Let’s face it, everyone likes a pair of well developed arms. Guy’s like to train them and girls like to touch them and a good arm pump is clinically proven to improve your mood… it’s science.
They also tend to be more exposed than other muscle groups, so unless you’re wearing baggy long sleeve shirts all summer, your noodle arms are going to be exposed.
It’s also fair to say that they are one of the most common muscle groups that I hear clients wanting to improve. While genetics definitely play a role in the size and shape of ones arms, the main cause of poor arm development is due to poor exercise programming.
I can’t guarantee you arms like Arnie, however the majority of guys and girls can make significant improvements with the right approach.
Implement the following 5 tips, stay consistent and watch as you grow a pair of arms that will fill even the biggest sleeves ;)
1) Increase volume.
Research indicates that there is a dose-response relationship between number of sets and muscle growth (to an extent). [1] If over time you are doing more work, then your arms will need to grow in order to adapt to the stimulus. A simple way of equating volume of work done is weight x reps.
You’re unlikely to see large weight increases compared to compound exercises so it may be better to use a progression scheme where you increase reps up until a certain point before increasing the load (Eg. Start at 3 x 10 and work your way up to 3 x 15 before increasing the load).
Other ways to increase volume is to add exercises or sets to exercises, however for recovery and time purposes this is only viable to a certain point. Rather than spending 2 hours in the gym smashing your arms to the point you can’t drink from your shaker, it’s better to …
2) Increase frequency of training.
We know that for the majority of natural lifters hitting a muscle group multiple times per week is superior than just smashing them once. [2] Evidence indicates that muscle growth peaks at a certain volume of work after which more work only imposes greater recovery. [3] We also know that in trained individuals muscle protein synthesis peaks shortly after a workout and stays elevated for around 24-48 hours depending on your training experience. [4]
Therefore if you’re only training a muscle group once a week that leaves around 4 -5 days when the muscle is not being stimulated to grow! Splitting your volume over 2 or 3 sessions will increase the frequency of stimulus and also make it easier to increase overall weekly volume without spending hours in the gym or eating into recovery too much.
3) Exercise selection variety.
While you can certainly obtain decent hypertrophy in the arms via compound exercises, the arms will benefit from isolation work by placing more tension on the target muscles.
By changing the angle of the arm to the body we can effectively place more emphasis on different aspects of the arms. Studies show that the long head of the biceps (outer head) is maximally activated in exercises such as incline curls and drag curls when the arms are behind the line of the body. This places the biceps in a stretched position allowing them to generate more force, while preacher curls place the arms in front of the body thereby placing more stress on the short head (inner head). Adding supination (rotating your palms up) during a curl will also activate the short head slightly more.
For triceps, exercise selection is just as important. Overhead triceps work is needed to optimally stimulate the long head while as the angle closes in towards the body the work is shifted more to the lateral and medial heads. In simple terms vary the angles at which you hit your arms in order to ensure balanced development and growth.
4) Don’t neglect the brachialis & brachioradialis.
Both contribute to the overall size of your arms. Target these muscles by varying your grip position during curls. Hammer curls will ‘hammer’ the brachioradialis while performing curling movements with your palms facing down will be better for the brachialis.
5) Work in moderate to high rep ranges.
I’m a big fan of incorporating low (1-5), moderate (7-12) and high (15 +) rep ranges into a program. However, trust me when I say that heavy loads on single joint movements is a recipe for sore elbows. Leave the heavy stuff for compound exercises and target arms with moderate to high rep ranges in order to hit both type II strength related fibres and type I fatigue-resistant fibres. This will ensure the best hypertrophy bang for your buck ;)
6) Train arms first.
Yeah I threw in a extra tip, cause I’m generous like that.
So if you’re watching yourself in the gym mirror on the battle ropes and can’t differentiate where the ropes end and your arms begin, then you could consider prioritising arms first in your routine.
I feel this is rarely necessary for most folks and should only be considered after the above options have been implemented consistently for a decent length of time.
Before you get too excited, remember that this may have a detrimental impact on subsequent performance of exercises for the back, chest and shoulders.
Couldn’t you just have a separate “arms” day?
I suppose you could, but it’s unnecessary for the majority of trainees. It just depends on your goals and how long you’ve been training for.
So there you have it folks, nothing crazy or outlandish, just what research indicates may be your best bet at building sleeve stretching arms. In fact, a lot of the key concepts would carry over to any lagging body parts. But that’s an article for another day.
References:
1) Radaelli, R., et al., Dose-response of 1, 3, and 5 sets of resistance exercise on strength, local muscular endurance, and hypertrophy. J Strength Cond Res, 2015. 29(5): p. 1349-58.
2) Wernbom, M., J. Augustsson, and R. Thomee, The influence of frequency, intensity, volume and mode of strength training on whole muscle cross-sectional area in humans. Sports Med, 2007. 37(3): p. 225-64
3) Fry, A. and W. Kraemer, Resistance Exercise Overtraining and Overreaching. Sports Medicine, 1997. 23(2): p. 106-129.
4) Phillips SM, Tipton KD, Aarsland A, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR: Mixed muscle protein synthesis and breakdown after resistance exercise in humans. Am J Physiol 1997, 273:E99–E107.