Arm Workouts

THE ULTIMATE ARM WORKOUT GUIDE

When you hear someone say that it’s Arms Day, do you immediately imagine several sets of bicep curls?

Maybe you’ll throw in an occasional chair dip?

Guys, biceps are just ONE part of your arm. You also need to target the triceps and forearms!

Here’s the thing: One of the tenets of muscle growth is to understand the function of these major arm muscles to learn how to properly target each of them.

A better mind to muscle connection to those target muscles means bigger and more defined arms. And who doesn’t want a nice set of arms to show off?

In this comprehensive guide to arm workouts, I’ll teach you arm muscle anatomy, the most important factors to include in your arms training, and the best arm movements and workouts to stimulate arm muscle growth!

Here are the things I’ll cover in this arms training guide:

Before I show you how I’ve structured the absolute best arm workouts, I want to break out my Muscle Markers and help you learn the muscles that make up your arm.

1) ANATOMY OF THE ARMS

There’s no doubt or debate about the importance of mind-to-muscle connection.

If you want to maximize your gains and results, you need to get to know your lower and upper arm muscles inside and out.

So, let’s start with the biceps muscle.

BICEPS MUSCLE ANATOMY

The bicep muscle has two heads, which is why it’s called the BI-CEPS.

This two-headed muscle is responsible for elbow supination and flexion as well as shoulder flexion.

BICEPS LONG HEAD

The biceps long head is located on the outer side of the biceps. It has a connection at the shoulder, which is how it aids in shoulder flexion.

There are no exercises that isolate the long head of the biceps muscle. However, there are exercises that predominantly target the long head.

For example, the Hammer Curl is a great long head exercise.

BICEPS SHORT HEAD

Take a look on the other side – inside your arm – and you’ll find the short head of the biceps muscle.

It’s the same case for the short head as the long head in that there are no isolation exercises for it. You can perform certain exercises to target this side more than the other.

For example, Concentration Curls are a great way to work more of the short head of the biceps.

BRACHIALIS

Finally, we have the brachialis, which is not technically part of the biceps muscle but nonetheless has a significant impact on the aesthetics of your arms.

How’s that? This muscle makes your arms look wider, especially if someone is looking at you head-on.

TRICEPS MUSCLE ANATOMY

Turn your arm over and we’ll breakdown the three-headed muscle on the back of your arms: the triceps brachii.

LATERAL HEAD

The lateral head of the triceps, which is near the biceps brachialis, aids in elbow extension.

MEDIAL HEAD

The medial head of the triceps primarily assists with elbow extension, but it also participates in forearm extension.

LONG HEAD

The long head of the triceps muscles overlap the shoulder joint, which is relevant since it directly affects adduction and extension of the arm.

It also assists with elbow flexion.

The long head of the triceps is particularly important since it accounts for the majority of the size of the triceps brachii. In other words, if you want bigger arms overall, you must focus on this portion of the triceps.

FOREARM MUSCLE ANATOMY

Let’s move on to what I believe is the most neglected part of the arms: the  .

BRACHIORADIALIS

The brachioradialis begins on the humerus and ends on the bone at the thumb side of the forearm.

The brachioradialis muscle does not cross the wrist joint and therefore has no effect on the wrist. This indicates that the brachioradialis does not extend or flex the wrist in the same manner as other forearm muscles.

Speaking of flexing and extending…

FLEXORS AND EXTENSORS

For the remaining flexors and extensors, I’d argue that it’s more important to look at the functions of the forearms instead of the muscles.

Knowing HOW the muscles work is essential in both selecting the proper exercises and establishing a mind-to-muscle connection during those exercises.

The forearm muscles are involved in five distinct movements.

ULNAR DEVIATION

Ulnar deviation is the term used to describe the shifting of the pinky finger toward the outer side of the forearm.

RADIAL DEVIATION

Radial deviation is the movement of the thumb toward the inner aspect of the upper arm.

 WRIST FLEXION

By moving the hand toward the wrist, you’ll achieve a level of flexion in the forearm.

FINGER FLEXION

Move your fingers toward the bottom of your hand to see a different level of forearm contraction.

PRONATION

Turn the closed hand toward the outside and you’ll see a different area of the forearm activate.

2) WHAT ARE SOME ARM STRETCHES?

