Arm Workouts
Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!
Full body workouts, push & pull splits, and leg workouts are where the majority of trainees should be spending their time. These workouts stimulate the greatest amount of musculature at once and have the greatest metabolic effect. Without a direct arm day though, arms will be insufficiently trained, and their reduced development over time will set back progress and negatively limited movement patterns as exercise weight increases. To ensure symmetrical strength, size, and aesthetic development of the forearms, biceps, and triceps, we include an arm day into the WFO workout routine in month four and beyond.
WFO Workout Routines
Part 4 - Arm Workouts ✅
Arms can be challenging to train for their own unique reasons. Muscles and joints of the arms are used in almost every exercise to varying degrees, and due to the mechanics of exercises like the bench press and squat, often joint pain flares up in the shoulder or elbow. This can limit direct arm training, worsening the imbalance.
It can also be challenging to be motivated to do direct arm training after heavy compounds which are highly stimulating and very tiring.
We’ll strategize around those concerns with a scheduled arm day which keeps everything healthy and balanced. An arm day isn’t an excuse to shun harder training to build some guns, it’s an opportunity to balance physique development while also being an opportunity for the legs and torso of the body to rest and recover in-between hard training sessions. How workouts are scheduled, and their relative frequency to each other, determines whether training a certain way or body part is an opportunity or is a setback.
And training schedule and frequency depends on your goals:
Want a large thick tricep horseshoe? Train triceps heavy 1x a week and light 1x a week.
Desiring bulging biceps capable of rope climbs? Train biceps 2-3x a week.
Entering into an arm wrestling competition with Popeye? Train forearms to a pump twice a week.
To properly train the arms and forearms with a dedicated arm day, we need to understand the physiology of the arms, the functions of the different muscles, and how you can best activate the biceps, triceps, and forearms.
Upper Arm - Biceps, Triceps, Brachialis, Brachioradialis
Biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles make up about 40% of the upper arm, and triceps the remaining 60%. Unless you are gifted with godly triceps already, it is important to prioritize the development of the triceps slightly over the biceps, as the triceps make up a bigger percentage of the upper arm. A good benchmark is to train triceps with 20% more volume than biceps.
Muscular anatomy of the arm
Triceps are a group of three muscles composed of distinct “heads”. These are the long head, medial head, and lateral head. The triceps are responsible for pushing away from the body (i.e. like in a push-up), and the unique activation of the three different tricep muscular heads depends on your anatomy and force angle you’re pushing away from your body.
The long head of the tricep is best activated in-between shoulder elevation of 0-45 and an elbow angle of 80-135. Lateral and medial heads are best activated at shoulder elevations of 90-180, and elbow angles of 60-110.
For reference (1), in the picture to the left my shoulder elevation is zero and my elbow angle is zero. Arm being directly overhead would be a shoulder elevation of 180 degrees, and forearm touching upper arm being would be a elbow angle of of 135 degrees.
Working all three heads is important for the development of symmetrical triceps that are strong at all force vectors. It is common to have an overdeveloped lateral head and underdeveloped long head. The reason why depends on daily posture habits such as shoulder rotation. Internal rotation (rotate palms in) inactivates the long head, while external rotation of the shoulder (rotate palms out) activates the long head.
The medial head of the triceps is very small and has similar shoulder and elbow activation angles as the lateral head. The medial head is activated well with tricep push-ups.
Biceps are composed of you guessed it, two distinct heads, those being the short and long heads. The short head is located on the inside of the arm closest to the body and the long head on the outside of the arm. The brachialis is located near the elbow underneath the biceps, and growing it will result in a stronger fuller bicep with a higher peak. The brachioradialis crosses the elbow joint and is an upper arm and forearm muscle.
Forearm - Wrists Flexors & Extensors, Wrist Pronators & Supinators
The forearm is composed of a variety of small wiry muscles. The wrist is a very mobile joint because our hands require extreme dexterity and endurance, and to train the forearms adequately you need to use a variety of movement patterns and rep ranges.
The forearms are made up of flexors, extensors, pronators, and supinators. When you bring your hand closer to the inside of your forearm, you active the wrist flexors. When you do the opposite movement, extending your hand out, you activate the wrist extensors. Pronation and supination is all about wrist rotation. Pronated hands means the back of your hands face upwards, and supinated means the palms of your hands are visible facing upwards. The wrist pronators and supinators as you would guess are the muscles which allow the wrist to rotate from palms down to palms up. Bar exercises can be taken with either a pronated or supinated grip, each stimulate the arms differently, from forearm muscle up through the shoulder joint, because grip determines whether your shoulder is internally or externally rotated. Training those twisting movement patterns themselves, and not just the static grip positions, makes for comprehensive forearm training.
Arm and Forearm Movements
Triceps Long Head
Close-grip Dip
Cable Push-Down
Reverse Close-Grip Flat Press
Tricep Kickbacks
Triceps Lateral Head
Overhead Triceps Extension
Incline Triceps Extension
Skull Crusher
Close-Grip Flat Press
JM Press
Triceps Medial Head
Close-Grip Push-Up
Incline Triceps Extension
Forearm Extensors
Reverse Curl
Reverse Wrist Curl
Radial Deviation
Forearm Rotators
Pronations
Supinations
Biceps Inner & Outer Head
Close-grip Chin-Up
Zotterman Curl
Preacher Curl
Close-grip Curl
Wide-grip Curl
Drag Curl
Hammer Curl
Brachialis
Preacher Curl
Concentration Curl
Brachioradialis
Hammer Curl
Reverse Curl
Zotterman Curl
Forearm Flexors
Wrist Curl
Wrist Roller
Grippers
Grip Exercises
Note - Various implements can be used for the above exercises, such as the barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, cables, machines, and more.
