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Amazing Arms

If you ask most men what they’d like to work on in the gym, their upper arms (biceps and triceps) would come pretty high on the list. Here are a few exercises that will help you to develop amazing arms.

1. Let’s start with a simple one. Stand up straight and stretch both arms out at 90 degrees to your body (palms down). Now start making small circles. Do as many as you can and then reverse direction. Arm circles will work your upper arm and shoulders surprisingly hard. If you want to up-the-ante a little, try holding a weight of some kind (a can of beans will do) in each hand.

Here’s a demonstration:


2. Find a medicine ball that you can manage, lie on your back (knees bent) and position the ball on your chest. Then throw the ball into the air by extending your arms - catch it again on the way down. This will test your triceps pretty quickly.

Here’s how:


3. We all know that arm curls work the biceps but if you want to eliminate back movement (and therefore make them more difficult) try using an exercise ball - upper back on the ball and feet on the ground - as support. This adds a whole new dimension to the movement.

Here’s an example:


4. Staying with the exercise ball theme, try doing a preacher curl using the ball to balance your elbows on. You’ll be surprised how much more intense the movement becomes.

Here it is:


5. There aren’t too many tougher tests for the biceps than pull-ups or for the triceps than dips. If you can support your body weight unaided during a pull-up that’s great; if not, you can either use the assisted chin/dip machine in the gym or have someone give you a little extra support when you need it.

6. One upper arm exercise that often gets overlooked is the single-arm tricep press.

Here’s an example:
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You’ll find that you will fatigue the triceps pretty quickly with this one.

7. As a variation to regular arm curls you might like to try hammer curls. Rather than holding the dumbbells with you palms upwards try holding them with your palms facing each other. This hits the bicep from different angle.

Take a look: