If there was one part of your body that you’d really like to be bigger, what would it be? Okay… if there was two parts of your body that you’d really like to be bigger, the second has got to be your arms.
A largely universal question everyone seems to ask is: How can I get bigger arms? Well, we get a lot of emails asking for this type of thing on a daily basis, asking if we can suggest a routine to build up arm muscles and strength ASAP, so here’s a routine that’ll have you hunting down bigger shirts in no time flat.
First off we need to start with a little bit of truth here; it’s a proven fact that more than 90% of real, dedicated gym rats are over training. If you’re one of those guys who are spending hours working out hard every day, then chances are, you’re overtraining, and treating the gym more as a hobby then anything else.
If that’s the case, nothing’s going to alter the shape of your muscles until you’ve given your body a break. So, take a deep breath and prepare yourself: for the next two weeks, stay out of the gym. That’s right, two full weeks. If you’re serious about adding on new size, you’re going to need to get your muscles fully recovered.
That means no strength training at all for that time. Take this time to get lean and nail all of your meals. It’ll be worth it once you see the drastic changes you can make, when your muscles are fully recovered.
Ok, so on with the arm busting routine, which is designed to add the most muscle mass to your triceps, biceps and forearms, all within three workouts after your two-weeks off.
Biceps – Sitting Curls: While you’re seated on a bench, have your barbell resting in your lap. When you’re ready, with a shoulder width underhand grip, lift and curl upwards as far as your chin.
Because you’re sitting, you’ll be able to lift more weight than you would in standing, so make sure your weights are heavy enough that you can’t do more than 8 reps.
Now, do a set of 8 reps, then rest for thirty seconds. Increase the weight you’re lifting by 10% and go at it again, doing as many reps as possible, to increase your intensity. Do your best to go past your normal threshold for pain and grind out a few extra reps.
Triceps – Close Grip Bench Presses: This exercise is specifically designed to trigger new growth in your triceps and the most important part of it is the heaviness of the weights, not the range of movement.
For that reason, you should limit yourself to the top third of your personal range of motion. You’ll find it much easier to use a power rack or Smith apparatus to perform this exercise.
Start by gripping the bar with your hands evenly spaced and six inches apart. Contract your triceps and lift the weights off the rack to until your arm is fully extended. Again, use enough weight to ensure that you can’t do more than 8 reps.
Like the first routine, your range of motion is restricted in this position so you can achieve a lift of around 50% more weight than you would in other stances. This will ultimately boost strength and muscle gains.
Do one set of eight reps then rest for thirty seconds before increasing the weight by 10%. Now perform as many reps as you possibly can to rep out completely. Again, go past your normal threshold for pain and grind out as many reps as you can.
Forearms – Two Exercises
Sitting Wrist Curls: This move is performed in the same sitting position as the bicep curls above. Grab a seat on a bench and take an underhand grip on your barbell while resting your wrists on your knees. Your hands should be extended beyond your knees. Now permit the weight of your bar to force your wrist down towards the floor. Using your forearm muscles, lift the weight back up.
Do one set of eight reps, then rest for thirty seconds before increasing the weight by 10% and again, now do as many reps as you can till you’ve completely exhausted your forearms.
Behind-the-Back Wrist Curls: For this exercise, hold the barbell behind your back keeping the palm of your hand facing backwards. This is easiest if you have a buddy pass you your weights or have them on a rack behind you.
With the bar hanging downward and your wrist relaxed, using your forearms muscles, bring the weight up by bending your wrists. You may think you can’t do much weight for this one but trust me; you can, so go for the heaviest weight you can manage.
The range of movement/motion isn’t as important as the heaviness of the weights, which will promote the muscle growth.
As with the other exercises, do one set of 8 reps then rest for thirty seconds before increasing your weights by 10%. Now do as many reps as you can manage again until your forearms feel like their on first and you can’t possibly do another curl.
Every time you do these four exercises, try to increase the weight by 15 to 25%. You’re only going to see progress if you add to the weight often because this is what powers new muscle growth and development: heaviness.
Do the above routine three times, over the next twelve days, but don’t do any other arm exercises/training while you’re doing this routine. Feel free to still train your other muscle groups and you can still perform low intensity cardio during this time.
