But
as I mentioned earlier to get bigger arms alot times weight lifters
will focus on bicep curls. This is not a good way to get bigger arms
because the bicep only makes up one third the total size of the upper
arm. To get bigger arms you must target the triceps muscle. When people
ask me how to get bigger arms I tell them just one exercise "dips."
Do
dips and do a lot of them. I also warn them whenever you want to build
muscle fast in a single area to stay away from isolation type exercises
that target that area. Isolation type exercises will not build muscle
fast and will do very little to increase the size of the muscle. To get
bigger arms and to build muscle fast, you must focus on compound
exercises that targets the triceps and biceps muscles. Let me
explain.... to get bigger arms fast dips is the best and I speak from
experience!! Think about this....have you seen the tricep muscles on
male gymnasts? The dip exercise is basically the only true triceps
exercise they do and they all have absolutely huge, thick, muscular
triceps. Not to mention gymnasts are cartoon like in their muscularity.
That is because of the type of exercises they do to get bigger and
stronger.
Whenever
you use your bodyweight for resistance and or bodyweight plus
additional resistance while performing a compound movement you activate a
greater number of muscle fibers than you would if you simply used a
machine. Machines do not recruit as many muscle fibers particularly the
muscle fibers that are responsible for stabilization. To get bigger arms
and to build muscle fast whenever possible you want to try to move your
body instead of simply moving the arm or an attachment on a machine.
Although free weight exercises are very effective and a much better
option than training on a machine, moving your own body will always be
best when trying to get bigger arms.
Dips
can be done on parallel bars, dip station or if you are really advanced
gymnastics rings. There are diagrams of the best exercises to get
bigger arms below but lower yourself no lower than the point where your
triceps are parallel with the ground when doing dips. Going lower than
this puts unneeded stress on your shoulders and it is not worth the risk
of a severe injury.To get bigger arms and build muscle fast its kinda
difficult to do this if you are injured.
Dips
can be done three times a week . After just a couple of months you will
definitely see why dips is the best exercise to get bigger arms. As you
get stronger and more advanced I recommend to cut your dips down to
twice per week and to add resistance. I love weighted dips and did them
routinely with two 45 pound plates strapped around my waist. However, I
have found that there is a high risk of injury with weighted heavy dips.
Because of this I no longer do heavy weighted dips its just to risky!!
Intermediate
lifters can do one day heavy, where you add resistance to your weight
belt, and one day light where you simply do as many reps as possible
till failure. These workouts should be a minimum of 3 days apart but
more like 4 days apart. Once you get strong enough to do a 45 pound
plate for safety reasons you probably will only want to use weighted
dips as a rep exercise and not a heavy strength movement anymore. Again,
this is to prevent injury or any disability as you age.
The
next exercise to get bigger arms and build muscle fast in the triceps
is a reduced range of motion bench press or a variation of it. The top
half of the bench press really targets the triceps which is why you want
to limit the range of motion when training simply to get bigger arms.
To do this you can set pins in a power rack or have a workout buddy hold
a few two by fours on your chest. These are called board presses.
Three, four and five board presses are awesome to build muscle fast and
get bigger arms by building huge triceps and should be added to your
muscle building routine. When you get too strong to go heavy on dips
without risking a shoulder injury, make board presses
your heavy triceps movement and dips your light triceps exercise to get
bigger arms. Looking for a bigger bench? How about a stronger lockout?
Another reason to add board presses to your routine is because it will add strength to your bench press!! Board Presses
have been a staple exercise in the power lifting game for many years
yielding results ranging from personal to world records. Stick to these
muscle building tips and you will get bigger arms and build muscle fast
in your arms. Just keep pushing up the weight and reps and before you
know it you will have some of the biggest triceps around!!
 |
| Board Presses |
So
to get bigger arms lets now move on to the biceps muscle and discuss
the exercises which are best to get your arms bigger. The biceps muscle
anatomically known as the biceps brachii are comprised of two heads the
short head or outer biceps and the long head or inner biceps. The
biceps comprise one third of the upper portion of the upper arm and are
used in all pulling movements. The best exercises to target and build
bigger biceps and bigger arms is Pull-ups. If you are not strong enough
to do pull ups you can do lat pull downs. The head that is responsible
for the peak in the bicep when flexed is the brachialis head. You can
hit all heads of the bicep by varying your grip while doing pull ups and
or lat pull downs. Doing pull ups with a under hand close grip hits the
long head of the bicep while doing a pull up with the grip variation
between an overhand and under hand grip will hit the short head of the
bicep which again is responsible for the peak in your biceps when
flexed. To get bigger arms a trick I use to hit the biceps hard is to do
underhand pull ups or lat pull downs with an underhand grip and as soon
as I complete a set do Hammer curls. Hammer curls really hits the
brachialis head which again is responsible for the peak in your biceps.
