Your arms are built from , a lot of muscles, like a lot, your forearms consists of 20 muscles. But I got to know this after a decade of training, when I wanted to get qualified and become a full time trainer, which is long after I built massive biceps, which also means, you don’t need to know anything about anatomy to build a physique, although it would be beneficial, if you do know it.
Here's an image of 19 year old me after over 6 years of training ! As most of you know this entire channel is based on natural bodybuilding which means you can do this too if you really give it your all. At 19 I had developed the muscle mass that could be later on sculpted the way i wanted. At this point my arms measured close to 17 inches, but the next two years brought out the true definition and aesthetics necessary in an advanced physique.
Let’s keep this simple. You have your biceps and triceps that compose your upper arm, and then you have your forearms.
If you want to add size to your arms, you’ve got to train all these elements, properly.
There are a multitude of phases when building a physique, a multitude of training styles, intensifiers, there is so much information that you can use to formulate your plan, and if I were to talk about one and a half decades of my experience, this blog would not end.
So here’s the deal, I’m going to assume you are either a beginner, or maybe someone who doesn’t have a consistent training regimen.
Lets start by training your arms twice a week, it’s the case for most muscle groups as well.
6 exercises for biceps per week, 6 for triceps per week (train this twice a week, 3 per session), and for forearms, you can use one exercise twice a week for 4 sets after you finish your bicep training. Do not complete a full week’s training per muscle group on 2 consecutive days, as a general rule, have at least one rest day before you train a muscle group again.
21 year old profusion (training time - over 8 years). Biceps were close to or over 17 inches when flexed. Although the absolute size remained similar to 2 years back, there was a considerable difference in the definition and segregation of biceps which continued to improve with time.
There are so many exercises we can choose from, but if you are a beginner, do the standard bicep curl on both days. I’d advice to choose and alternate between alternate dumbbell curls, preacher curls, narrow grip barbell curls and reverse curls to fill in the rest of the gaps. The rep range necessary can change with time, but as a general rule, stick between 6 and 12, and 3 sets done properly is more than necessary.
For Triceps, the overhead dumbbell extension helped me out in my beginning years. Tricep pushdown and Cross arm skull crushers would be enough at this stage as the additional two. Stick to the same rep range recommended for biceps.
Forearms are, a bit different, I think 4 sets done as a single exercise properly twice a week, accumulated throughout the years would do the job. Keep the rep range high, sometimes as high as 20 would suit you. Wrist curls using a single bar with weight plates loaded to the center, or wrist curls using dumbells to the sides, or behind your back is all suitable. Keep the rest time low, somewhere in the minute mark would do the job.
Remember, you have to progressively increase the weights in your initial years, because an increase in strength partially correlates with an increase in muscle mass as well. With time you will understand that it is not easy to increase the size of your arm, the increase in absolute muscle mass would decrease with time, but every year you train, qualitative aesthetic traits will develop in your arms, such as vascularity, muscle separation etc. The measuring tape tells only a part of the story.
And that’s not it, you think it’s the training that builds your body ? You need proper sleep and nutrition, if you are obsessed about these 3 elements as I was, you can end up with over 18” biceps, but that won’t happen overnight, in fact it took me close to 8 years to do that. But not everyone wants to go that far. This article is just a small summary of what's necessary to get there. There is so much more to this, which I will pass down bit by bit as I continue to write these blogs. My coach used to tell me, Pasindu, I will not give you everything at once, but I'll tell you things bit by bit !
I hope you came across this article and found it useful, its kept simple, to summarize something which would be too much for a beginner to comprehend.
And as I always say, only a very few know the potential of natural bodybuilding, the minimum 5 year mark once completed will reveal the extent to which you can change your body. 15 years down the line with over a decade of training, plenty of life lessons and an injury that took my physique away, I’m starting to realise the absolute breadth of this subject.
21 year old profusion (feb 2018) before starting a career in finance which kept his intensity away for the next 4 years, only to return to bodybuilding as a full time trainer with an injury from a non training related event that kept him away from proper workouts (for another 3 years and counting) till the date this post is published. This is sadly the peak that was developed that could have been pushed to unimaginable feats if it was continued for the next few years. In summary it took over 9 years of hard consistent training to get here, and it's been 7 years since this image was taken.
Your coach
Pasindu Liyanage
Profusion Fitness
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