Focusing on all of the muscle groups discussed above, here are some dynamic arm stretches that you can use to get yourself ready for your workout each week.

We’ll include the shoulder muscles as well since they are involved in most of the exercises I will cover below.

STANDING ARM CIRCLES

Start with your arms extended out to the sides at shoulder level, and then make small circles with your hands. Slowly increase the size of the circles until you feel a stretch in your shoulders and upper back. Give yourself a few seconds of rest before continuing on to the next arm stretch.

SHOULDER ROLLS

Start with your shoulders relaxed and down, then roll them forward and up, and then back and down. Repeat this several times to loosen the shoulder muscles.

TRICEPS STRETCH

Reach one arm overhead and bend the elbow joint so that your hand comes down behind your head. Use your other hand to grab the elbow and gently pull it closer to your head. You should feel a stretch in the back of your upper arm.

WALL BICEPS STRETCH

Place your forearm on a wall at about shoulder height, and then turn your body away from the wall. You should feel a stretch in the front of your upper arm.

WRIST FIGURE 8

Start with your hands in front of you and make a figure 8 pattern with your wrists. Reverse the direction and repeat. This stretch will help to loosen up your wrists and forearms.

HOW DO YOU START TRAINING ARMS?

Some people may find that they are able to start training arms without any specific warm up exercises, especially if they are using these exercises as a part of a bigger workout session.

However, it is generally recommended that you perform some sort of light cardiovascular activity or dynamic stretching prior to working your arms to help prevent injury.

Don’t forget to include the stretches above.

3) WHY ARE ARM WORKOUTS IMPORTANT?

Now that we’ve covered the different muscles in the arms, we can talk about why it’s important to focus on a well-structured arm workout.

While aesthetics is important, the real reason you want to work on your arms has to do with symmetry and strength.

It’s amazing how much your arms can say about your strength levels, and you don’t have to say a word.

The amount work you put in each week and the quality of your workouts will be more than obvious based on the size and shape of your arms.

Which brings us to the idea of symmetry.

While it’s important to improve functionality in your fitness routine, it’s just as important to make sure one muscle group isn’t staggeringly bigger than another.

Not only does this throw off the aesthetics you’re going for, but it can also lead to muscle imbalance and muscle compensation issues.

I believe most of us can agree that training the arms for muscle growth is a good thing, but the problem comes in when you use the wrong exercises to achieve that goal.

So, what arm exercises and accompanying training volume should you include in a workout session?

4) WHAT IS THE BEST ARM WORKOUT?

Let’s address the most important question you came here for: What is the best exercise for arms?

If you’re looking for an effective arm workout, remember this:

The best arm workout achieves muscle activation in all the arm muscles AND activates every function of those major muscles.

That means your ideal arm workout training will target each of the heads of the biceps and triceps while activating the forearm in each of the functional movements we covered.

That’s a tall order, but don’t worry because I’m going to provide you with loads of arm exercises to focus on to achieve that training goal.

Let’s start with arms workouts at the gym.

BEST BICEP EXERCISES

What should you look for in the best bicep exercises? I’ve mentioned this above, but it bears repeating:

The most effective biceps workout will target the following:

• Long head of the bicep
• Short head of the bicep
• Brachialis

It will also include effective lifts that utilize all three functions of the biceps, and that move through all three portions of the strength curve.

BARBELL CHEAT CURL

You should always start your workouts with the “biggest” arm exercises, or the ones that are going to require you to move some serious weight.

You do these big exercises when you have the most energy.

For the biceps, the big exercise to go with is the Barbell Cheat Curl.

WEIGHTED CHIN UP

If you want to target all three functions with one exercise, the Weighted Chin Up is the way to go.

BANDED DUMBBELL CURL

Here’s the problem with Barbell Bicep Curls and Weighted Chin Ups: They don’t require active supination against resistance.

So where to turn? Resistance bands.

By using resistance bands to create constant tension, we can fix that issue. Introducing the Banded Dumbbell Curl.

INCLINE DUMMBELL CURL

The Incline Dumbbell Curl is a great way to achieve peak muscular tension at the beginning portion of the biceps’ range of motion.

BICEPS CURL TRIFECTA

The final biceps exercise is one that is a true finisher move.

You’ll alternate the following three positions in a single set: Supinated Cross Body Curl, Pronated Cross Body Curl, and No Money Curl.

