Jump to the routine

The 30-Minute Workout to Build Bigger Arms

Use every mechanism available and you'll be splitting your sleeves in no time.

Jump to the Routine
  • 30 min

  • 6

  • Yes

Muscular Man
MichaelSvoboda / Getty
Muscular Man
MichaelSvoboda / Getty

Hey guys, we have a confession to make: We really don’t know why muscles grow they way they do—in fact, no one does. The best that science has done thus far is to show us a number of training and nutrition approaches that are “associated” with muscle growth. It’s a constantly evolving field, and that’s how we’re able to develop new and different—and increasingly effective—workouts each month.

This arm workout, however, is more of a “best of.” You’ll find a mashup of several of the most reliable muscle-building strategies, fused together into one surprisingly simple workout with a specific focus on building your arms like never before.

Guy-Sitting-On-Bench-Lifting-Dumbbells

The Ultimate Arm Workout For Beginners

Here's your guide to building bulging biceps, burly forearms, and seriously defined triceps.

Read article

How It Works

The main way we know to build muscle is by lifting heavy weights, but we assume you’ve done enough of that already; and if your arms are still skinny, you need to try another method.

One of these is focusing on the eccentric (lowering) portion of a rep, which causes more damage to the muscle (a necessary component of making it grow) and is associated with greater rebuilding of that muscle. Another is isometric holds—stopping at the hardest point in a rep’s range of motion. Finally, there’s volume: Lots of sets and reps have been shown to exhaust the muscles like nothing else and force them to grow. Hey, we can’t explain exactly why it works, but at least we know it does.

Dumbbells At Home

The Ultimate At Home Workout Routine For Your Arms

Build bigger arms without leaving your bedroom.

Read article

Directions

Complete the workout once per week, resting at least a day before and after any other upper-body training. Perform the pairs (marked “A” and “B”) as supersets: You’ll do one set of A, then a set of B, rest, then repeat until all the prescribed sets are done. Perform exercises 3 and 4 as conventional straight sets.

Routine

Want a copy on the go?
Print

The 30-Minute Arm Workout

Exercise
Equipment
Sets
Reps
Rest
Exercise 1 of 6

Preacher Curl

Equipment
EZ-Bar
Sets
4
Reps
10-12
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 2 of 6

Close-Grip Bench Press

Equipment
Bench
Sets
4
Reps
20
Rest
2 min.
Exercise 3 of 6

Seated Incline Dumbbell Curl

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
4
Reps
5 reps/5-second hold
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 4 of 6

Lying Triceps Extension

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
4
Reps
12
Rest
2 min.
Exercise 5 of 6

Barbell Curl

Equipment
Barbell
Sets
1
Reps
100
Rest
As little as possible
Exercise 6 of 6

Band Pushdown

Equipment
Elastic Band
Sets
1
Reps
150
Rest
As little as possible
See all of our tutorials