Again the best way to build muscle and get bigger arms is by doing
compound exercises because your body and muscles work best and harder
when used together. The reason why compound exercises are best is
because there is more nerve activity involved while performing the
exercises the more nerve activity equals more muscle fibers being used
in performing the exercise the more muscle fibers used the more growth
you will get!!! To prove this point just think what happens to the
muscles when ever there is some type of nerve injury. For example anyone
with a sciatica condition knows this all to well. As soon as you have
this condition what ever leg is affected muscle atrophy is almost
instantaneous!!! When there is no nerve signals to the muscle the muscle
starts to lose strength and size almost immediately. This is why
compound exercises are best to get bigger arms and get bigger muscles.
Pull ups puts a huge demand on your biceps and they work several muscles
at the same time and force you to pull your own weight. Below are the
exercises I recommend to get bigger arms followed by a recommended
workout routine!!!
DIPS - TRICEPS VERSION
To get into the starting position, hold your body at arm's length with your arms nearly locked above the bars.
Now,
inhale and slowly lower yourself downward. Your torso should remain
upright and your elbows should stay close to your body. This helps to
better focus on tricep involvement. Lower yourself until there is a 90
degree angle formed between the upper arm and forearm. Then, exhale and
push your torso back up using your triceps to bring your body back to
the starting position. Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of
repetitions.
Variations:
If you are new at this exercise and do not have the strength to perform
it, use a dip assist machine if available. These machines use weight to
help you push your bodyweight. Otherwise, a spotter holding your legs
can help. More advanced lifters can add weight to the exercise by using
a weight belt that allows the addition of weighted plates.
CLOSE-GRIP BARBELL BENCH PRESS
Lie
back on a flat bench. Using a close grip (around shoulder width), lift
the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with your arms
locked. This will be your starting position.
As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest.
Make
sure that - as opposed to a regular bench press - you keep the elbows
close to the torso at all times in order to maximize triceps
involvement.
After
a second pause, bring the bar back to the starting position as you
breathe out and push the bar using your triceps muscles. Lock your arms
in the contracted position, hold for a second and then start coming down
slowly again.
It
should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up. Repeat
the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions. When you are
done, place the bar back in the rack. Caution: If you are new at this
exercise, it is advised that you use a spotter. If no spotter is
available, then be conservative with the amount of weight used. Also,
beware of letting the bar drift too far forward. You want the bar to
fall on your middle chest and nowhere else.
Variations:
This exercise can also be performed with an e-z bar using the inner
handle as well as dumbbells, in which case the palms of the hands will
be facing each other.
Stand up with your torso upright and a dumbbell on each hand being held at arms length. The elbows should be close to the torso.
The palms of the hands should be facing your torso. This will be your starting position.
Now, while holding your upper arm stationary, exhale and curl the weight forward while contracting the biceps. Continue toraise the weight until
the biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbell is at shoulder level.
Hold the contracted position for a brief moment as you squeeze the
biceps. Tip: Focus on keeping the elbow stationary and only moving your
forearm.
After the brief pause, inhale and slowly begin the lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position.
Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Variations: There are many possible
variations for this movement. For instance, you can perform the
exercise sitting down on a bench with or without back support and you
can also perform it by alternating arms; first lift the right arm for
one repetition, then the left, then the right, etc.
- Stand up straight while holding an EZ curl bar at the wide outer handle. The palms of your hands should be facing forward and slightly tilted inward due to the shape of the bar. Keep your elbows close to your torso. This will be your starting position.
- Now, while keeping your upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the weights forward while contracting the biceps. Focus on only moving your forearms.