BEST TRICEP EXERCISES

Let’s move on to the triceps. Don’t worry, I’ll be covering arm workouts for beginners as much as those who have been lifting for years.

The best triceps workouts focus on three crucial things:

• Hitting all three heads with progressive overload
• Achieving a stretch on the long head
• Targeting specific strength curves

If your triceps exercises don’t do that, then you’re doing the wrong exercises.

Here’s my top picks for the best triceps workout.

CLOSE GRIP PIN PRESS

As always, start your weekly workouts with heavier compound exercises because this is when you have the most energy.

I’d recommend that you start with the Close Grip Pin Press. If your goal is bigger arms, this is one of the best arm workouts for mass.

CABLE TRICEPS PUSHAWAY

Next up, I want you to perform a superset of Cable Triceps Pushaways and the Drag Pushdown.

DRAG PUSHDOWN

ROCKING TRICEPS PUSHDOWN

The reality is that when you’re working the triceps, you tend to max out the strength curve in the middle of a movement. That means you lose tension when you get to the top of the movement.

I find that the best triceps exercise for addressing all the strength curves is the Rocking Triceps Pushdown using a cable machine with weight stacks.

BEST FOREARM EXERCISES

Finally, we get to that part of the arm that always seems to get the leftover work from the bigger bicep exercises. Not today! I want you to give just as much attention to your forearms as you do the other two.

Remember when I broke down the functions of the forearm to demonstrate the different parts of the forearm? We’re going to progress that idea with exercises that maximize the forearm’s ability to perform those functions.

In the process, you’ll notice a huge change in both functionality and appearance of your arms.

PRONE WRIST CURL

We start with addressing the wrist flexion and endurance, and we’ll do that with the Prone Wrist Curl.

REVERSE WRIST EXTENSION

We now move over to the opposite side of the forearm to focus on a wrist extension exercise with the Reverse Wrist Extension.

ROPE RADIAL AND ULNAR DEVIATION

When your wrist bends in the frontal plane, it will do one of two movements: radial deviation and ulnar deviation.

One of the best ways to work on radial and ulnar deviation in the gym is with a rope.

ROPE SUPINATION AND PRONATION

Supination and pronation are the next functions on the list and again, we’ll turn to a cable rope to help us here.

CLIP SQUEEZES

Wrapping up with the forearms, you’re going to focus on those intrinsic hand muscle fibres that I talked about above.

It’s not something you think about every day because it happens so naturally, and it’s easy to take it for granted. I’m talking about how the activation of our fingers dramatically influences what goes on in our forearms.

An easy way to work on finger activation is with a clip and hand squeezes.

5) HOW TO GET BIGGER ARMS 

So, you want to stretch out those shirt sleeves?

There’s two ways to look at this: training and nutrition.

TRAINING FOR BIGGER ARMS

If you want to gain some serious size on those arms, you’ll need to focus on hypertrophic training.

More specifically, we need you to increase muscle protein synthesis.

Studies suggest that the best way to do this is by working out the arms three times per week with about two days of rest in between.

If you’re a hard gainer, this type of workout schedule will work really well for you.

Best of all, you don’t necessarily have to do anything different with your compound movements or the workout you’re doing right now.

You can integrate the exercises I’ve discussed into your current program either by combining them in with your program or inserting them in between your big workouts.

You might be wondering, “How many exercises should I do for arms?”

If you’re a beginner, one exercise per muscle group will work wonders. If you’re more experienced, you can do two or three exercises per muscle group.

BIGGER ARMS NUTRITION

What’s one of the best ways to support growth and protein synthesis?

Eat a diet that has plenty of healthy proteins.

A high-protein diet is going to be essential for building bigger muscle mass.

On average, you want to shoot for 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.

And while a lot of people talk about post-workout protein, it’s more important to make sure you’re consistently getting protein throughout the day.

Still, a post-workout protein shake isn’t a bad idea.

6) WHAT ARE THE BEST ARM WORKOUTS WITH DUMBBELLS?

With all this talk of barbells and cable machines, some of you might feel excluded because the only thing you have access to is a couple of dumbbells.

More specifically, you might want to narrow it down when it comes to a workout with dumbbells – something solid and concrete.

Don’t worry – I’ve got you covered!

Let’s take a look at the best arm dumbbell workouts.

