I’ve found that doing sledge hammer work really hits my forearms.
I like chins and pullups for bicep size. You can get more overload out of these and it works your back as well.
Deadlifts, Rows, Chins. Big movements. Don’t worry about concentration curls or really isolating the biceps all that much. When I do train them directly, I use strick-no cheat dumbbell curls, and heavy as possible for 6-8 reps.
Triceps are 2/3 or your arm so hit them hard and your arms will look bigger. I like to use heavy rack lockouts, elbows out extensions using the tempo contrast method, and decline pro-sup ext. For bi’s barbell curls with and isometric pause and heavy chins, rows, and power high pulls…
To get my tri’s to grow I follow a benching session with skull crushers to failure with an ez-bar, then close grip bench press down to my neck. I also find that doing 1/3 reps multiple times to peak contraction at the end of the set gets them swole.
thick bar barbell curls
Compounds are great, but if you want to prioritize your arms, you need to add a little something extra.
Base your workout around the compounds, but find time for heavy barbell curls and weighted dip work. Also, incline dumbbell curls are nice for a change of pace.
Supplement compound movements with no more than 1 set of curls and a triceps isolation movement.
the triceps are also responsible for internal rotation of the wrist/hand. Do a rope pushdown with and turn your hands in at the bottom to get the most out of your triceps for that movement
if you choose to devote a full day to arm training make sure you alternate betwen biceps and triceps.
for example
a1) barbell curl
a2) dips
I prefer pulling sleds with as much weight as possible,(not quite the load of a car but getting there like patricia) that has really blown up my arms like no other exercise.
I have a very simple tip…supersetting. Do one set of biceps immediately followed by one set of triceps or vice versa, take a break, and repeat. This is very intense and has gotten my arms as big as they’ve ever been.
The Squat is probably the best arm exercise around…also the best leg exercise, best ab exercise, etc…
Recall that gaining an inch on your arms usually requires gaining 15 lbs throughout your body…
in my gym i see alot of people doing loads of high rep range bicep curls… though i found that my arms respond well to heavy loads and keeping my reps in the 5 to 8 range for 4 to 5 sets depending. and i always make sure i have a day between arm day or im worthless the next.
I played baseball in college and the forearm routine that i used was rev. wrist curls, rev. curls, wrist twists, towel pull ups, and plate holds
forearm routine
A1.rev wrist curls 3x25
A2.rev curls 3x20
A3.wrist twists 3x45
these 3 exercises are to be performed on every forearm day
alternate palte holds (45 sec. to 2min) and towel pull ups every other workout
this will do wonders for your grip!!
All great tips guys! Here are mine:
1.Get enough sleep(at least 7 hours a night)
2.You have to gain weight to have big arms and drink plenty of water. (Use massive eating as your diet to make sure you have lean mass weight gain).
3.Use compound movements(Biceps-Heavy rows, pullups, chinups, Triceps-Close grip bench presses,weighted dips, board presses(3,4,5,6)
You want big arms then you gotta think outside the lines. I added about 4 inches to my arms when I dropped all direct arm work and incorporated deadlifts, hang cleans, pullups, dips, etc. to my regimen. The best pump I have gotten on my biceps was from close pull-ups with a slow negative. Try doing a traditional rep then lower yourself slowly with counts of 2s(rep 1) 4s(rep 2) 6s 8s with each rep. Do 5 sets of 4 reps and I guarantee you will be cursing me. For triceps you have to go heavy. I found weighted dips and reverse grip bench press to the be the best mass builders for the triceps. Once again alot of reps and low reps are the key to huge horseshoes. Just make sure most of your program consist of compound movements and you arms are sure to grow. Your body will not allow your arms to be lagging when your chest, traps, back, and shoulders are blowing up.
5{pper arm isolation work (from Ian King):
Bicep Tri-set
- Concentration dumbell curls
- Low pulley bicep curls
- Single-arm Zottman curls on preacher bench
Perform 1-3 on weakest arm then go back to stronger arm.
Triceps Tri-set
- Dumbell tricep kickback
- Single dumbbell lying triceps extentions
- Single dumbbell overhead triceps extentions
Ditto
My tip for huge arms has 2 bases:
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The best movements to build bigger arms are ALWAYS the compound ones like chinups (for the bis), deadlifts (for the total arm) and close-grip bench presses and dips(for the tris). Incorporating any or all of these movements into a workout will help your arms grow. They are, as has been stated numerous times on this forum, the most efficient way to build the muscles of the arm as they allow you to lift heavy and put stress on the muscles of your arms in ways that regular concentration movements cant do.
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I am not saying that you shouldn’t do concentration movements for the arms but they are only good for toning and enhancing the endurance of already huge muscles. Of course, growing huge, as was stated above, is done through the compound movements.
Now for the actual tip:
For ripped, huge arms mix compound and concentration movements. Do the compound movements first as they require more energy. But, immediately afterward, do the concentration excercise that you feel works your target muscle best with multiple sets to fatigue. This will make your arms burn like crazy and will enhance the tone and size of your arms.
This is somewhat related to towel pullups, but I found that I got a serious burn in my forearms when I was using the ropes to do lat pulldowns. It works even better if you make a point of flexing your forearms as you pull it down. Good way to get two exercises done at once as well.