Tricks for Getting Bigger Arms

 Quite often you likely see people at the gym doing arm curl after arm curl after arm curl. My favourite is when I see girls or guys doing concentration curls (1 arm curl with elbow against knee, sitting down). This isolated exercise does not recruit an overall large number of muscle fiber. This is not an effective way to grow. For this reason, the concentration curl is my least favourite arm exercise. Another one of my pet peeves is watching people do preacher curls (seated with arms over bench on a downward angle) and not completing the full range of motion. GUESS WHAT!? The preacher curl is DESIGNED to be hard at the bottom. It utilizes the ‘stretched' position of the bicep and is one of the best exercises for targeting the short head of the biceps.

What have we learned so far: to build bigger biceps, we need to do exercises that recruit a large amount of muscle fibers, and we need to complete full range of motion in order to maximize muscle recruitment.

I am going to give two suggestions for exercises to build your biceps…and guess what…NEITHER of them are curls:

•  Close Grip Chin Ups: Get to the nearest chin up bar, grab it with a supinated grip (palms towards you) with your hands 2-4 inches apart. Start with your arms completely straight and your feet off the floor. Next pull yourself up until your chin is past the bar, then lower yourself for a count of 4 seconds until your arms are completely straight again. Try to do between 6-8 repetitions, if you can do this amount easily, add weight! If you start doing these on your arm days…you will definitely GROW!

•  Bent Over Barbell Row: Get an Olympic 45 lbs. bar, hold it with arms slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Slightly bend your knees and then bend at the waist so your torso is nearly parallel to the floor. Keep your back and neck in a neutral position (flat). Pull the bar up to your sternum, hold it against your body for a second, and then lower it again for a count of 3-4 seconds. Do anywhere from 4-8 repetitions and load up the weight!

These are 2 great exercises to start including in your training that will get you results!

There is one more tip I will offer you to get those arms that you want. I'll give you a hint: it has NOTHING to do with biceps.

*TRAIN YOUR TRICEPS*

There is more potential for growth in the triceps because it has THREE heads, NOT two like the bicep. I find that most people focus too much on their biceps and don't spend enough time on its counterpart, the triceps. A weak triceps will also lead to inhibited growth of the bicep. If you feel like you have fallen into this category of underdeveloped triceps, start doing 2:1 tricep:bicep exercises to get the strength ratio to where it should be.

Summer is approaching quickly and it is usually when the sleeveless shirts come out of the closet. Hopefully you can take them out a few weeks early with these great tips!

Jordan Symonds , BA, NSCA-CPT