I was asked the question “how do I get bigger arms?” and this is what I said…..
G’day there Chris Eves here, Personal Trainer. Recently I had a member ask me about how she can get bigger arms – so I recorded a video in my gym (aka back shed) with a few tips with a cameo appearance from ‘Rocket’ the kelpie – enjoy!!
Important to Know:There are the THREE important factors to consider when muscle growth is a goal
- Nutrition
- Sleep/Recovery
- Workouts
In this video I talk more about a few workout techniques, and briefly explain why the other two are important.
Before you start – pick the exercises:
When working your muscles, it’s really important to ensure you balance your workout, i.e. use a combination of exercises that oppose each other, in a push v pull fashion. In bodybuilding this would typically be done over a couple of days – for example push exercises in one workout and pull in the next. You may have heard that gym-goers will do chest & tri’s one day, and back & bi’s another (but never skip leg day!!). This meets the push v pull balance.
In this workout I selected two compound exercises and two isolated exercises (explained more in the vid) – a push and a pull of each, ideally just for demonstration purposes. You can apply the push v pull principle using any exercises, but in this case, for the compound exercises I chose a vertical pull and a horizontal push. If you have more time/energy you could do 4 compound (vertical pull/push and horizontal pull/push, plus as many isolated exercises as your muscles will handle – but remember to start easy and ramp it up over a week or so when you’re starting out, and remember to get enough REST and the right NUTRITION between workouts.
The Techniques:
- Drop Sets: This is where you start with a weight where (after you warm up) you can do a max of around 10 reps – if you can do more, then you need to up the weight. Once you ‘rep-out’ (can’t do any more with good form) reduce the weight by a little, preferably with minimal rest, and go again for another 10 (or max) reps, and repeat this reducing the weight over 4 or 5 sets. This is why cable/plate machines are good as you can change the weight very easily by moving the pin up one plate. This can also be done by having a few sets of dumbbells at the ready, but with barbells it can become very cumbersome.
- Negatives: This is where you “accentuate the eccentric phase” of the exercise (count how many times I say that in the video…) You’ll see what that means in the video. Generally our muscles are stronger in the eccentric phase of the muscle contraction, and this also stimulates muscle growth better (and soreness too!!!)
- Time Under Load: The use of drop sets and negatives will achieve this, but basically, the more time you have your muscles working during a workout (i.e. the less rest) then the muscle growth will be stimulated. You can increase the ‘time under load’ by moving directly from your pull to your push exercises without any rest. Technically your push muscles will be ‘at rest’ while your ‘pull muscles’ are working – increasing the time your muscles are under load. The principle itself is that you can gain more from doing more reps to failure at a lower weight with less rest between sets, than by lifting a heavier weight to failure with more rest in between.
I trust you’ve found this info helpful and it makes sense. If it inspires any questions or comments I’d love to respond so please either comment on the video or private msg me on Facebook or via SMS and I’ll be more than happy to help – you may have the same question that others have – go on – be brave!!
