How To Get Big Arms – My 6 Tips
Are you unsatisfied with your arms? Are they weak, flabby, or scrawny? Do you want big, lean arms and do you want them now? While it's impossible to achieve any sort of muscle growth instantaneously, with hard work and smart exercise strategies, you can start seeing noticeable results in as little as a few weeks to a month.
Tip 1 – Train In All Rep Ranges
People often ask "Should I do low, medium, or high reps?" when they should really be asking " When should I do low, medium, and high reps?"
You see, a bodybuilder who wants bigger arms needs to stimulate those bi's and tri's with a variety of stimuli in order to maximize growth from various components of the muscle tissue itself.
An athlete like a weight-class bound fighter should focus primarily on doing low rep stuff with a high repetition speed to maximize power. A bodybuilder should do that and do sets that maximize time under tension to maximize cross sectional area of the muscle.
As a general rule of thumb, for maximizing arm size, spend about one-third of your training time doing low reps, one-third doing moderate reps, and one-third doing higher rep sets. This will ensure that you provide your arms with various types of stimulation, thus causing muscle growth via a variety of mechanisms.
Tip 2 – Hit 3 Exercises Per Muscle Group
There’s no benefit to hitting 10 exercises for biceps and 10 exercises for triceps.
If you’re lifting heavy and maintaining the right intensity there’s no way in hell you’d be able to make it to the 6th exercise, let alone the 10th!
I recommend performing 3 exercises for your biceps, 4 sets a piece and likewise, 3 exercise for your triceps at once again, 4 sets per piece.
12 work set for your biceps per week and 12 work sets for your triceps per week.
I used to fear low volume, thinking there was no way I was doing enough to actually reap any tangible results – but once you’ve got your progressive overload and your rep range sorted
you’ll soon see it’s a matter of exertion and workload as opposed to pure volume which many newbies fall into the trap of.
Tip 3 – Apply Progressive Overload Each And Every Workout
There should be no guess-work when it comes time to hit your barbell bicep curls, trying to remember the weight you’ve lifted previously is a recipe for diaster.
Record your lifts so you know what you need to do the following workout to beat your prevous record.
Supplements, ridiculous training protocols and broscience tips won’t help you get big arms, but progressive overload will.
How can you apply progressive overload?
In short you must increase the tension on the targeted muscle group (in this case your biceps and triceps).
Increasing tension can be applied via an increase in weight, an increase in reps or an increase in time under tension (reduction of rest periods etc.)
Check out my guide on how to apply progresisve overload here.
Tip 4 – Focus On The Mass Movers
In order to get big arms you need to focus on the big lifts.
The barbell bicep curl is the king for adding mass and strength to the biceps, meanwhile the close grip bench press and weighted dip are the key to adding
Strength and size to the triceps.
There are a TON of arm exercises out there, none of which can apply anywhere near as much stress on the muscles as these.
Think about it – when performing a barbell biceps curl we’re able to curl anywhere up to 150lbs ~ this obliterates the biceps, forcing growth.
Meanwhile, the over the bench one arm dumbbell concentration curl, often performed with a dumbbell around the 15lb mark cannot and will not replicate
the stress of the barbell exercise.
3 exercises is all you need per muscle group, so focusing on the big, key movements is important – no need to throw in every variation of curl, pushdown and kickback.
Tip 5 – Don’t Superset
If you’re rushed for time on a particular day then supersetting may very well be the way to go.
If you’re supersetting a bicep exercise with another bicep exercise or a bicep exercise with a tricep exercise (opposing muscle groups) in an attempt to force your arms to grow you’re going the wrong way about it.
Because my triceps are stronger I train them second, if my biceps were stronger and more dominant I would train them first.
Weak points always come first.
Tip 6 – Keep Your Rep Range Low ‘N’ Consistent
Studies have proven that the 4 – 6 rep range is the optimal rep range to build both muscle size and strength as a natural gym-goer.
Benching, deadlifting and squatting in the 4 – 6 rep range is relatively straight forward, however when it comes to performing your arm exercises in this low rep range many guys begin to
disregard form entirely just to move the weight.
If you’re cheating on your form you’re wasting your time.
Your form comes first.
No swinging on your bicep exercises, with a brief contraction at the top of each repetition.
