The best way to build big arms

Is doing plenty of exercises for arms really the best way to build them?

Of course we should begin with saying, that good genetics play an important part and each individual is different; i.e. some develop specific muscles much faster than others, because of specific type of genes. This is one of the key reasons, why some individuals who train a particular muscle group once a week achieve the same results as those, who need to focus on certain muscle group and train more often. However, exhausting your body to achieve equal gains is not something I recommend, as your body needs a chance to recover and repair itself. This is important in any sport.

Which muscle should you focus on?

Leaving the gene issue aside, you can still progress and build specific muscles by using the correct exercises and technique. Let’s take a look at ‘building bigger arms’ as an example. First you need to identify, which muscle you want to focus on. A lot of people think by training biceps will build arms much faster. However, if we look at the human body, 2/3 of our arms is made of triceps and only 1/3 is actually the bicep. So which muscle should be our priority then? The answer is obvious. I have deliberately excluded the forearm. There is no need to focus on this muscle, unless you are an arm wrestler. We use the forearm more than enough in our training routine for it to grow and develop naturally.

My top exercises to build big arms!

Exercises for Triceps:

1. Dips
2. Triceps Pushdown with cable or with bar
3. Barbell Bench Press with narrow grip

Exercises for Biceps:

1. Chin-ups
2. Barbell Biceps Curl
3. Concentration Curl

How often should we train arms?

Triceps and biceps are considered as small muscle groups, so recovery with a proper diet and sleep can last around 24 hours. From a theoretical point of view, we could train them 7 days a week, but from a practical point I am not a fan of training 7 days a week, unless one has nothing better to do! I am an enthusiast for a Full Body Workouts, repeated every other day, with the main focus on big muscle groups to increase and maximize protein synthesis. That’s why adding one or two exercises per muscle (biceps and triceps), in every training session, should be sufficient to build big, muscular and aesthetically looking arms!