Effective Arm Workouts for Men

Men might enjoy a reputation for stoicism, but it turns out, beneath the surface, we're dealing with some pretty severe insecurities. A study conducted by Chapman University on more than 100,000 men discovered that 40 percent expressed dissatisfaction with their physical appearance and "low muscle tone" was the single most common complaint, specifically with regards to the chest and the arms.

RELATED: How Often Should You Work Out Your Arms?

Two other major complaints? Hair loss and height. While those can be tricky to deal with, let's focus on the positive: You can do something about your muscle tone. Genetics absolutely play a role in human size and strength, but the best genetics in the world won't make up for an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. Conversely, even the skinniest "hard gainers" can reliably put on size and gain strength if they fine-tune their diet and training program.

To help you reach your goals, conquer your insecurities, and build the arms you've always wanted, we put together this handy all-in-one guide, complete with expert-sourced advice, exercise suggestions, and common mistakes to avoid on your path to pumped up arms.

Arm Workout Training Tips

Determine Your Training Goal

Are you training for size or strength? That difference matters, a lot. Don't take it from us; take it from Professor Nima Alamdari, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Ritual, and Honorary Professor of Sport Science at the University of Exeter. "Exercises can be oriented to a variety of outcomes, including strength, power, stability, acceleration, change of direction, mobility, flexibility, recovery as well as muscle mass," he says.

"For most of us who train at a gym or exercise at home, an important distinction is whether the goal is to increase muscle strength and function, or to increase muscle mass (i.e. hypertrophy) – this fundamentally changes the approach to optimize training." He explains:

• Building strength:  "Resistance training with a low number of reps (1−5), long rest intervals (3−5 minutes), and high loads (over 85 percent of your 1 rep max) is geared towards higher mechanical tension, which develops strength, while muscle hypertrophy is limited."
• Building mass: "In comparison, resistance training with a moderate number of reps (6−12), short rest intervals (60 seconds), multiple sets (3−6), and moderate loads (around 60−80 percent of your 1 rep max), with subsequent increases in training volume (12–28 sets per muscle, per week) generates greater metabolic stress (as opposed to higher loads) which better stimulates muscle hypertrophy."

Train Your Arms With a Variety of Exercises

The muscles of your arms are complicated, serving a variety of functions, and that means that to train them properly and thoroughly, you'll need to adopt more than a standard curls-and-pushdowns approach. 

"Variety in arm exercises is key to promote favorable adaptations in muscle groups," says  Dr. Alamdari. "It’s not as productive to use the same program or exercise structure for each session; a variety of training stimulus will lead to better signaling of muscle protein synthesis and muscle adaptations over time."

Luckily for you, we've included a ton of possible arm exercises for you to experiment with, so you have no excuse not to vary your training program.

Don’t Neglect Your Grip Strength

According to one 2016 study, grip strength is on the decline. Researchers tested 237 men aged 20 to 34 and found they had significantly weaker hand grips compared to young people tested in 1985.

A bigger concern is that the hand grip findings — if confirmed by larger studies — could be a sign of increased flabbiness in a generation that does more texting and clicking than physical activity. According to research findings presented by fitness author Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes, one large study found that men with weak grips at mid-life — between the age of 45 to 68 — were more likely to be disabled 25 years later.

Better That Brachialis

The best way to build stubborn biceps is to focus on the brachialis muscle. But there’s more to this than just using a hammer grip and focusing on your forearms.

Focus less on the weight being moved and more on using constant tension. This means bringing the weight down fairly slowly, squeezing your muscles during every inch of the rep, and not locking out or “pausing” when the tension is off the muscle.

Set Your Ego Aside 

There is a reason nearly every weight training program out there instructs you to take the eccentric portion of an exercise slowly. You need to check your ego at the door and reduce the weight you are lifting to focus on the eccentric (the part of the movement where you lower the weight) portion of the lift. 

RELATED: Best Exercises for Bigger Biceps

Instead of taking two seconds to lower the weights, try taking twice the time. Don’t get hung up on trying to lift overly heavy. Who cares what the juiced-out guy in a tank top thinks?