No flaring of the elbows on your triceps exercises with a brief lockout and contraction at the top of each repetition.
Provided you’re able to maintain good form you should be aiming for 4 – 6 reps per set.
Tip 1 – Train In All Rep Ranges
People often ask "Should I do low, medium, or high reps?" when they should really be asking " When should I do low, medium, and high reps?"
You see, a bodybuilder who wants bigger arms needs to stimulate those bi's and tri's with a variety of stimuli in order to maximize growth from various components of the muscle tissue itself.
An athlete like a weight-class bound fighter should focus primarily on doing low rep stuff with a high repetition speed to maximize power. A bodybuilder should do that and do sets that maximize time under tension to maximize cross sectional area of the muscle.
As a general rule of thumb, for maximizing arm size, spend about one-third of your training time doing low reps, one-third doing moderate reps, and one-third doing higher rep sets. This will ensure that you provide your arms with various types of stimulation, thus causing muscle growth via a variety of mechanisms.
Tip 2 – Hit 3 Exercises Per Muscle Group
There’s no benefit to hitting 10 exercises for biceps and 10 exercises for triceps.
If you’re lifting heavy and maintaining the right intensity there’s no way in hell you’d be able to make it to the 6th exercise, let alone the 10th!
I recommend performing 3 exercises for your biceps, 4 sets a piece and likewise, 3 exercise for your triceps at once again, 4 sets per piece.
12 work set for your biceps per week and 12 work sets for your triceps per week.
I used to fear low volume, thinking there was no way I was doing enough to actually reap any tangible results – but once you’ve got your progressive overload and your rep range sorted
you’ll soon see it’s a matter of exertion and workload as opposed to pure volume which many newbies fall into the trap of.
Tip 3 – Apply Progressive Overload Each And Every Workout
There should be no guess-work when it comes time to hit your barbell bicep curls, trying to remember the weight you’ve lifted previously is a recipe for diaster.
Record your lifts so you know what you need to do the following workout to beat your prevous record.
Supplements, ridiculous training protocols and broscience tips won’t help you get big arms, but progressive overload will.
How can you apply progressive overload?
In short you must increase the tension on the targeted muscle group (in this case your biceps and triceps).
Increasing tension can be applied via an increase in weight, an increase in reps or an increase in time under tension (reduction of rest periods etc.)
Check out my guide on how to apply progresisve overload here.
Tip 4 – Focus On The Mass Movers
In order to get big arms you need to focus on the big lifts.
The barbell bicep curl is the king for adding mass and strength to the biceps, meanwhile the close grip bench press and weighted dip are the key to adding
Strength and size to the triceps.
There are a TON of arm exercises out there, none of which can apply anywhere near as much stress on the muscles as these.
Think about it – when performing a barbell biceps curl we’re able to curl anywhere up to 150lbs ~ this obliterates the biceps, forcing growth.
Meanwhile, the over the bench one arm dumbbell concentration curl, often performed with a dumbbell around the 15lb mark cannot and will not replicate
the stress of the barbell exercise.
3 exercises is all you need per muscle group, so focusing on the big, key movements is important – no need to throw in every variation of curl, pushdown and kickback.
Tip 5 – Don’t Superset
If you’re rushed for time on a particular day then supersetting may very well be the way to go.
If you’re supersetting a bicep exercise with another bicep exercise or a bicep exercise with a tricep exercise (opposing muscle groups) in an attempt to force your arms to grow you’re going the wrong way about it.
Because my triceps are stronger I train them second, if my biceps were stronger and more dominant I would train them first.
Weak points always come first.
Tip 6 – Keep Your Rep Range Low ‘N’ Consistent
Studies have proven that the 4 – 6 rep range is the optimal rep range to build both muscle size and strength as a natural gym-goer.
Benching, deadlifting and squatting in the 4 – 6 rep range is relatively straight forward, however when it comes to performing your arm exercises in this low rep range many guys begin to
disregard form entirely just to move the weight.
If you’re cheating on your form you’re wasting your time.
Your form comes first.
No swinging on your bicep exercises, with a brief contraction at the top of each repetition.
No flaring of the elbows on your triceps exercises with a brief lockout and contraction at the top of each repetition.
Provided you’re able to maintain good form you should be aiming for 4 – 6 reps per set.
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