Chiseled Chest Workout | Classic Back Workout | Strong-Arm Tactics Workout
Some people think building big arms is all about doing a lot of biceps curls. That's half right. The triceps represent two-thirds of your upper-arm mass, so that's where a lot of your arm growth can come from. World-class bodybuilders know that the biceps and triceps must be developed with equal focus to develop balanced, completed arms.
In this program, Sadik Hadzovic will work your biceps and your triceps hard to put you on the path to some serious guns. Since arms are the smallest muscle group in the body, they don't need a lot of stimulation. Do this workout once a week, and you should be in good shape.
Hadzovic's Technique Keys
Triceps Push-down: Hadzovic likes doing these with the rope attachment. Lots of lifters let their shoulders roll forward when they do this exercise. Don't be like them! Your starting position should be with your shoulder blades back and down. Then, be sure to get a good flex in at the bottom of the movement. Like Hadzovic says, everybody talks about wanting to get that horseshoe. Get there by visualizing that muscle as you contract. Feel it!
Cable Rope Overhead Triceps Extension: Pay attention to the contraction when your arms are fully extended on the overhead move, too. Visualize that horseshoe turning into iron!
Alternating Biceps Curl: The most important thing Hadzovic wants you to remember with this exercise is to supinate your wrists at the top of the movement so that the weight is headed straight for your biceps. This is going to drive all that blood into the biceps peak.
Seated Triceps Press: Don't go super heavy on this exercise because you're still not completely warmed up. First, try to contract and squeeze the triceps at the top of the movement. Then, when you lower the weight, don't move too quickly. Dropping the weight too fast will put a lot of stress on your elbows. What you want to do is bring it down slowly and under control. Like Hadzovic says, you control the weight, don't let it control you.
Barbell Curl: It's okay to use a little bit of momentum on this exercise, so long as you focus on the negative movement. Take the weight down nice and slow because this is the part of the range of motion that stimulates muscle growth.
Reverse-Grip Triceps Push-down: Hadzovic likes doing these with a rope or a bar attachment. When you've been training for a long time like he has, you need to find new angles to attackyour muscles to stimulate new growth. Muscles become stubborn after a while so you need to hit them in different ways. Start this exercise like you did the rope push-downs, with your shoulder blades back and down. Try to move through the exercise by focusing all your attention on your triceps, without any front-delt activation.
Spider Curl: Also known as preacher curls, these spiders are great to do with the EZ-bar because it makes the movement easy on your wrist joints.
Smith Machine Close-Grip Bench Press: Hadzovic hears some lifters say that using the Smith machine is cheating. "But you know what," he says, "it's the perfect way to ensure that you don't get injured. The Smith machine is your friend, so use it!"
Learn More!
We've got a lot of arm workouts on Bodybuilding.com. Check them out! And take a listen to our recent podcast with Hadzovic about "training and napping like a champ"!