Stay Healthy (Duh) 

The biceps are notoriously associated with gruesome injuries – YouTube “bicep tear” at your own risk.

It's not always the muscle belly that's involved, but the tendons that are injured from lifting too heavy. Build your tendons along with your muscles through the strategies mentioned in the previous tips.

Best Bicep Exercises

There are two heads (the end of a muscle at the site of attachment) to the bicep muscle (hence the “bi” in the name): The long head and the short head. But the muscle group also includes an elbow-flexing muscle called the brachialis, mentioned above, which shouldn’t be forgotten.

TRX Curl

“I love this one because you can crush your biceps with burnout sets. Start with a lot of resistance by having your feet close to where the TRX hangs,” says coach Louie Guarino of Major Gainz Fitness.

“When you can't do any more [reps], take one step back to reduce the resistance and keep burning [your arm] out from there. Do this for three steps back — or resistance levels — and your arms will be toasted. If you need an extra challenge, use a weight vest, try the exercise on one leg, or place your feet up on a plyo box to increase the incline.”

Doing curls on the TRX is a great way to train the biceps because you have the ability to alter the angle at which you curl to make the exercise easier or harder while also prolonging time under tension.

How to perform:

• Adjust the suspension trainer to its shortest length.
• Standing with your feet under the anchor point, grasp the handles with your palms facing up and lean back.
• Perform a curl by bending your elbows and bringing your hands to the sides of your head.
• Here, the point of maximal loading is when your forearm forms a 90-degree angle with the TRX strap.

Spider Curl

The spider curl restricts the motion of the upper arm, eliminating cheating.

How to perform:

• Lie with your stomach on an incline bench, holding dumbbells or a curl bar with your arms straight below your shoulders.
• Without moving your elbows, curl the weight towards your shoulders.
• Slowly lower it back to the starting position.

Negative Dumbbell Curl

Drop the weight down low and really focus on the eccentric (lowering) portion of the movement. Count three seconds while you are lowering the weight and explode up. 

How to perform:

• Sit back on an incline bench, holding (light!) dumbbells with your arms straight below your shoulders. Or stand with arms down at your sides.
• Without moving your elbows, curl the weight towards your shoulders, keeping a supinated grip (open palm) throughout the entire range of motion.
• Slowly lower the weight to the starting position and power it back up.

Here is a bonus cue: Keep the inside of your palm (where your thumb and index finger intersect) right against the portion of the weight that is closest to your body, and flex your pinky at the top of the movement.

Standing Barbell Curl

According to Eric and Chris Martinez of Dynamic Duo Training, the biceps are comprised of around 60 to 65 percent fast-twitch muscle fibers, and these seem to respond best when you incorporate lower reps and heavier loads – think barbell curls.

Note: Heavy is relative to your abilities. If your first curl resembles a fish out of water, the weight is too heavy for you.

How to perform:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with a neutral spine and posture.
• Grab the barbell with a shoulder-width underhand grip.
• Curl from a standing position, lowering the weight to full extension at the bottom of each rep.

Standing Cable Curl

This movement is ideal for showing off your frontal flexing pose without embarrassing yourself. Kidding. Don’t ever flex that way – unless you’re doing standing cable curls.  

How to Perform:

• Position your arms so they’re down by your sides with your palms facing the ceiling.
• Pull the handles toward your armpits while flexing your biceps.
• Your upper arms should remain stationary — only your forearms should be moving back and forth. 

21s

You may be familiar with 21s, a classic biceps training method popularized by bodybuilding legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This muscle-crushing move can be performed seated, standing, or on a preacher bench. You can do it with dumbbells, a barbell, or an EZ bar. 

How to Perform:

• Start as if you were doing a classic biceps curl.
• Curl the weight halfway through the movement and lower it with control.  

Best Forearm Exercises

Everyone loves a set of Popeye forearms. But how can you develop a pair of your own?

Some suggest getting really strong in the deadlift – without using wraps – is a sure way to add inches to your forearms. But the process of getting strong enough to deadlift north of 500 pounds takes time, so why not train your forearms in isolation now?

