4 Tips to Build Big Arms Fast

One of the lines that my buddy always used to say and always cracked me up was “curls for the girls Jim, curls for the girls!”

Next to chest, arms are probably one of the most focused upon body parts for gym rats and a pair of impressive arms are a definite must for any complete physique.

As always, in order to understand how to structure and attack an arm routine, it’s important to understand at least a little bit about the muscular make-up of the arms.

The arms can essentially be broken down into three parts:

  • the biceps
  • the triceps
  • and the forearms

The bicep, as its name suggests is made up of a pair of muscles, while the triceps are made up of three main muscles.

Because of that, the triceps will make up about 65-70% of the “look” of the arms. This also means that the triceps are in general, stronger than the biceps and can be worked longer and harder before they fatigue.

With regards to the forearms, I’m not a big believer in killer forearm workouts since the weight that I need to hold doing deadlifts, cleans, shrugs, and other similar exercises where grip strength is important, naturally builds power and muscle in my forearms.

Still though, proportional forearms are a must and not something to be neglected. There’s little worse than big, developed upper arms that lead into thin, frail looking forearms.

When training arms, there are a couple of key principles that I’ve found effective:

Big Arms Tip #1: A Little Goes A LONG Way

Arms are “small” muscle groups, so they don’t need to be worked as long.

When I say “small”, I mean in comparison to chest, back, and legs which are the “big” muscle groups.

Both the biceps and triceps need a lot of attention but you don’t need to be doing 25-30 sets of bicep exercises and 30-35 sets of tricep exercises.

I usually like to keep it to about 15 for biceps and 19 for triceps.

Big Arms Tip #2: UP the Intensity!

Since arms are “small” muscle groups, they tend to recover more quickly.

Which means that you need to up the intensity level of your arm workouts!

I ALWAYS superset biceps and triceps because that way, I know that I’m hitting the muscle again and again right when it’s about to recover.

Big Arms Tip #3. Form is The Name of The Game.

When you do curls, don’t work your back and when you do triceps, don’t work your chest. I’ve found that arms, more than any other body part, responds to strict form.

Doing a set of barbell curls with 75 total pounds and impeccable form is much better than trying to do 135 and look like you’re trying to do cleans with a reverse grip.

Big Arms Tip #4. More Than Once a Week.

Arms are one of the only body parts that I believe could and probably should be done more than once a week.

That is, it’s good to have a dedicated arms day and also add a couple of arm exercises to your other workouts during the week.

This again, is because arms are a small muscle group and recover more quickly than your other body parts so they need to be stimulated on a more frequent basis.

Until Next Time,
Jim