This article was co-authored by Steve Horney PT, MPT, MTC, CSCS. Steve Horney is a Licensed Physical Therapist and the Owner of Integrated Health Sciences, a New York City-based company that provides continuing education, health care products, and manual and movement physical therapy. Steve has over 15 years of academic and professional physical therapy training and specializes in the assessment and treatment of athletes with the goal of helping them become pain-free and less susceptible to injury. Steve is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He received a BS in Health Science from Quinnipiac University in 2004 and a Masters of Physical Therapy (MPT) from Quinnipiac University in 2006. He then completed his Manual Therapy Certification (MTC) from the University of St. Augustine in 2014.
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Large, muscular arms make you look strong and fit while giving your body a sculpted appearance. As an added bonus, having bulky arms may be able to help you perform impressive tasks like lifting heavy furniture and pushing stalled cars to safety without breaking a sweat. After doing exercises that cause arm hypertrophy, or muscle growth, it is also important to build strength in your back, chest, and shoulders as well.[1] Read on to learn what exercises and lifestyle habits build arm mass.
Steps
Targeted Exercises
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1Perform bicep curls. Bicep curls work out the muscles in your upper arm. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms straight. Curl the dumbbells up towards your shoulders. Pause briefly and lower them again.
- Do two or three sets of 8-12 repetitions.
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2Do triceps dumbbell extensions to bulk up your triceps. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold dumbbells over your head with your wrists facing inward. Lower the dumbbells behind your head so that your elbows point up in the air, then raise the dumbbells above your head and straighten your elbows again.[2]
- Do between 8 and 12 reps, and 3 to 5 sets.
Note: This exercise can also be performed using both hands to lower and extend one dumbbell above the head.
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3Do wrist curls to work out your forearms. It is important that you do not neglect your forearms. Wrist curls can help strengthen your wrists and forearms, which will improve your lifting ability overall. To do wrist curls, sit and grasp a dumbbell in each hand. Rest your arms against your thighs with your wrists hanging off the edge of your knees. Curl your wrists up and back down, keeping your forearms still.[3]
- Repeat 8-12 times. Do two or three sets total.
Compound Exercises
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1Do bicep curls to shoulder press to build your biceps and shoulders.[4] Your biceps are one of the main muscle groups in your arms, and working out your shoulders will help increase your overall body strength. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold the dumbbells at your sides with your arms fully extended and your palms turned inwards, curl the dumbbells to your chest, then press them over your head before reversing the dumbbells to the starting position.
- Do between 8 and 12 reps, and 3 to 5 sets. Rest for about 45 seconds between sets.
- This exercise may also be performed with a kettle bell or barbells.
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2Do chin-ups to work out your biceps and back. The primary muscles that chin ups engage are in the back, but this exercise also helps strengthen your biceps. Grip a fixed bar with your hands shoulder-width apart and your palms facing you. Use your arms to lift your body, until your chin is higher than the bar then slowly lower yourself back to the starting position.[5]
- Do between 8 and 12 reps, and 4 to 5 sets.
Tip: You can increase the difficulty of this exercise by using a weighted belt.
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3Perform push-ups. Push-ups are a great exercise because they target the chest, back, and ab muscles while also working out the arms.[6] To do a push up, put your hands below your body and slightly outside your shoulders. The rest of your body should extend straight back. Lower yourself by bending your elbows until you are just above the ground. Raise yourself back up until your arms are straight.
- Do as many push ups as you can while still maintaining proper form.
Lifestyle Changes
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1Don't eat too many calories. You may think that to bulk up your muscles, you should eat more calories than you usually would. Eating more calories doesn't translate into building bigger muscles. Rather, the calories increase body fat, which obscures muscle definition. The key is to eat a diet that enables you to be lean, so your big muscles become more apparent.
- Eat balanced meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean meats.
- Avoid white sugar and flour, fried foods, and other high-calorie foods that may cause you to gain fat.
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2Eat plenty of protein. Protein helps build muscles, so when you're trying to bulk up, it should be a mainstay of your diet. Try to increase your daily intake of protein to help build more muscle.
- Choose fish, chicken, lean beef, pork, and other types of meat to supply yourself with protein. Eggs are also a great source of protein.
- Beans, nuts, and other vegetables are good vegetarian protein sources.
- Dairy, such as milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt, is another great source of protein.
Tip: Consider supplementing your diet with protein powder such as whey. Whey is a byproduct of cheese that helps build bigger muscles.
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3Take rest seriously. When it comes to building muscles, resting periods are as important as workout periods. Get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep on the days when you work out, and avoid overdoing it with other activities that require use of your arm muscles.
- You're probably working out your muscles enough if they burn while you're at the gym. However, if your arms keep burning long after you leave, that's a sign you're stressing your muscles too much, which can actually slow down the process of your arm muscles growing.[7]
Workout Basics
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1Work out your whole body. It's healthier to strengthen all of your muscles with compound exercises than to focus only on building arm mass. If you want to be able to lift heavy objects and weights, you also need to work on your shoulders, chest, and back. If you don't work out your legs and core, you'll end up with big arms and a lower body that isn't as muscular.[8]
- Do compound exercises that bulk up your arms while also toning other muscles. Chin-ups and push-ups, for example, strengthen your abs at the same time they are strengthening your arms.