RELATED: Best Dumbbell Sets

Here are a couple of the best exercises for freaky forearms (these exercises target the brachialis muscle mentioned earlier).

Single-Arm Preacher Curl (Hammer Grip)

This single-arm variation of a classic exercise locks your elbow in a fixed position and helps you achieve a full range of motion. These are harder than they look and you should feel a great stretch in your biceps and forearms if you are doing them correctly.

How to Perform:

• Put your elbow in a fixed position on the bench.
• Slowly lower the weight until you reach full extension.
• Curl it back up with control.
• Don’t use too heavy of a weight and make sure you’re not leaning forwards or backward during the movement to avoid injuring yourself.  

Underhanded Chin-up

An overhand chin-up or pull-up targets the back and shoulders more than the forearms, but if you flip your hands so that your palms are facing you, you'll feel it in the forearm. 

How to Perform:

• Grab the pull-up bar or any over-the-head bar with an underhand grip (palms facing you).
• Pull your shoulder blades back and down and then use your arms to pull your body up.
• Take a moment at the top when your chin is above the bar, then lower with control.

Reverse Curl

This exercise puts constant tension on your forearms to ensure maximum gains. Pick a comfortable weight that you can do over eight reps with, keep your wrist in a neutral position, and flex at the elbow in a controlled manner. Rinse and repeat.

How to Perform:

• Start with your arms hanging down by your sides, holding the barbell with palms towards you.
• Bend your arms up so your lower arms are reaching up towards your armpits, with palms facing outward. 
• Keep your wrists in a neutral position throughout.

Best Tricep Exercises

The tricep muscle has three heads (hence the “tri” in the name – witty): The long, medial, and lateral head. The Martinez brothers correctly point out, it’s hard to isolate all three, but some exercises do a better job than others at hitting the different parts of the muscle. Variety is your best approach.

RELATED: Best Tricep Workout Routines

Lifters often complain that skullcrushers and other extension movements destroy their elbows. To alleviate this, always begin your triceps training with a pushdown and slowly add weight as you go (but always stick to a weight you can do more than 10 reps per set with).

By getting your triceps and elbows warm and full of blood, you should be able to do lying extensions later in the routine — without the accompanying pain that so often holds back lifters on arm days.

Dumbbell Skullcrusher

Now that you're warm, you're ready to tackle this essential tricep exercise.

How to Perform:

• Lying on a bench, hold the dumbbells straight above your head.
• Flex at the elbows, keeping your elbows fairly close to the side of your head, and lower the weights towards the back of your head.
• Then return the dumbbells above your head and straighten your arms.

Lying Kettlebell Triceps Extension

This exercise nails your triceps, and doing high reps of it results in a serious rush of blood to the muscle, giving you a great pump without the joint stress of using a bar.

How to Perform:

• Grab a kettlebell or two and lie on the ground.
• Hold the kettlebell over your head 
• Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows to bring the weight above your head.
• Pause and lower the weight back to the starting position.

Close-Grip Bench Press

Compound exercises should still play a role in your training plan — even when it comes to your arm development.

How to Perform:

• Set up on the bench press.
• Lie on your back.
• With a close grip, bring the bar down, keeping your elbows tucked by your sides.
• Lower the weight to about 90 degrees — still a few inches above your sternum — and return to the starting position
• To really torch your triceps, use a close grip.
• Your hands should be around 10 inches apart (this varies depending on your wingspan).
• Tuck your elbows to focus most of the tension on your triceps.

Close-Grip Push-Up

Whether you're a weights guy or not, consider the close-grip push-up. Traditional push-ups usually have you placing your hands just a bit wider than your shoulders, emphasizing your chest, but with slight alterations, you can put more focus on your triceps. 

How to Perform:

• Assume the push-up position
• Bring your hands inside of your shoulder
• Tuck your elbows to your sides. 
• Descent with control, until your chest touches the floor.
• Push yourself back to the starting position

Do this as a finishing exercise, when your triceps are full of blood and pre-pumped from your heavier work. Make the exercise more difficult by elevating your feet on a step or bench or wearing a weight vest.

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