Sleeve Popping Arm Workout
Workout Of The Week
Call me old fashioned but there’s nothing cooler than having big arms. I’ve embraced being a smaller guy so I probably won’t ever have 20 inch arms. I still appreciate the look. I'm also a fan of some old school methods of arm training.
There are certain exercises that fall out of favor or just plainly disappear from gyms over time, one of them is the drag curl. The drag curl emphasizes a straighter bar path by minimizing shoulder movement, you’re essentially dragging the weight straight up your body.
If you’ve never tried the drag curl before, expect to use less weight. You can “go heavy” for a movement with 15 lbs if needed. Heavy is a feeling, not a number.
The concentration curl is another one of those exercise that just sort of disappeared. My guess would be because there’s nothing cool about admitting your arms are actually weaker than you think they are.
You can’t ego lift a drag curl or concentration curl by just swinging it up with minimal to no bicep engagement. Which is far less cool (sarcasm).
The reverse wrist curl is the last one i’ll go over today. One major neglected aspect of arm development is training the forearms, especially the extensors (the top of your forearm).
If you’re dealing with elbow pain these will be a great remedy. They’ll also make the bottom of your arms (forearms) beefier and increase your grip strength which in turn will lead to better curl and chin-up strength.
One of my favorite video series to watch in middle school was the train with Kai series. In the video below he takes another bodybuilder through his arm workout. You’ll see a variety of exercises, angles, and a ton of volume.
If you watch carefully you’ll also see the intent Kai puts into every rep. Go to 17:00 in the video where Kai discusses why he’s only using 30 lbs on the curls. Yes they’ll swing up some heavy pinwheel/hammer curls, but 90%+ of the training is controlled and intentional.
Don’t just be a weight lifter. Get the intent out of the exercise.
The Workout
This is an arm only training session. If you want to split it up into your training, I recommend just doing the A1 and A2 bicep exercises on your upper body day or whenever you primarily work your biceps, and then the B1 and B2 on your next upper body day or whenever you usually work triceps.
If you want bigger arms, having an arm day isn’t a bad idea provided you’re training 4x a week or more. Just realize other body parts could take a back seat while you prioritize arm training.
I recently wrote an arm training manual that has more methods and workouts. It also goes over the anatomy of the biceps and triceps so you don’t neglect any head of the bi’s or tri’s. Check it out below.
Get Fat Grips Here. Your grip strength will thank you.
