How to Get Big Arms

Some trainers recommend that you skip direct arm exercises on the basis that your arms get plenty of indirect work from exercises like the bench press, chin-up and so on.

You'll also hear people saying things like "to get big arms, you need to do squats and deadlifts."

This idea is based on research showing that compound exercises lead to a post-exercise rise in testosterone and growth hormone which, in turn, is supposed to make your arms bigger.

Although the theory sounds good, recent research has shown that it doesn't work too well in practice.

I'm not one of those people who think that you should skip direct arm work altogether. But it's important to get the balance right. You don't need 20 sets and five different exercises just to train your biceps.

This is where a lot of guys mess it up. After reading the muscle magazines, they're convinced that they need to spend hours doing a bunch of different exercises for their arms.

There's one guy in the gym I go to who seems to spend his entire workout doing various cable curls, concentration curls, pressdowns and kickbacks for his arms. Sometimes I'll complete an entire upper body workout and he's still doing arms!

While he gets 10 out of 10 for persistence and effort, he'd get far better results if he focused less on his arms and more on the rest of his body.

With that in mind, I want to explain a little more about how arm training fits in with the rest of your program.

The Professor and the Bucket

There's a good chance you've already heard the parable of the Professor and the Bucket. It goes something like this:

A professor and his student stand in a warehouse. A large tin bucket and several boxes are in front of them.

The professor picks up a box that contains large rocks, each one about four inches in diameter, and pours them into the bucket. The stones reach the top of the bucket, and he asks the student if it is full.

“It is,” the student replies.

The professor takes another box, this one containing stones about one inch in diameter, and pours them over the rocks in the bucket. The smaller stones fill in the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asks the student if the bucket is full.

The student looks and says, “It is.”

The professor then pours in the contents of a third box, this one containing small pebbles. Again, the student looks in and agrees that the bucket is full.

Finally, the professor pours a box of sand on top of the rocks, stones, and pebbles. And once more, for the fourth time, the student has to acknowledge that the bucket is full.

“The lesson,” the professor tells the student, “is to do the most important thing first, and each lesser thing in order of its priority. In this way, you will be able to fill up your life four times, instead of just once. If you do the unimportant things first, you’ll be filling your bucket with sand… and there won’t be room for anything else.”

So what does all of this have to do with getting bigger arms?

To build as much muscle as you can in the shortest time possible, you should be investing most of your time and energy on pressing (overhead press and bench press), pulling (deadlifts, chin-ups and rows) and squatting movements.

Think of these exercises as the "big rocks" that should go into your training "bucket" first.

Of course, that doesn't mean that you CAN'T include other exercises such as pressdowns, curls and so on.

But these exercises are the "pebbles" and "sand" and should be used as a SUPPLEMENT TO rather than a REPLACEMENT FOR pulling, pressing and squatting.

Anyway, that's enough of the theory. If you want to get big arms without wasting hours in the gym, here's a highly effective routine that will do the job better than most.

PHASE I
The workout is split into two phases. In phase I, your goal is to use a heavy weight for all three sets. This is designed to trigger muscle growth with the use of tension overload — lifting more weight over a given period of time.

Your goal is to do a total of 21 reps per exercise. So you might do 3 sets of 7 (7+7+7 = 21), or a set of 8, a set of 7 and a set of 6 (8+7+6 = 21). No matter what combination gets you there, as soon as you can do a total of 21 repetitions across all 3 sets, increase the weight you’re using in the next workout. Take around 2 minutes of rest between each set.

Standing Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 5-8 repetitions
Triceps Dip 3 sets x 5-8 repetitions

To save time, you can superset these exercises (i.e. go straight from curls to dips with no rest in between, then rest for 2 minutes before going back to curls again).

PHASE II
As soon as you're done with phase I, move straight to phase II. The second phase of the workout is designed to create metabolic fatigue. This is all about "going for the burn" and training in a way that makes your muscles feel like they're pumped up and on fire.

To achieve this, you’re going to rest for only 45-60 seconds between each set. And then on the final set, you’ll do two drop sets.

To do a drop set, pick a weight where you reach exhaustion at 8-10 reps. As soon as you've hit muscular failure, drop the weight by 15-25% and aim for another 5-6 repetitions. Drop the weight by roughly 15-25% again, and grind out 3-4 repetitions.

Let's take the Triceps Pressdown as an example, and assume that you can lift 40 kilograms for a maximum of 8 reps. Once you hit muscular failure, immediately drop the weight by 15-25%. If the weight stack goes up in 5 kilogram increments, that'll mean dropping down to 30-35 kilograms. Do another 5-6 repetitions. Then drop the weight by 15-25% again and do 3-4 repetitions.

It might take a few "test" workouts to get the weight drops just right, which is why it's a good idea to keep a training diary and record what you're doing.

Incline Curl 3 sets x 8-10 repetitions (+ 2 drop sets)
Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 8-10 repetitions (+ 2 drop sets)

I know all the talk about drop sets and supersets can sound very confusing, so here's how the entire workout should look:

Standing Dumbbell Curl 1 set x 5-8 repetitions
NO REST
Triceps Dip 1 set x 5-8 repetitions
REST 2 MINUTES
Standing Dumbbell Curl 1 set x 5-8 repetitions
NO REST
Triceps Dip 1 set x 5-8 repetitions
REST 2 MINUTES
Standing Dumbbell Curl 1 set x 5-8 repetitions
NO REST
Triceps Dip 1 set x 5-8 repetitions

Incline Curl 1 set x 8-10 repetitions
REST 45-60 seconds
Incline Curl 1 set x 8-10 repetitions
REST 45-60 seconds
Incline Curl 1 set x 8-10 repetitions (+2 drop sets)

Triceps Pressdown 1 set x 8-10 repetitions
REST 45-60 seconds
Triceps Pressdown 1 set x 8-10 repetitions
REST 45-60 seconds
Triceps Pressdown 1 set x 8-10 repetitions (+2 drop sets)

Perform the workout at the end of a full-body or upper-body session no more than twice a week.

About the Author

Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.

If you want better, faster results from the time you spend in the gym, click here now for instant access to his step-by-step muscle-building and fat-burning workout routines.

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References
1. Lusk SJ, Hale BD, Russell DM. (2010). Grip width and forearm orientation effects on muscle activity during the lat pull-down. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24, 1895-1900
2. Lehman GJ. (2005). The influence of grip width and forearm pronation/supination on upper-body myoelectric activity during the flat bench press. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19, 587-591