Big, strong arms do more than just turn heads. They can help support all of your daily activities.So let's start...
1.You Are Not Working the Correct Muscles
Think big arms mean big biceps? Think again. While biceps receive most of the attention they only make up about one-third of total arm size. So they should only receive about a third of the total time you spend training your arms.
Most guys need to cut the amount of biceps work they do in half, while doubling the attention they pay to the muscles in the back of their arms. Big triceps are really the key if you want to add a little size to your arms. And don’t forget about your forearms. Those muscles between your elbow and hand draw more glances than you think.
2. You Are Not Varying Your Arm Exercises
Most men seem to fall into one of two camps when it comes to arm workouts: Guys who do chin-ups and guys who do curls .
Complex movements are functional and great for people beginner and intermediate lifters, but may not deliver the pure muscle size you want. On the other hand, isolation exercises are great for hypertrophy but not function, meaning they’ll pack on some muscle, but won’t necessarily help your total body strength. Combine the two, and you get the best of both worlds.
Look at your isolation exercises and complex movements as lobster and steak: Each is good on their own, but together they’re unstoppable. Workouts that have curls and chin-ups, or bench presses and tricep pushdowns, are more likely to deliver both the size and strength you’re looking for.
3.Training Too Hard, and All at Once
Back in the 80’s, the popular trend was to train your arms one time per week and absolutely destroy them with a boatload of sets, reps, and exercises. This high-volume approach worked for guys in bodybuilding magazines, but came up short for all of us normal guys who couldn’t afford to have dead arms for three days because of a killer workout.
Plus, it turned out a lot of those guys in magazines were taking in a lot more than just tuna and eggs in their nutrition plans, if you know what I mean.
Some of you are still following that same approach and still not seeing results.Well, you don’t wear the same clothes you wore in the 80s, and you shouldn’t train your arms the same way either.
Instead of the one-day arm-blaster binge, I recommend working your arms twice a week, but in more limited sessions. Since the arm muscles are smaller than those in your back or legs, they tend to heal faster - and can therefore be trained more often. This increase in frequency will lead to greater gains.
