIT cardio would be a series of ten 100-meter sprints with a 60-second break between each.
- An example of slow, steady cardio would be 45 minutes on the elliptical.
Part 3 of 3: Improving Vascular Health
Step 1. Find your calorie count for weight loss
By reducing the percentage of fat mass, the veins will be more visible. It really is that simple. Calculate your daily calorie requirement based on your weight, age, gender and height, and find out how many calories per day you need to stay lean.
If you want a fairly easy, no-obligation way to keep track of your calories and training regimen, you can create a Fit Tracker account, or use an app that can help you with your weight loss program
Step 2. Try tilapia
While it hasn't been proven, tilapia is particularly rich in selenium, which is thought to be helpful in weight loss, muscle growth, and skin thinning, which would make it easier to see your veins. The effectiveness of tilapia in this regard is questionable, but it is certainly a cure-all, rich in lean proteins and lacking in fat and calories; it is an excellent addition to a healthful diet.
Step 3. Eat more lean protein
In order to have branching veins in your arms, you need to strive to eat a healthy diet rich in lean proteins. If you want to hope to gain lean muscle mass and make your veins stand out, you should aim for two grams of protein for every pound of body weight.
- Your diet is the most important aspect of your fitness program and you need to focus on it if you really want to reduce your body fat percentage. The type and overall amount of calories you put into your body are key in gaining lean muscle mass and burning fat.
- Lean chicken, eggs, legumes, fish, and high-protein soy are all excellent additions to an arm-strengthening workout.
Step 4. Reduce your sodium intake
Try to limit the amount of sodium you consume, so that you can get rid of the excess water that makes you heavier, so your skin will be more adherent to the muscles and the veins will stand out further.
A trick of body building (which is not recommended, however) is to limit the amount of water you drink before a performance. This eliminates excess fluids and makes the skin tighter, but is detrimental to overall vascular health. Better to eliminate the salt to achieve the same result. Always stay well hydrated
Step 5. Eat slow-absorbing carbohydrates
In addition to limiting salt intake, increasing the amount of slow-absorbing carbohydrates can also help eliminate excess water, helping you lose weight quickly and make your veins stand out. Low-glycemic carbohydrates, such as rice, sweet potatoes, and wholemeal bread, help expel sodium from the body and make veins more visible, especially after a workout.
