BIG TIME SQUATTERS and deadlifters put a major focus on training their legs. Bench press fanatics spend their time building up their chests. Athletes commit their efforts to sport-specific training, working to hone their body to peak condition for optimal performance. But for just about everyone else (and even many members of these aforementioned groups of exercisers), sculpting a set of strong, muscular arms is high among their top priorities at the gym, if not the number one physical training goal.
The big arms ideal is often thought to be a purely aesthetic pursuit. For some trainees, that might be the case—they might not have anything else on their mind but big gains for their big guns, with plenty of curl-only workouts and mirror flex selfies on their social media profiles. For the uninitiated, larger-than-life arm muscles can signal strength, toughness, and fitness, even if the owner of those pythons would struggle to deadlift or squat their own weight.
That’s just fine. You’re allowed to have purely aesthetic goals for your workouts—that’s what the whole sport of bodybuilding is based around, after all. But even if you want to have more functional goals in mind beyond your looks and how well you can fill out a tee shirt, you’ll still be better off if you include a generous number of arm-focused exercises in your training split. Just like you shouldn’t skip leg day, you shouldn’t totally ignore focused arm training in a misguided effort to avoid looking vain.
The Benefits of Training Your Arm Muscles
So why exactly should you give your arms any attention outside of their role in big compound movements that build strength? While arm muscle development might seem like a vain pursuit that doesn’t yield the same performance and real-world benefits as some of these other muscle groups, that’s not quite the case. Your arms are integral for so many movements, even exercises that most people consider to be focused on other muscle groups.
Indeed, you can’t deadlift or squat without using your hands and arms to grip the bar and keep it in the right position. Even if you have the strongest posterior chain in the world, you’ll have a tough time pulling heavy weight off the floor if you’re unable to grip and hold onto the barbell.
Training your arm muscles isn’t super complicated, especially since there’s a wide wealth of movements that are easily accessible for all types of exercisers. You can target your biceps, the crown jewel of the arm muscles, or the triceps, the largest arm muscle on the backside of the limb—or you can really dial down for focused training on less-commonly appreciated muscles like the forearms. No matter which group you want to train, keeping good form paramount will be the most sure path to your gains.
These arm exercises will help you to build up all of those muscles. Make sure to take note of all the notes on form and how to implement them into your training, then plug them into your workout to start on your path to big arms.
The Big Arm Building Exercises
Biceps Exercises
Biceps Curl
3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
The basic, tried-and-true biceps curl is the key to big biceps.
To do it right, squeeze your shoulder blades, glutes and abs. Keep everything tight. Keep your uppers arms perpendicular to the ground, locking in your lats. Take out any rock/momentum from your waist. Keep it all in your biceps.
As you curl up, squeeze your biceps and turn the dumbbell toward the sky (parallel to the ground). The more rotation, the more you’re working your bicep. Want an even tougher challenge? Add an isometric hold to the rep at its halfway point. Count a 2 to 5 second hold.
Spiderman Curl
3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
The spiderman curl eliminates all momentum to really target your biceps.
Start on a bench with a 45-degree angle. Your body should be strong and sturdy on your stomach, with your chest high on the bench. Squeeze your glutes to keep pressure off your lower back. Squeeze your shoulder blades, keeping your chest up.
Keep your upper arm angle perpendicular to the ground the whole time. As you curl up, rotate your pinky up. Squeeze your bicep at the top with a forward rotation to keep your shoulder protected.
Dumbbell Preacher Curl
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
Dumbbell preacher curls are useful for changing the upper arm angle on your biceps curls, giving the muscles a different type of pump. The EZ bar and specialized bench or machine setup might be more common in big box gyms, but you can do preacher curls anywhere with dumbbells and an adjustable bench.
Set up from behind the bench, laying the back of your arm against its inclined surface and “hugging” your armpit to the top. Squat down and engage your glutes, hamstrings, and abs. Then, curl the weight up, making sure to keep your upper arm glued to the bench and keeping the wrist in a neutral position. Keep the range of motion away from resting at the bottom or top of the movement so it’s a position of constant tension.
Concentration Curl
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
Concentration curls are a classic biceps builder—and unsurprisingly, most people go about them the wrong way. The most common mistake trainees make with concentration curls is sitting with poor posture. The point is to isolate your biceps muscle, which is difficult if you’re moving your torso and digging your elbow into your thigh.
