Wladimir Klitschko knocking out Calvin Brock.
Arms are an important body part to focus on when you’re building a body that women find attractive. I’ve heard that forearms are like cleavage on men, in that women will take a look at a guy’s forearms like a guy takes a look at a woman’s cleavage – any truth to this ladies? There is, however, a reason why they’re third in the series and not first.
A woman may look for your arms, but she’s not even going to notice you unless you have a good frame – a topic which we have already covered in the first three articles in the series.
A woman wants to feel protected and safe in a man’s arms. Sculpted, muscular, and athletic arms are important to have in an attractive physique. However, you don’t want to have massive arms that are purely bulk, with no definition. You also don’t want to be supremely focused on your arms in your training either, letting the rest of your body take a back seat – a mistake I’ve seen far too often, especially with novice lifters.
Training to Build Athletic, Lean and Muscular Arms, that Serve a Purpose
- Your biceps, triceps, and forearms are all relatively smaller muscles compared to the other muscles in your body. This means they’re going to recover a lot faster than say your back, or your legs might. What this means is you can place more stress on these muscles, without worrying about burning them out (stress, primarily in the form of reps, not weight).
- When you’re first starting out focus on compound exercises when working arms. Exercises like close grip bench press and dips for triceps, and chin-ups and reverse grip bent over rows for biceps. Your forearms will be worked in any pulling exercise, but feel free to add in a farmer’s walk-type exercise if needed. Also for your forearm development, never use straps. If you can’t lift the weight with your own two hands, then don’t lift it.
- When beginning, focus on strength and hypertrophy, using sets with reps up to 10 reps.
- As you progress, add in higher rep counts, even burnout sets of 30 reps at the end of a set, or drop sets.
Weekly Split – Focusing on Arms
If you really need to build bigger arms, try this weekly workout split for three weeks. You’ll hit arms individually twice, but will also hit each muscle in the arms at least one other time during the week. For example, your triceps will be isolated 1 day, but they’re also worked when doing any pushing – such as certain chest or shoulders exercises. The same can be said for your biceps and any pulling exercise.
Start the week out with a legs day – the most important group of muscles when trying to build lean mass, improve your athleticism or burn fat – so you’ll also be hitting your legs twice in the week as well.
Day 1
Quads + Calves + Abs
Day 2
Back + Triceps
Day 3
Hips + Shoulders
Day 4
Chest + Biceps
Exercises
I’m not going to go too much into exercises, I’ll let you guys do that. I think the real magic happens in varying you rep and set counts when training your arms, not necessarily the exercises you choose.
I said it earlier, but focus on compound exercises when building lean mass, then isolation exercises after you’ve built a solid base.
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What are your 2 favorite exercises for your biceps, triceps, and forearms?
