Every guy wants to get bigger arms, but so many men don’t know how to achieve this without steroids or plenty of elbow grease in the gym. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to make your arm muscles grow naturally, and they don’t require hours and hours of arm-specific training every week! Here are 7 workouts that will help you grow your arms quickly.
Compound movements
Focus on compound movements to train your arms. Compound movements use multiple joints, which means you’ll be stimulating a lot of muscle fibers in your upper body and throughout your lower body, too.
Muscles require time to rest and recover, so always allow at least 48 hours between any two arm training sessions. Remember, the goal is growth and injury prevention. If you’re feeling extra sore or you’ve injured yourself, it’s important to take some time off from working out so that healing can occur.
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It’s not worth putting your muscles under undue stress when they need to heal and grow! The best way to get back into the swing of things is by using this simple rule: if you were hurt before, do what you were doing before; if not, do something new but less intense.
For example, if you’re trying to rehab an elbow injury with push-ups – modify them by placing one hand down for support – but only after talking with your doctor about whether this exercise would aggravate the injury.
Muscle Priority Training
Start your workout with a tough conditioning move like mountain climbers, tabata squats, or push-ups. Once you’re out of breath and on the floor, focus on isolating muscle groups. For example, do one set of 20 bicep curls with a light weight before moving to standing triceps extensions.
You’ll be able to use more weight for these later exercises and exhaust each muscle group for an awesome pump. Aim for about 3 sets per muscle group before moving on to the next one! This workout is all about getting big arms. Make sure to also include plenty of chest work and back work in order to keep your proportions balanced! Finally, make sure that you are doing compound lifts (i.e., bench press) rather than isolation moves (i.e., flyes).
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Isolation moves can provide a good pump but won’t really make your arms bigger—you need to load up those muscles with heavy weights so they grow! If you’re trying to bulk up, I recommend adding in some leg training as well; quadriceps work burns calories and increases testosterone levels, both of which will help you pack on size. The most important thing is to eat enough protein—aim for at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight every day.
Trisets and Dropsets
Trains and dropsets are both a perfect way to add some more intensity to your arm workout. A triset is when you do three different exercises back-to-back with no rest in between. This style is great for doing arms because it focuses on the same muscle group without allowing it any recovery time.
Dropsets, on the other hand, are typically done as an add-on after your initial routine has been completed, using progressively heavier weights and fewer reps each time. They’re also a good idea if you’re looking for an extra challenge that really pushes you past your limits.
You can either use just one type of weight or switch up the weight every few sets. For example, you could start out with 10 pound dumbbells for 10 reps, then 8 pounds for 12 reps, then 6 pounds for 15 reps. If you don’t have enough dumbbells (or any at all), try using a kettlebell instead! Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart and holding the kettlebell against your chest.
Keeping your elbows close to your body, raise the bell over head until it’s at eye level. Lower down slowly until you feel a stretch in your biceps then bring it back up.
Isolation Movements
Dumbbell hammer curls are a good start for adding size to your arms. You’ll also want to add weight in a decent range of 3-8 pounds depending on your strength level. Concentrate on lifting the weight and not swinging it.
To keep tension on the biceps, focus on pulling the dumbbells up until they’re at chin level, not extending them straight out in front of you as this will take tension off the muscle.
Work opposing muscles with exercises like barbell or seated lat pulldowns that train your back, chest and arms all at once or with movements like squats that train your quads and hamstrings while using the arm curl machine to work your biceps.
Doing so will eliminate boredom while sparing time by training multiple muscle groups at once. Switching from one exercise to another will cause an interval effect, where lactic acid accumulates more quickly than usual because your body has less time to recover before starting again.
A great example is alternating between sets of bench presses and dips. Perform 10 reps of each exercise consecutively, then rest for 30 seconds before repeating the sequence twice more for a total of three sets per exercise.
Burnout Sets
In each arm workout, perform three sets of each exercise in the arm-specific routine. After you’ve completed all three sets of an exercise, you should feel really fatigued.
So much so that it will be difficult to complete a fourth set of any given exercise. This is your burnout set! Once you’ve finished your second and third sets on an exercise, do one final burnout set and call it a day.
