How to Get Big Arms (3×8)

These days big arms are not my priority, but once upon a time I was a high school student whose only desire was to be big. I was going five days a week and lifting weights at our local gym and of course doing plenty of research on training and form. Many people do not realize that serious and consistent gym goers have to do quite a bit of outside research if they want to make progress. Anyways, there came a day that I realized bicep curls alone were not growing my arms as I wished and so I went to the internet and found a solution. I do not claim that these exercises will work for you, but they did for a skinny kid back in 2009 and maybe they can get you started.

Let’s keep this simple, your arms have three “main” sections: the biceps, triceps, and the forearms. These six exercises will hit them all. All set and reps are the classics 3 x 8. It’s simple and at the time was very effective for me.

Biceps/forearms

Straight Bar Curls- the most classic of bicep exercises! Perform this with either a barbell or an EZ bar. Stay outta the squat rack please.

Hammer Curls- with a pair of dumbbells, hold them just as you would to curl them put have your palms face inward. This works a different head of the bicep.

Reverse Curls-I prefer to use an EZ bar which has one of those curved grips. In this one your palms will be facing down. This places a lot of strain on the forearms and also your grip to keep the bar from falling onto the ground.

Triceps

Close grip bench press- This is the most weight you will be able to place on your triceps and so should be done first. Find yourself a bench and then test what weight you can perform eight times. This is down almost identically to the bench press but your hands will be placed about six inches from each other. Experiment on your preferred grip.

Cable Pull-downs- you have a choice of different attachment to use here. I suppose the best is the rope attachment but sometimes I like to use the simple bar and really focus on the contraction.

Lying tricep extensions- this is similar to the exercise above but we will be returning to the curling area and finding an EZ bar. Locate a bench and lay down. Hold the bar above you as though you are going to bench it. Now position your hands palm UP and near to the middle of the bar. Stretch the bar over your head and behind you until you cannot comfortably move it anymore. Now you are free to extend your arms and contract your triceps until the bar is returned in front of you. This is one rep and will be an excellent finisher to this arm workout.

It is silly to have such as thing as an “arm day”. But, if you want really big arms then this has worked for me in the past. I do not have 21 inch guns but had I continued this, who knows? I did these exercises once a week for four months and noticed the most arm gains I have ever had.