- Continue to raise the weight until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at shoulder level. Hold the top contracted position for a moment and squeeze the biceps.
- Then inhale and slowly lower the bar back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Variations: You can also perform this movement using an E-Z attachment hooked to a low pulley. This variation seems toreally provide a good contraction at the top of the movement.
You may also use the closer grip for variety purposes.
Dumbbell Bicep Curl Guide
- Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand at arm's length. Keep your elbows close to your torso and rotate the palms of your hands until they are facing forward. This will be your starting position.
- Now, keeping the upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the weights while contracting your biceps. Continue to raise theweights until your biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbells are at shoulder level. Hold the contracted position for a brief pause as you squeeze your biceps.
- Then, inhale and slowly begin to lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Variations: There are many possible
variations for this movement. For instance, you can perform the
exercise sitting down on a bench with or without back support and you
can also perform it by alternating arms; first lift the right arm for
one repetition, then the left, then the right, etc.
You can also do the exercise starting with both palms of the hands facing the torso and then rotating forward as the movement is performed. At the top of the movement the palms should face forward and the small finger should be higher than the thumb for a peak contraction.
Pull-ups
Grab the pull-up bar with the palms facing your torso and a grip closer than the shoulder width.
As you have both arms extended in front of you holding the bar at the chosen grip width, keep your torso as straight as possible while creating a curvature on your lower back and sticking your chest out. This is your starting position. Tip: Keeping the torso as straight as possible maximizes biceps stimulation while minimizing back involvement.
As you breathe out, pull your torso up until your head is around the level of the pull-up bar. Concentrate on using the biceps muscles in order to perform the movement. Keep the elbows close to your body. Tip: The upper torso
should remain stationary as it moves through space and only the arms
should move. The forearms should do no other work other than hold the
bar.
After a second of squeezing the biceps in the contracted position, slowly lower your torso back to the starting position; when your arms are fully extended. Breathe in as you perform this portion of the movement.
Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
Variations:
If you are new at this exercise and do not have the strength to perform it, use a pull-up assist machine if available. These machines use weight to help you push your bodyweight.
Otherwise, a spotter holding your legs can help.
On the other hand, more advanced lifters can add weight to the exercise by using a weight belt that allows the addition of weighted plates.
Lat Pull Downs
Sit down on a pull-down machine with a wide bar attached to the top pulley.Make sure that you adjust the knee pad of the machine to fit your height. These pads will prevent your body from being raised by the resistance attached to the bar.Grab the bar with the palms facing forward using the prescribed grip.Note on grips: For a wide grip, your hands need to be spaced out at a distance wider than shoulder width. For a medium grip, your hands need to be spaced out at a distance equalto your shoulder width and for a close grip at a distance smaller than your shoulder width.
As you have both arms extended in front of you holding the bar at the chosen grip width, bring your torso back around 30 degrees or so while creating a curvature on your lower back and sticking your chest out. This is your starting position.
As you breathe out, bring the bar down until it touches your upper chest by drawing the shoulders and the upper arms down and back. Tip: Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The upper torso should remain stationary and only the arms should move. The forearms should do no other work except for holding the bar; therefore do not try to pull down the bar using the forearms.
After a second at the contracted position squeezing your shoulder blades together, slowly raise the bar back to the starting position when your arms are fully extended and the lats are fully stretched. Inhale during this portion of the movement.
Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
Variations: The behind the neck variation is not recommended as it can be hard on the rotator cuff due to the hyperextension created by bringing the bar behind the neck
To Get Bigger Arms Workout Routine
(2 Days Weekly)
(2 Days Weekly)
2-4 sets Lat Pull downs (2 sets overhand 2sets underhand) to failure
2-4 sets Hammer Curls 8-12 reps
or
2-4 sets Pull ups (2 sets overhand 2 sets underhand) to failure
2-4 sets Hammer Curls 8-12 reps
Plus
2-4 sets Dips 8-12 reps
2-4 sets Board Presses 8-12 reps or
2 sets 8-12 reps Close Grip Bench-press
2 sets 8-12 reps Close Grip Bench-press
The best way to start exercise of arms is by starting with triceps and then moving to the biceps. Triceps are naturally larger than biceps so starting with them will allow everyone to get into the mode to perform tougher biceps exercises.
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