First and foremost arms have to have their very own day in your
training split. They are worked as an accessory muscle on chest,
shoulder and back day however being worked as an accessory doesn't even
come close to attaining full muscular contraction and therefore does not
optimally engage the biceps, triceps or forearms for full growth
potential.
I will note however that they are still worked as accessory muscles on your chest, shoulder and back day, so my professional recommendation is to have your arm day on the day after legs or a rest day in order to give them adequate recovery time. (About 48 hours is more than enough time for a recovery period)
An essential part of arm training that is often neglected or overlooked is training the forearms. Two muscles that are a huge part of building aesthetically pleasing arms are the brachialis and brachioradialis, both of which are forearm muscles.
One of the simplest ways to activate the forearms throughout a bicep or tricep movement is to utilize fat grips either through portable clip on grips, or an Olympic fat bar (If neither of these options are available at your gym, then there are a variety of affordable options online). As well as training the forearms, it is also important to hit the triceps and biceps from a variety of different angles in order to fully contract each muscle head and attain maximum hypertrophy effect.
An example of this is performing a supernation when curling a dumbbell to work your biceps or performing a pronation when extending the dumbbell behind you on a kickback to work your triceps. (Have your arms down by your side; palms facing in towards your thigh is neutral, rotate out so your palm is facing forward is supernation and rotate the other way so that your palm is facing behind you is pronation) Performing a variety of sets with neutral, pronated and supernated movements are essential in building bigger, stronger, aesthetically pleasing arms.
Probably the most important factor in building bigger arms is going through a FULL range of movement. The reason I say this is important is because I see people every day in the gym performing arms exercises with only a partial range of movement and therefore not attaining optimal results.
You can load a barbell up with as much weight as you want and do a set of curls with 40% range of movement and a back arch that mimics a rainbow but trust me when I say the only thing growing is your ego!
An example of a FULL range of movement for a preacher curl would be: for the start of the move, have your arm completely straight with the elbow almost feeling like its hyper extended and the back of your arm lying flush down the pad (ensure your elbow isn't past the bottom end of the pad).
Bring the bar or dumbbell up towards your face whilst keeping the back of your arm against the pad. Keeping that arm against the pad, try and create the smallest angle possible with the inside of your elbow joint and at the very top of the move pause for a second and squeeze to exaggerate the contraction, then slowly release away from you and concentrate on a slow and controlled eccentric (negative) movement back to the starting position.
Now when it comes to repetitions we are aiming for optimal hypertrophy effect so 12-15 is the goal in order to attain that. That being said in order to get bigger arms, it's all about volume and not so much intensity so train for the pump! Another way we can do this is to extend a set by performing supersets where you will perform two separate exercises back to back like a tricep extension and a tricep dip.
Performing these supersets and training at a high volume will rush blood into the muscle giving it a larger pump, fatiguing the muscle and effectively overloading the neurological system thus releasing growth hormone factor, resulting in bigger arms.
EXAMPLE WORKOUT
TRICEPS
I will note however that they are still worked as accessory muscles on your chest, shoulder and back day, so my professional recommendation is to have your arm day on the day after legs or a rest day in order to give them adequate recovery time. (About 48 hours is more than enough time for a recovery period)
An essential part of arm training that is often neglected or overlooked is training the forearms. Two muscles that are a huge part of building aesthetically pleasing arms are the brachialis and brachioradialis, both of which are forearm muscles.
One of the simplest ways to activate the forearms throughout a bicep or tricep movement is to utilize fat grips either through portable clip on grips, or an Olympic fat bar (If neither of these options are available at your gym, then there are a variety of affordable options online). As well as training the forearms, it is also important to hit the triceps and biceps from a variety of different angles in order to fully contract each muscle head and attain maximum hypertrophy effect.
An example of this is performing a supernation when curling a dumbbell to work your biceps or performing a pronation when extending the dumbbell behind you on a kickback to work your triceps. (Have your arms down by your side; palms facing in towards your thigh is neutral, rotate out so your palm is facing forward is supernation and rotate the other way so that your palm is facing behind you is pronation) Performing a variety of sets with neutral, pronated and supernated movements are essential in building bigger, stronger, aesthetically pleasing arms.
Probably the most important factor in building bigger arms is going through a FULL range of movement. The reason I say this is important is because I see people every day in the gym performing arms exercises with only a partial range of movement and therefore not attaining optimal results.
You can load a barbell up with as much weight as you want and do a set of curls with 40% range of movement and a back arch that mimics a rainbow but trust me when I say the only thing growing is your ego!
An example of a FULL range of movement for a preacher curl would be: for the start of the move, have your arm completely straight with the elbow almost feeling like its hyper extended and the back of your arm lying flush down the pad (ensure your elbow isn't past the bottom end of the pad).
Bring the bar or dumbbell up towards your face whilst keeping the back of your arm against the pad. Keeping that arm against the pad, try and create the smallest angle possible with the inside of your elbow joint and at the very top of the move pause for a second and squeeze to exaggerate the contraction, then slowly release away from you and concentrate on a slow and controlled eccentric (negative) movement back to the starting position.
Now when it comes to repetitions we are aiming for optimal hypertrophy effect so 12-15 is the goal in order to attain that. That being said in order to get bigger arms, it's all about volume and not so much intensity so train for the pump! Another way we can do this is to extend a set by performing supersets where you will perform two separate exercises back to back like a tricep extension and a tricep dip.
Performing these supersets and training at a high volume will rush blood into the muscle giving it a larger pump, fatiguing the muscle and effectively overloading the neurological system thus releasing growth hormone factor, resulting in bigger arms.
EXAMPLE WORKOUT
TRICEPS
- Barbell skull crushers 3x12-15 superset with close barbell bench press 3x12-15
- Cable rope triceps extensions tri-set 3x12-15 each way (The 3 ways you perform this are - 1: straight down with rope spread outwards at bottom 2: straight down with ropes remaining together 3: turn around and extend ropes overhead)
- Cable triceps pushdowns 3x12-15 superset with dumbbell kickbacks 3x12-15 (go through neutral, supernated and pronated contractions on the dumbbell kickbacks)
- Preacher curls 4x20,15,12,10
- Dumbbell supernated curls 3x12-15 each side
- Dumbbell neutral curls 3x12-15 each side
- Barbell 21's 3x21 superset with bench dips 3x30
- barbell wrist curls 3x15 superset with barbell reverse wrist curls 3x1
- So there's your blueprint on how to get bigger arms. Along with all of the advice I have presented in this article, it is absolutely essential that in order to attain maximal results in your journey to building bigger arms, you consume a healthy balanced diet rich in vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats.
- It is important to drink adequate water and rest throughout the week in order for your body to function and recover optimally.
- Finally be sure to consume a protein shake immediately after your workout in order to achieve optimal muscle synthesis. Follow these guidelines for at least 3-4weeks and I promise you will see gains. Enjoy growing some monster arms!
