by John Hobbs

Created on: January 28, 2009   Last Updated: January 29, 2009

The most common mistake people make when training for bigger arms is to pay too much attention to their biceps and neglecting their triceps which account for over 2/3's of the arms overall size. Without impressive triceps size your at a major disadvantage in terms of your goal of achieving bigger arms. Moreover, the main advice I give on building bigger arms is to train both of these muscle groups with equal intensity ensuring optimal size and proportionality to improve both size and aesthetics.

Most people when fitting biceps and triceps exercises into their routine either implement them with exercises of other body parts which use the them as a supporting muscle group. In simple terms, back exercises put a lot of emphasis on the biceps muscles and chest exercises put a lot of emphasis on the triceps muscles. Those who argue for this method conclude that it prevents overtraining by grouping all triceps work into one day (with chest) and likewise for the biceps (with back). However, this would only be an issue for experienced lifters i.e. they may have a high weight bench press or a high weight barbell row.

In my opinion for those just starting out and intermediate lifters, a routine of working opposing muscle groups spread across the week would be more advisable as triceps and biceps are small muscles which recover much quicker than larger muscle groups. Moreover, the extra volume is needed to stimulate optimal arm development. Even better still would be designating a session solely to arms as they are effectively worked twice a week. In order to do this effectively it will take more discipline in terms of your workout routine. For example after working out your arms you will need to leave at least 48 hours of rest for them to recover before doing a chest or back workout as it will be detrimental to your performance on exercises for the latter. Furthermore, by designating a whole training session to your arms, the amount of blood flowing into your arm muscles will increase, this will promote more efficient protein synthesis for the muscle to repair and grow. An ideal routine would be as follows:-

Monday- Chest

Tuesday- Back

Wednesday- Rest

Thursday- Legs

Friday- Arms

-Sample Arms Workout-

Triceps:

Close-Grip Bench Press (Barbell/Dumbbell) x 4- Tips: Don't pull the weight all the way down to the chest and when pushing upwards hold the weight for 2s when arms are at 90 degrees.

Cable Pull-Downs (Multi-gym- Straight Bar) x 3- Tips: When pushing the bar down, do not let it go above the elbow, this puts more stress on shoulders and takes some away from triceps.

Cable Pull-Downs (Multi-Gym- With Rope) x 3- Tips: Stand two feet away from the cable machine and lean forward. When pulling the rope down stretch your arms outwards at the lowest point.

Biceps:

Chin- Ups/ Weighted Chin-Ups x 4- Tips: The palms of your hands should be facing towards you.

Dumbbell/Barbell Curls x 3-

Dumbbell Hammer Curls x 3- Tips: Instead of the dumbbell plates being positioned horizontally they will be held vertically.

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