Biceps And Triceps: How to Isolate And Grow Your Arms

The glory of massive arms can never be underrated. Not only do they bust through your shirt, but arms are an essential accessory muscle to nearly every big, compound movement you do in the gym.

Not only will training your arms help to increase your strength potential in big lifts like deadlift and overhead press, but arms also look great.

Training for size and strength requires careful attention to detail and a strength based program that emphasizes progressive overload. First, let's understand the basics of arm anatomy.

Biceps Brachii

Two-headed muscle on the top of your humerus that acts through flexion at the elbow, supination of the wrist and mild flexion at the shoulder.

The best way to train the biceps is to isolate the arm into flexion - this is where the biceps work hardest at moving the resistance.

In shoulder flexion the delts will take the majority of the resistance - this is why preacher curls are better at recruiting biceps than standing curls.

The biceps are best trained at a moderate weight for moderate reps. For optimal results train your grip strength while training biceps as a muscle called the brachioradialis is an accessory exercise in many elbow flexion workouts.

Triceps Brachii

Three headers muscle on the back of the humerus. A little more complex than the biceps, the triceps work in extension at the elbow, adduction of the arm, scapular retraction, and scapular elevation.

Isolating the triceps is difficult, yet completed best by increasing the length of the lever arm.

This is done through overhead extension - as this will recruit more of the long head of the triceps and induce a greater force production than pushdowns alone.

The triceps are best trained at high weight and low reps - as much of the tissue is fast twitch fiber.

Anabolic Arm Training

Now that we have a brief understanding of the anatomic system take a look at some very simple and effective workouts you can do to push your training further.

You can incorporate these into existing workouts or do them as a stand-alone arm day - understanding that these are quite difficult you will need to separate them 24h from your next training session (especially if you're new to specific arm training).

*Take some time to review the tempo explanation found here.

**RBS; Rest between Sets. The amount of time in seconds you rest between each working set.

Anabolic Workouts Require Anabolic Supplements

Anytime you get into the realm of true strength training - developing massive muscles and stimulating hypertrophy you are going to need anabolic supplements.

Traditional food will meet the needs of beginner lifters, but workouts like these - and the ones you will soon progress to demand nutrient density - only to be found in supplements.

Creatine

The basis for any successful athlete is a well-rounded creatine formula. No loading required, supplement 4-6g of creatine daily to replenish lost phosphates and recover faster with more power for the next workout.

Find a potent and clinically dosed creatine suited for your strength here.

The last aspect of training to consider is the surge of energy needed to push yourself through exhaustive training sessions. Achieve a massive pump, improve performance, and have laser-like focus with Apocalypse - our clinically formulated pre-workout.

Sorry in advance for all the bigger t-shirts you’re going to have to buy!