Instead, take your non-working hand off your thigh and hold it away from your body. Sit with good posture (core and shoulders engaged), rest your working arm’s triceps against your thigh, and hold the weight. Curl up by only moving at the elbow.
Tall-Kneeling Curl
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
One of the most useful things about arm training is that you can shift your position to shift up the challenge. By performing dumbbell biceps curls from a tall-kneeling position, you won’t just eliminate the inclination to “cheat” the curl using body English—you’ll get a core workout, too.
Make sure that when you assume the kneeling position, you squeeze your glutes and core.
Hammer Curl
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
Shift the traditional biceps curl to holding the weights with a neutral grip for the hammer curl. By making that small change, you’ll target a different muscle just beneath the biceps—the brachialis—that will really make your arms pop.
When you proceed through each rep, make sure that you move only at the elbow (just like other curls). If you want to take cheating off the table, you can try the tall-kneeling position.
Incline Dumbbell Curl
3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Add a bench to your curl session to emphasize the peaks of your biceps. The incline dumbbell curl allows you to get into a new position, allowing your to stretch the muscle even more.
Set an incline bench to around a 60 degree angle, and sit back holding a pair of dumbbells. Allow your arms to hang down (but be careful that your shoulders aren’t overstretched), with your elbows behind your torso. Curl the weight up moving only at the elbow and squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement, then control the weight down, coming to a pause before starting the next rep.
Crucifix Curl
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
The crucifix curl gives you a chance to change up your angle and really isolate your biceps muscle. You’ll need a cable tower or a resistance band to do it.
To keep your biceps isolated for the biggest possible pump, try it from a tall kneeling position. Imagine there’s a wall in front of you that you’re not allowed to touch—then squeeze your muscle to build it up.
Chin-up
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
While the chin-up might be chiefly known as a back-builder, you can sculpt massive arms using the bodyweight exercise, too.
To make the move even more arm-centric, try to extend the time under tension by slowly emphasizing the eccentric (descending) portion of the exercise.
Angle Change Biceps Curl 21s
3 sets
This challenging exercise (okay, it’s pretty much a workout) mashes up two sure-fire ways to build muscle—the classic 21s workout protocol and a shifting load position by changing the ways you work with the weight.
You’ll combine a drag curl, a standard curl, and a preacher-esque variation to switch up your stimulus. That, plus the high-volume nature of 21s, will lead to more muscle growth.
Resistance Band Preacher Curl
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
You’ve used all types of resistance—add a band to that list for a truly diverse arm pump. You’ll shift your arms away from your torso, which is great to get you out of your comfort zone.
Loop the band around your feet to get into position here. Squeeze your biceps at the top of each rep to make the most out of the movement.
Lying Biceps Cable Curl
3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Shift your perspective (and your normal positioning) to attack the biceps from a new angle with this lying biceps cable curl. Once you’re lying on the bench under the cable, the goal is to squeeze your biceps and keep your upper arms perpendicular to the ground without allowing your elbows to shift backwards. That will keep the focus directly on the biceps muscles.
Triceps Exercises
Skull Crusher
4 sets of 10 to 12 reps
The skull crusher will help pack muscle to your triceps.
With a bar, isolate that skull crusher motion without any aid from momentum. Keep your feet flat on the floor. Lie back on the bench and squeeze your glutes as hard as you can. This is your strong base. Don’t let your ribcage flare. Keep your abs tight. Drive your shoulder blades into the bench. Lower the weight and squeeze your triceps to create tension. Keep your wrists strong and maintain a 90 to 92 degree angle an inch from your head. Keep your elbows tight and in, squeezing your triceps at the top for 1 second.
Push-up
3 set of 15 reps
The push-up is the perfect bodyweight move that gets your arms involved.
Start in a pushup position with your glutes and abs squeezed. Your hands should be directly under your shoulders with your hands screwed in with some external rotation. Look down at the ground. Engage your midback and squeeze your shoulder blades. Lower down, keeping your elbows close to the torso. Push all the way up. If you need to modify, use a bench.
Close-Grip Push-up
3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
The close-grip push-up targets your triceps—and is a much safer option than a diamond pushup, which can allow for potentially dangerous internal rotation at the shoulder.
Squeeze through your glutes and core as you get in position. Look straight toward the ground. Get your hands narrower than shoulder width, with your hands facing forward. Turn your lats on by turning your elbows forward. Lower as you would with a pushup, keeping your elbows as tight to your torso as possible. Keep your forearms as close to perpendicular tot he ground as possible.
Triceps Rope Pressdown
3 to 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps