Alright, you want bigger arms. A lot of people do. But not everyone knows exactly what to do in order to achieve that goal. Time and time again we see people in the gym dedicating their whole workouts just doing isolation movements and never getting results. The GYMCADDY™ Team is here to give you our best advice on how to get bigger arms. Remember, the GYMCADDY™ Team is made up of multiple athletes with years of experience, so you're in good hands. Also, don't forget to pick up your GYMCADDY™ today!
First lets cover the basics, in order to grow muscle you have to eat right and get enough sleep. Also, muscles grow when you do compound exercises. Compound exercises are exercises that activate more than 2 muscles when performing them. Popular compound exercises that will stimulate bicep growth are close grip pull ups, close grip pull downs, close grip cable rows, close grip bent over rows, and under hand bent over rows. If you're looking to get more of a burn, play around with holding the contraction for a second or so. Adding contraction holds to a workout is a great way to mix things up and force muscle growth out of lagging body parts.
A lot of people don't know that if their goal is to get bigger arms, they should be focusing on tricep development and not bicep development. As the name implies, the tricep is made up of 3 heads. While the bicep is made up of just 2 heads. Your tricep makes up about 75% of the muscle on your arm. So its in your best interest you focus on it. And again, like we mentioned before in order to promote muscle growth you want to do compound movements. Compound movements that also work as great tricep exercises are Dips, Over Head Press, Close Grip Bench Press, and Narrow Push Ups. Instead of doing holds on the contractions for these exercises experiment with drop sets. The added volume will promote muscle growth and will keep you away from joint pain.
If your overall goal is to grow muscle you'll want to design workout routines that focuses on compound movements. But you'll also want to supplement your workout with isolation movements AFTER you've done the majority your compound exercises. So heres a list great isolation exercises for biceps and triceps.
Spider Curls
Biceps:
- DumbBell Curls
- DumbBell Rotation Curls
- DumbBell Hammer Curls
- Spider Curls
- Preacher Curls
- Cable Rope Curls
Dumbbell Skull Crushers
Tricep:
- DumbBell Skull Crushers
- Barbel Skull Crushers
- Cable Rope Tricep Extensions
- Cable Long Bar Tricep Extensions
Isolation movements can be greatly enhanced by combining them with contraction holds and drop sets. The added time under tension and or the added volume will help force muscle development like we mentioned before. Remember, don’t waste your whole workout doing only isolation movements. Isolation movements should only be done after you've done your major compounded exercises and should be looked at as exercises to supplement your workout. Trust us, if you want to grow muscle fast you should focus mostly on compound exercises.
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