If it’s done right though, no matter how big your arms are, they’re going to be bigger after twelve days! Guaranteed!
A largely universal question everyone seems to ask is: How can I get bigger arms? Well, we get a lot of emails asking for this type of thing on a daily basis, asking if we can suggest a routine to build up arm muscles and strength ASAP, so here’s a routine that’ll have you hunting down bigger shirts in no time flat.
First off we need to start with a little bit of truth here; it’s a proven fact that more than 90% of real, dedicated gym rats are over training. If you’re one of those guys who are spending hours working out hard every day, then chances are, you’re overtraining, and treating the gym more as a hobby then anything else.
If that’s the case, nothing’s going to alter the shape of your muscles until you’ve given your body a break. So, take a deep breath and prepare yourself: for the next two weeks, stay out of the gym. That’s right, two full weeks. If you’re serious about adding on new size, you’re going to need to get your muscles fully recovered.
That means no strength training at all for that time. Take this time to get lean and nail all of your meals. It’ll be worth it once you see the drastic changes you can make, when your muscles are fully recovered.
Ok, so on with the arm busting routine, which is designed to add the most muscle mass to your triceps, biceps and forearms, all within three workouts after your two-weeks off.
Biceps – Sitting Curls: While you’re seated on a bench, have your barbell resting in your lap. When you’re ready, with a shoulder width underhand grip, lift and curl upwards as far as your chin.
Because you’re sitting, you’ll be able to lift more weight than you would in standing, so make sure your weights are heavy enough that you can’t do more than 8 reps.
Now, do a set of 8 reps, then rest for thirty seconds. Increase the weight you’re lifting by 10% and go at it again, doing as many reps as possible, to increase your intensity. Do your best to go past your normal threshold for pain and grind out a few extra reps.
Triceps – Close Grip Bench Presses: This exercise is specifically designed to trigger new growth in your triceps and the most important part of it is the heaviness of the weights, not the range of movement.
For that reason, you should limit yourself to the top third of your personal range of motion. You’ll find it much easier to use a power rack or Smith apparatus to perform this exercise.
Start by gripping the bar with your hands evenly spaced and six inches apart. Contract your triceps and lift the weights off the rack to until your arm is fully extended. Again, use enough weight to ensure that you can’t do more than 8 reps.
Like the first routine, your range of motion is restricted in this position so you can achieve a lift of around 50% more weight than you would in other stances. This will ultimately boost strength and muscle gains.
Do one set of eight reps then rest for thirty seconds before increasing the weight by 10%. Now perform as many reps as you possibly can to rep out completely. Again, go past your normal threshold for pain and grind out as many reps as you can.
Forearms – Two Exercises
Sitting Wrist Curls: This move is performed in the same sitting position as the bicep curls above. Grab a seat on a bench and take an underhand grip on your barbell while resting your wrists on your knees. Your hands should be extended beyond your knees. Now permit the weight of your bar to force your wrist down towards the floor. Using your forearm muscles, lift the weight back up.
Do one set of eight reps, then rest for thirty seconds before increasing the weight by 10% and again, now do as many reps as you can till you’ve completely exhausted your forearms.
Behind-the-Back Wrist Curls: For this exercise, hold the barbell behind your back keeping the palm of your hand facing backwards. This is easiest if you have a buddy pass you your weights or have them on a rack behind you.
With the bar hanging downward and your wrist relaxed, using your forearms muscles, bring the weight up by bending your wrists. You may think you can’t do much weight for this one but trust me; you can, so go for the heaviest weight you can manage.
The range of movement/motion isn’t as important as the heaviness of the weights, which will promote the muscle growth.
As with the other exercises, do one set of 8 reps then rest for thirty seconds before increasing your weights by 10%. Now do as many reps as you can manage again until your forearms feel like their on first and you can’t possibly do another curl.
Every time you do these four exercises, try to increase the weight by 15 to 25%. You’re only going to see progress if you add to the weight often because this is what powers new muscle growth and development: heaviness.
Do the above routine three times, over the next twelve days, but don’t do any other arm exercises/training while you’re doing this routine. Feel free to still train your other muscle groups and you can still perform low intensity cardio during this time.
If it’s done right though, no matter how big your arms are, they’re going to be bigger after twelve days! Guaranteed!