For example, for dumbbell lateral raises , complete 3 sets of 10 reps before moving onto the next exercise. If you have time, and you’re feeling strong enough, go ahead and complete another set or two.
But if not – don’t stress about it! Get plenty of rest between workouts to allow yourself enough time to recover from this intense training program – when we’re training with maximum intensity, our muscles need more recovery time than usual! Rest at least 48 hours between arms sessions, preferably more.
During your days off from working out, make sure to stretch thoroughly and work on increasing blood flow by gently squeezing the muscles you’ve been training (such as flexing and releasing a few times).
For even better results, try using both arms in every exercise rather than focusing just on one side of your body (e.g., alternate biceps curls ).
You’ll notice improved symmetry over time as well as increased muscle growth! To keep your heart rate up during your workouts, mix up incline and decline versions of exercises like pushups and bench presses . Perform 8-10 reps with 20 seconds of rest in between sets.
Post-fatigue Sets
-The negative set. Lower the weight down to your chest level and then lift it back up while holding the contraction for 10 seconds at the top of each rep.
On the last one, use what you have left to lift it up as high as you can go before having to drop it again. -Bicep Curls with a Towel. Wrap a towel around a barbell and secure it with your fingers or hold on tight for an extra challenge on each rep. -Standing Hamstring Curls.
A challenge variation of this popular exercise is lifting your foot onto a small step or bench and adding hamstring curls in place of regular bicep curls. This creates better contraction due to increased range of motion, targeting more muscle fibers during each rep. You may also want to change things up by standing on your tip toes for these sets.
Dumbbell Hammer Curls: Curl both dumbbells simultaneously with palms facing inward toward each other (thumbs touching). The hammer curl targets the long head of the biceps and helps build overall arm size and definition.
Focusing on Your Inner Biceps: Grip a short or narrow bar and then position yourself so that you are leaning forward slightly with weights close to chest height, elbows tucked in close to your sides. Bend over at waist until arms are nearly straight (or bend just enough so that there is tension on muscles) keeping elbows stationary throughout movement.
Heavy Duty Training
1. Standing Cable Triceps Extensions
This is a good warm-up exercise that will also serve as a little forearm burnout at the end of your workout. Start with a single arm and load up with enough weight so you can do 8-10 reps, then switch arms and go for another 8-10 reps. If you need to take a break in between sets, make sure to rest both arms. After completing 3 sets on each arm, move on to the next exercise.
2. Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls
This movement should be done sitting down on an incline bench set to about 45 degrees, or alternatively use a seated row machine if available. Lower the dumbbells until they are by your sides and using only one hand curl them up until they are touching your bicep (you may have to start this with lighter weights). Aim for 10-12 repetitions per set before switching hands and going again.
3. Seated Dumbbell Presses
This is another great chest builder that is easy on the joints but gets results quickly. Sit on a flat bench with your feet planted firmly on the ground, grab two dumbbells and lean back slightly. Bring the weights up to shoulder height palms facing forward, then extend upwards pressing them straight overhead towards the ceiling. Lower back down under control and repeat for 8-10 reps. Make sure to keep your form strict throughout all movements when doing these exercises.
4. Close Grip Bench Presses
This is just like regular barbell presses except close grip meaning that you grip it closer together than normal (about 4 inches apart) making it easier to lift heavier weights while still being able to get some contraction in your triceps muscles because there’s less weight balance involved overall – giving you more bang for your buck!
5. High Pulls
This is a functional strength training exercise which has been proven time and time again to be excellent for building muscle mass around the shoulders and upper back without adding too much bulk. Load up a heavy weight, stand tall with your legs hip width apart then bend over into a squat position keeping your back straight, push off from the floor and pull up aiming for 12-15 repetitions per set before moving onto the next.
6. Chin Ups
This isn’t exactly an arm movement but it does work the lats which indirectly affects how wide your arms hang from their attachment points in your armpits – plus who doesn’t want bigger guns?
7. One Arm Dumbbell Row
This is a similar movement to the seated incline curls, but instead you’re standing up and holding a weight in one arm. Keeping your back straight, bend your knees and lower the weight behind you, then pulling back up to the side of your torso. You’ll need to use light weights for this exercise due to the nature of having only one arm at a time acting on the weight – aim for 8-10 reps on each side before resting and starting again.