Lets face it, having big strong arms is what all us weight lifters and bodybuilders want, arms that bulge out of your shirt will look impressive and make people take notice, sure it may sound a little vein but isn’t one of the reasons we lift weights in the first place is to look good?
The Arm Consists of Three Primary Muscles
1. The Triceps – The triceps brachii muscles are the large muscle on the back of the upper arm, they consist of three heads that connect from the elbow joint to the shoulders. The main function of the triceps is extension of the elbow joint. The triceps make up two thirds the size of your upper arms, which is why you need to work them hard to get big arms.
2. The Biceps - The biceps brachii are the muscles on the front of the upper arm, the biceps consist of two heads and their main function is to flex the elbow and supinate the forearm. Biceps are a relatively small muscles in comparison to the triceps and should not be worked to the same degree as the triceps muscles.
3. The Forearms – The forearms are responsible for moving the hands and allowing you to grip objects, strong forearms give you a better grip, which is especially useful for exercises such as barbell deadlift or seated row. There are 15 muscles in the forearm, but for the purpose of building forearm size you do not need to concern yourself with each one, that and I don’t want to bore you with the anatomy of the forearm.
Now that you have a breakdown of the arm muscles you can checkout the relevant exercises below. (Please note, the exercise difficulty rating I use applies to the muscle in question, not the overall difficulty in comparison to every possible exercise for every muscle in the body).
Biceps Exercises
Standing Barbell Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 10/10
Dumbbell Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 8/10
Barbell Preacher Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 7.5/10
Zottman Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 7.5/10
Reverse Barbell Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii & Forearm
Exercise Difficulty: 7/10
Concentration Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii (peak)
Exercise Difficulty: 7/10
Dumbbell Hammer Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 6.5/10
Incline Dumbbell Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 6/10
Single Arm Dumbbell Incline Curls
Muscles Targeted: Biceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 6/10
Triceps Exercises
Upright Triceps Dips
Muscles Targeted: Triceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 10/10
Bench Dips
Muscles Targeted: Triceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 9/10
Close Grip Bench Press
Muscles Targeted: Triceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 8/10
Skull Crushers
Muscles Targeted: Triceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 6.5/10
Triceps Rope Extensions
Muscles Targeted: Triceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 6/10
Triceps Press Downs
Muscles Targeted: Triceps brachii
Exercise Difficulty: 5.5/10
Thanks for a nice guidelines but i have question, i have 15″ of Bicep from last 6 month its not increasing. my work out way for bicep as mentioned below. warm up 20 min-dumbbell curl(for worm up) – EZ bar wide range start with 10 kg and increasing 3 kg for every set 4 set 12 to 15 Res and again dumbbell 3 set with maximum weight – barbell revers 2 set with 10 kg -EZ Bar half with 10 to 15 kg 3 set 12 to 15 resp then hammer 3 set 12 Rep and concentration. can you please suggest me that is i am in right way or not please help me out. thank you
Hi Raj
Thanks for the kind comment, are you trying to get bigger biceps or bigger arms? Because performing triceps exercises will make your arm size grow quicker compared to bicep exercises, however if you are trying to increase biceps size I suggest you gradually increase the weight week after week. You may also be overtraining your biceps, they are a small muscle and you might be doing too much, if you want big biceps I suggest pulling exercises like pull ups, mid rows and barbell curls.
Hope this helps!
Hi my name is ashif my biceps inch is 15″ and i take one exercise twice a week.. 48 hour rest before first workout.. but size is not increasing.. give some what tips…
Hi Ashif
If you want big arms you need to perform compound moves such as bench press, close grip bench press, pull ups, barbell curls etc.. Read my page on full body workout routines
The best bicep exercise that I’ve found is the close grip pullup. I don’t lift for size, but for strength, but I have 18.5″ arms. Do heavy compound lifts, no isolation lifts, and then finish off with dips and pullups and your arms will get bigger, unless you don’t eat enough. You have to eat bigger to get bigger. The information that I’ve see on this website is pretty good, overall, thanks.
Hi Jerry
Thanks for the kind comments. I agree, compound moves make your arms big, not isolation exercises, however I understand that people like doing them which is why I include as many as exercises as I can in my arm workouts section.
Hello John,
.
I have a dilemma: when I do upright dips with extra weight (90lb) 4 sets 10 reps each, I do not develop DOMS, but when I do upright dips w/o weights (3 sets 30-20-25 reps) my triceps hurt a lot. Why is that so?
Also, what can I do to improve my stability while doing Bench Press? When I bench above 185lbs, I cannot fully control the barbell. Can it be due to my low weight? I am only 150lbs
Hi Greg
Its probably down to the amount of lactic acid being built up, which is often caused when you perform high repss, sometimes this can be mistaken for DOMS.
As for benching stable bodyweight is certainly a factor. Can you describe your bench press, where are your feet positioned, are you arched on the bench and how many reps you can manage with 185lbs?
You must stay tight on the bench press, this means legs, core tight, shoulder blades together, all these stay tight to keep you from rocking, also make sure your foot stance is wide enough to keep you from rocking because as the weight gets heavier you need to become more stable!
hi i wana increase my bisceps size i had workd out for 6 months but still my bisceps size had not incresed at par plz tell me the exersize by which i can increse my bisceps size i have done all the exersize u have told and also tell me what food to eat to increse my biseceps size plz do tell me
Hi Saurabh
Thanks for leaving a comment, your biceps are a small muscle so it takes a lot longer to see size increases compared to the muscles of the legs, back and chest, it is also easier to over train your biceps so be careful.
If you want to increase the biceps you should focus on pulling movements, such as mid rows & chin ups, most pulling exercises will increase biceps size. You also need to focus on the bigger bicep movements, such as barbell curls and hammer curls. Make sure you are aiming for 8-12 reps per set choosing between 70-80% of your 1RM.
In terms of diet its pretty standard, just see my section on bodybuilding diet for more info.
Hope this helps
john i have tried every thing and one more thing i wana enquire that i have fat on my stmoach so i go for running in mornig upto 4 kms so will this lead to decrease my bisceps size if so to increase biceps should i leave running
Hi Saurabh
Running will have no impact on your biceps size, sure by losing weight you may loose some fat around your arms, giving you the impression that your arms are getting smaller, but you certainly won’t lose muscle as long as you keep lifting weights.
Hope this helps.
hi john u are doing a great job man.hats off.
hi john.i am sandy an amteur bodybuilder from india and just finishesh off my contest session.plz tell me which type of traning schedule i should follow for my off session period.i read all your articles and belive me they are just great.
Hi Sandy
Thanks for the comment, how did you get on, did you win?
Regarding off season I would focus on heavy compound movements, you should focus on a full body workout routine, this will work the best in my opinion.
Hope this helps