How to Increase the Size of Your Arms

When people are at the gym they tend to walk past people and make a mental note about how the other person they just passed looked. They may even go as far as deciding if they are stronger or in better shape than the other person. Visually, the eyes tend to go towards the size of the arms, chest and stomach of the other person.

A little basic anatomy is needed to understand the muscles in the arm.  The main muscles are the biceps and triceps.  The biceps are located in the front of your arm and have two heads- the long head and short head.  The triceps are located in the back of your arm and have three heads- the long head, the medial head and the lateral head.

The tricep push and the biceps pull.  When working out it is a good idea to not do both bicep and triceps workouts on the same day as you will end up with soreness in your entire arm, which may cause you to miss a workout or not do the workout properly or with the same effort level the next time.

Basic Arm Exercises
Some of the basic exercises to develop the arms for the biceps include various types of curls. They can be seated, inclined, or standing.  You can also use different equipment and bars to do the exercises.  There are straight bars, EZ Curl bars or you can use machines to help work out the muscles.  For bicep exercises I do standing curls, preacher curls, and seated curls at different angles to help grow the muscle.

For triceps muscle development I do tricep pulldowns, triceps extentions and skull crushers, and triceps kickbacks.

With any of these exercises in order gain mass use heavier weight with fewer repetitions and if you want to get muscle definition use lighter weight with more repetitions.  A good plan will incorporate both so that on some days you focus on gaining mass and other days you can focus on gaining definition.  The key is consistancy and also giving your body enough rest in between workouts. By doing these exercises you will add size to your arms and will get stronger overall.

Why You Should Work Out Big Muscles First

When people do weight training sometimes they work body parts in the wrong order. It is important to realize that working out bigger muscles and then move to smaller muscles will enhance your workouts.

For example, when I do an upper body workout I will start with chest or back because those muscles are the biggest and are needed in order to workout the smaller muscles. I will do pushups, benchpress or other chest exercises and then move on to biceps or triceps. That is because if you workout the biceps or triceps first you won't be able to use those muscles later on in your workout because they will be tired due to being smaller muscles.

Anyone who has worked out biceps or triceps first and then try to do a chest workout will know that you won't be able to lift as much or do as many repetitions as you normally would. This is because the muscles became tired from working them out first and did not have enough energy left in them to help fully for the chest workouts.

If you want to get a good workout start with the bigger muscles and then work out the smaller muscles. You will have a better workout overall and be able to see improvement over time.

New week to begin working out

So today is Monday which means it is a great day to start a week of exercising. It's a fresh start for people that might have indulged in the weekend a little bit too much. Too much pizza or beer or burgers eaten while watching football on Saturday and/or Sunday means that the gym will probably be packed today. This seems to happen every Monday. I think it's because people feel guilty about how much they ate or drank on the weekend.

Due to the fact that the gym is going to be packed today, Mondays are usually good days to run outside or due some sort of workout at home. Pushups and situps are great exercises and can be done anywhere. Find two chairs and you can do tricep exercises like this one:

The most important thing is to realize that Monday may be a start of the new work week but it can also be the start of a new workout week and that provides motivation for me and it can also do it for you.