Arm workouts are the best way to build stronger and more impressive arms. Arms that are balanced with the rest of the upper body will keep exercise movement patterns healthy and stop any strength plateaus from starting.
Arm Workouts
Arm Workout (A)
3x20 Radial Deviations
3x20 Pronators
3x30 Reverse Wrist Curls
4x5-10 Chin-ups
4x12 Incline Triceps Extension
3x12 Preacher Curls
3x15 Triceps Kickbacks
Bicep Emphasis
Arm Workout (B)
3x20 Radial Deviations
3x20 Supinators
3x30 Wrist Curls
4x5-10 Close-Grip Dips
4x12 DB Curls
4x12 Triceps Pushdowns (supinated)
3x15 Reverse Curls
Tricep Emphasis
During these two workouts, we start by activating the forearms and then move up the arms. By starting with the forearms, we ensure that they aren’t forgotten or ignored at the end of the workout, and the blood flowing to the forearms warm up the upper arms. Doing forearm exercises first will improve mind muscle connection to the upper arms through the principle of irradiation. The grip will also be more taxed during regular biceps and triceps exercises, further stimulating the forearms throughout the entire workout.
Forearm exercises don’t take long; the first three exercises can be expected to take 15 minutes total. After the forearms are activated, a compound arm exercise is programmed to get blood flowing to the upper arm, build strength, and start the mind muscle connection. It takes time to build a strong mind muscle connection, anywhere from 4-7 sets. Once a muscle is fully activated, it is important to spend another 4-7 sets fully activated to ensure an optimal muscle stimulus is created.
Month 4 Workout Routine
For Month 4 of the WFO workout routine we shake up the exercise selections in order to stimulate new adaptations and to keep the routine from becoming too boring. Discipline matters, but if you’re not enjoying the routine, then you’re not likely to stick with it.
Week 1
Monday - Full Body
5x5 Incline Press
4x8 Front Squats
5x10 Barbell Rows
3x20 Cable Woodchops
Tuesday - Arms
3x20 Radial Deviations
3x20 Pronators
3x30 Reverse Wrist Curls
4x10 Chin-ups
4x12 Incline Triceps Extension
3x12 Preacher Curls
3x15 Triceps Kickbacks
Wednesday - Legs
5x10 Ab Wheel Rollouts
3x20 Seated Calf Raises
5x5 Squats
4x8 Hip Thrusts
5x10 Glute Ham Raise
Thursday - Pull
5x5 Barbell Rows
4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs
5x10 Seated Cable Rows
3x15 Facepulls
3x10 DB Curls
Friday - Push
3x20 Dumbbell Front Raises
5x10 Incline Press
3x10 Kettlebell Press
3x15 Lateral Raises
3x10 Overhead Tricep Extensions
Saturday & Sunday - Rest
Week 2
Monday - Full Body
5x5 Deadlifts
4x8 DB Press
5x10 Leg Press
3x30 Reverse Crunches
Tuesday - Arms
3x20 Radial Deviations
3x20 Supinators
3x30 Wrist Curls
4x10 Close-Grip Dips
4x12 Hammer Curls
4x12 Triceps Pushdowns (supinated)
3x15 Reverse Curls
Wednesday - Legs
5x10 Ab Wheel Rollouts
3x20 Standing Calf Raises
5x5 Squats
4x8 Front Squats
5x10 Cossack Squats
Thursday - Pull
5x5 Barbell Rows
4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs
5x10 Seated Cable Rows
3x15 Facepulls
3x10 DB Curls
Friday - Push
3x20 Rear Delt Flies
5x10 Arnold Press
3x10 Flat DB Press
3x15 Lateral Raises
3x20 Skullcrushers
Saturday & Sunday - Rest
The schedule for month 4 is week 1, week 2, week 1, week 2. Same as month 3, increase weights by 5% on weeks 2 and 4. At this point the weights are starting to enter into the moderate range, it’ll be harder to focus solely on form and the mind muscle connection. Some amount of attention will need to be given to simply executing the reps and getting through the set. This is good, we’re coming closer to a peak, a deload is approaching where attention will shift away from heavy compound movements and instead towards core strength, body movement, stretching, and calisthenics.
Part 5 incorporates the strength gains made from parts 1-4 into functional movement patterns, grace of movement, and aesthetics. Additionally, part 5 with its emphasis on core strength and calisthenics prepare the body for the next loading phase by strengthening the connective tissues, fortifying the joints, and building a rock-solid six pack. Core strength is often the limiting factor as it relates to compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, so focusing on core strength for a time will ultimately improve strength with the barbell.
If you really want to increase the size of your arms, then take the thirty day arm challenge while running a cistanche and cholesterol protocol. Cistanche and cholesterol combined will boost your natural testosterone and build muscle while the thirty day arm challenge will add 1/4-1/2” to your arms.
References:
Kholinne E, Zulkarnain RF, Sun YC, Lim S, Chun JM, Jeon IH. The different role of each head of the triceps brachii muscle in elbow extension. Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc. 2018;52(3):201-205.