DUMBBELL EXERCISES FOR BICEPS

Kicking off this list, we’ll start with the biceps.

ALTERNATING DUMBBELL BICEPS CURL

DUMBBELL UNDERHAND DEAD ROW

The Dumbbell Underhand Dead Row is the next exercise on the list.

SEATED LOWERING DUMBBELL CURL

If you’re ready to feel an insane burn in those biceps, the Seated Lowering Dumbbell Curl is the way to go.

DUMBBELL EXERCISES FOR TRICEPS

Next, we have three dumbbell triceps exercises that are going to be exactly what you need to add some size to those arms.

DUMBBELL CLOSE GRIP BENCH PRESS

Let’s start with one of the most effective triceps-building exercises: the Dumbbell Close Grip Bench Press.

LYING DUMBBELL TRICEP EXTENSION

We move from a direct pushing movement to an exercise that is going to remind you of a pulling motion: the Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension.

DUMBBELL TRICEPS KICKBACK

I’m going to bring some stability and core work into the mix with the next triceps exercise: the Dumbbell Triceps Kickback.

DUMBBELL EXERCISES FOR FOREARMS

Let’s wrap up these dumbbell arm workouts with one of my favorite forearm exercises: the Farmer’s Carry.

FARMER’S CARRY

Our final exercise is a favorite no matter what your goal is: it’s the Farmer’s Carry.

7) HOW TO DO ARM WORKOUTS AT HOME

Right now, some of you might be saying, “Jeff, you’ve been focusing on arms workouts with weights. How can I workout my arms at home with no equipment?”

I’ve got you covered with the following arm workouts without weights using bodyweight exercises.

The only equipment you’ll need for these at home arm workouts is a backpack and a dog leash. Trust me when I say you can get insane results in arm strength from the most basic supplies around the house.

HOME EXERCISES FOR THE BICEPS

Here are the best arm workouts no weights for the biceps.

WAITER’S CURL

You might be familiar with the dumbbell variation of this exercise as it’s been featured a lot within the ATHLEAN-X videos and articles. I’m talking about the Waiter’s Curl.

HOME EXERCISES FOR THE TRICEPS

WEIGHTED DIPS

For the triceps, we’ll focus on a heavily weighted exercise that is guaranteed to add some size. This is the Weighted Dip or Tricep Dips.

HOME EXERCISES FOR THE forearms

CHAIR FOREARM EXTENSION

The Chair Forearm Extension takes the chair and moves it in a single direction, focusing all the contraction on those forearm extensors.

8) HOW FAST WILL I SEE RESULTS FROM THESE ARM WORKOUTS?

I know a lot of you are looking at these exercises, ready to jump into them, and you have a ton of questions… mainly about when you’re going to see a big change.

• How quickly can arms be toned?
• Can you build arm muscle in 2 weeks?
• Can you get ripped in 2 weeks?
• How can I tone my arms in a week?
• How can I build my biceps at home in 15 days?

I’ve got a feeling these are a few of the questions you’re asking yourself, and that’s understandable. You want to know if your hard work is going to pay off.

While seeing major results in one to two weeks may not be realistic, I’ve got a 22-day program that covers everything you need to know about how to build bigger arms fast. Guys, if you follow my 22-day arm workout plan exactly as I lay it out, I guarantee you’ll see respectable gains in less than a month.

But your real focus should be on the long game.

Don’t worry about how quickly you can gain a certain number of pounds of muscle. Instead, think about what your body should look like in a few months or a year from now.

That should be your target, and that’s where all your hard work should go.

This definitive list gives every fitness level – from beginner to advanced – plenty of effective exercises to do to focus on arm growth in your arm training sessions.

Regardless of what your training goals are and what equipment you have at your disposal, you’ll be able to grow some serious head-turning arms.

As I stress in all my workouts, there’s a lot more to an arms training session than just a couple sets of curls.

If you want to force growth, you need to employ some techniques to push them beyond what those standard exercises can accomplish.

Give the exercises and techniques in this guide a try to create much more efficient arm workouts and you’ll start to quickly see results.

If you’re looking for an entire training day plan with complete workouts to build lean muscle and strength in every muscle group in the body, see which of our ATHLEAN-X programs best suits your fitness goals and equipment possibilities. Let me be your coach throughout your fitness journey!

ARMS WORKOUTS FAQS

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