Tip: On the days when you aren't training your arms, train other muscle groups in your legs, back and abdomen. This way you'll still be building strength while your arm muscles are recovering.
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2Train two times per week. Many people think that working out every day builds bigger muscles, but muscle mass is actually built during resting days between workout sessions. Your muscles grow stronger as they recover between lifting sessions, enabling you to gradually lift more and more weight. If you don't give your muscles time to rest, particularly your arm muscles, you risk overtraining them and delaying the results you want to achieve.
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3Train in 30-minute sessions. For the same reason, you should only train one or two times per week and each training session should only last about half an hour. Training for over half an hour per session greatly increases the risk that you will injure your ligaments, joints, and tendons. Short, intense training sessions are your best bet for building arm mass.
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4Train as hard as you can. Choose heavy weights that you are able to pick up, and make your training sessions as high-intensity as possible. Muscle-builders call this "training to failure," because it means lifting weights that are heavy enough to cause you to "fail," or be unable to complete the exercise after five to eight reps. As your arms grow stronger, and you find that the weight you've been lifting is no longer as difficult, add more weight.
- If you are new to lifting weights, you may want to work with lower weights first before working your way up to heavier weights. Do not start off with the heaviest weights you can lift. Instead, find a lighter weight that you can do at least 8-12 reps with.
- Find your "train to failure" weight by experimenting with different weights until you find one you can lift several times before breaking a sweat and feeling you can't lift it again. If you can complete 10 or 12 reps without sweating or feeling much of a burn, you should be lifting more weight. If you can't complete five or six reps before giving up, decrease the weight.
- While extreme discomfort is part of building muscle mass, you shouldn't be lifting so much weight that you feel you're going to be sick or pass out. There's no shame in starting at a lower weight. Start lifting a weight you can handle, and soon you'll build up the strength required to lift heavier weights.
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5Do high-volume workouts, low-intensity workouts. Instead of doing exercises with the maximum amount of weight you can handle for a few repetitions, choose a smaller weight and do more repetitions. High-volume workouts are associated with more muscle growth and are used by bodybuilders to gain muscle mass quickly.[9]
- For example, you could do 8 dumbbell curls at 50% of your maximum weight. This would be one rep. Then you could repeat this 5 or 6 times in a workout.
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6Use proper form. Get the maximum benefit from your workouts and avoid injury by using the correct form when you lift weights. In addition, to lifting the appropriate amount of weight for your level of fitness, keep the following tips in mind when you're lifting weights:
- Lift with controlled movements, rather than using momentum to move the weights.
- Be sure you are able to complete each full exercise for at least 6-8 reps. If you cannot do this many, the weights you are using may be too heavy.
Sample Exercises and Routines
Expert Q&A
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QuestionHow long will it take my muscles to grow if I do 30 to 60 reps with 20lbs a day?
Michele DolanMichele Dolan is a BCRPA certified Personal Trainer in British Columbia. She has been a personal trainer and fitness instructor since 2002.
Certified Fitness TrainerBuilding muscle requires constantly challenging the muscle with increasing weight. Perform 3-5 sets of 6-10 repetitions twice per week. Use weight that is the heaviest you can lift with good technique. You can expect to see results in 6-8 weeks.
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QuestionShould you do push-ups everyday or the same as a regular workout?Michele DolanMichele Dolan is a BCRPA certified Personal Trainer in British Columbia. She has been a personal trainer and fitness instructor since 2002.
Certified Fitness TrainerNo. Perform push-ups two to three times per week to get the greatest muscle gain.Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.
Warnings
- Know the difference between "good pain" and "bad pain", if you are finding pain when working hard and are still able to keep lifting even though it hurts, that's a good hurt. If It is painful to the point where you can't do any more reps etc., stop, rest, and come up with what could be the problem, don't push through the bad pain, it could lead to further injury.⧼thumbs_response⧽
- Avoid steroids, as it messes up your body, inside and out.⧼thumbs_response⧽
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References
- ↑ Steve Horney PT, MPT, MTC, CSCS. Licensed Physical Therapist. Expert Interview. 20 March 2020.
- ↑ https://www.coachmag.co.uk/tricep-exercises/6053/how-to-do-an-overhead-dumbbell-tricep-extension
- ↑ https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/seated-dumbbell-palms-up-wrist-curl
- ↑ http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/three-moves-to-bulk-up-your-arms
- ↑ http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/three-moves-to-bulk-up-your-arms
- ↑ http://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/muscles-worked-push-ups
- ↑ Steve Horney PT, MPT, MTC, CSCS. Licensed Physical Therapist. Expert Interview. 20 March 2020.
- ↑ http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/three-moves-to-bulk-up-your-arms
- ↑ Steve Horney PT, MPT, MTC, CSCS. Licensed Physical Therapist. Expert Interview. 20 March 2020.
About This Article
To get bigger arms, dedicate half an hour, twice a week, to targeted exercises. Though you may feel tempted to do more, limit yourself to this type of schedule to avoid overuse injuries. For upper arms, work on bicep curls and triceps dumbbell extensions. To work on your forearms, try wrist curls. If you want to do a compound move to strengthen two areas at once, try a bicep curl into a shoulder press. Chin ups will help build bicep and back strength. Additionally, push ups are a full body workout that can strengthen your arms, back, and core. To learn more from our Personal Trainer co-author about how to change your diet to get bigger arms, keep reading the article!
