It’s not very often that you hear a bro at the gym say to another bro, “Hey bro, what are you working on today?” Then the other bro says, “It’s arm day, bro!” You’re more likely to hear, “It’s leg day, bro!” I happen think that the arms are just as important as the legs in the grand scheme of things. And all of MY bros would agree.
I mean let’s face it, the arms are higher up on the body and more easy to see then the legs. And unless you are wearing a long-sleeve shirt, they are more commonly displayable out on the streets when you’re going through your daily state of affairs. So why neglect them? Just because you read in a magazine somewhere that the legs are more important? Phooey!
Let’s dedicate this article to tips on beefing up your guns through better arm workouts. You can thank me later for all the compliments and fan mail that comes pouring in. Just don’t get too ripped or it might go to your head.
Tip #1: Focus on the triceps. The “arms” consist of more than just the biceps. They only cover the front part of the upper arm area. If you want to fill up a sleeve, you need to pay just as much attention to the triceps, which are on the back of the upper arms.
Include drills in your workouts that involve extension like dips, skull-crushers, kickbacks and cable pushdowns.
Tip #2: Perform kettlebell racked drills. If you have read any of my past articles or watched any of my videos, it shouldn’t take you long to see that I am a big fan of kettlebells. When it comes to beefing up the arms, I’m going to bring them back into the fray once again.
One particular way they are advantageous is when you hold them in a rack position. The amount of isometric tension you get is second to none! Any type of kettlebell exercise where you simply hold it in the rack position for an extended period of time will do wonders.
One of my favorite things to do is racked carries where you hold one or two kettlebells in a rack position and walk a said distance. It’s really all about tension to get the most muscle gain and the kettlebell rack position is sure to please.
Tip #3: Use a full range of motion. Now let’s get a little more technical. It doesn’t matter if you are working your triceps or biceps with any particular exercise. You want to make sure to use a full range of motion to guarantee the muscle is getting adequately worked and taxed. This means fully flex and extend your joint range of motion (ROM) with every drill you do. Go slow and steady and never use momentum. Leave that to the gapers.
Tip #4: Hit your arms from different angles. Just as there’s more than one way to take pine pollen, there is also more than one way to lift weights. To put this into perspective, there are three parts to the triceps and two parts to the biceps. The goal in your workouts is to hit your “tris and bis” from different angles to ensure you get every last drop of muscle recruitment.
The triceps have a long, medial and lateral head. Perform exercises like dips, reverse, close-grip bench presses and angled rope pushdowns to get the variety you need to hit them all.
For the biceps, mix in some basic moves with some out-of-the-box drills. Standard barbell curls are always a safe bet. But also do some twisting dumbbell curls, incline hammer curls and circular curls, which are another one of my favorites.
And don’t forget about the brachioradialis. This is the unsung muscle that spans the front of the forearm and shoots up underneath the biceps brachii. By hitting it with some reverse-grip curls, you will thicken up your forearms and push those upper brachii out more, giving them more girth.
Tip #5: Use the right amount of load. Uncommon to popular belief, you do not need a million pounds of resistance to maximize the size of a muscle. You just need to hit it hard enough to promote micro tears.
A good exercise for the triceps was mentioned above and that would be dips. I personally like bodyweight dips on dipping bars. You are using either all or most of the weight of your body. They are also compound, so you get some ancillary chest and shoulder recruitment. For your biceps, focus on a weight that you can lift 8 to 12 times with good form.
Finishing Thoughts
Here are some of my final notes on the arms. Remember to work your whole arm and not just one part. Use a decent amount of load, but don’t worry about going uber heavy. Focus more on a full range of motion with slow and steady reps.
