Six Week To Sick Arms? Top Answer Update

What Diet Should You Follow To Lose Arm Fat?

1. Keep counting

2. No sugar

3. Never skip breakfast

4. Add protein

Exercises to lose arm fat

1. Weightlifting

All you need for this exercise is a pair of standard weights. If you don’t have dumbbells, you can use a bottle of water as a substitute. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the weight with both hands and raise it over your head. Pay close attention to the shape. Your arms should be straight. Slowly lower the weight behind your back. After a few seconds, raise the weight overhead again.

2. Tricep dips

Find a suitable chair or bench for this exercise. The height of the chair/bench plays a big role. It must be at least 2 feet higher than the ground. Sit on the edge of the chair/bench and place your arms behind you or on the edge of the seat. Make sure the distance between your arms is shoulder width. Sit on the edge of the seat with your back straight and stretch your legs out in front of you. Bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle and slowly lower your lower body from the seat toward the floor. Hold this pose for a few seconds and remember to regulate your breathing. Take a few deep breaths. It will help you maintain the pose without straining. Straighten your arms again and push your body back up (don’t sit in the chair yet). Perform 3 sets of 20 repetitions daily for effective arm fat reduction results.

3. Bicep curls

You will need a pair of weights for this exercise. Stand firmly on the floor with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a weight in each hand. As you grasp the weights, make sure your palms are facing you and your fingers are wrapped around the weight. Lift both weights by bending your elbows and bringing your arms to your shoulders. Keep your elbows closer to your sides to maintain proper form. After holding for a few seconds, bring the weights down by lowering your arms. Depending on your comfort, do about 2 to 4 sets of 15 or 20 repetitions each.

4. Push-ups

This exercise is great for anyone looking to get rid of flabby arms. Spread a yoga mat on the floor and lie on your stomach. Place your hands on the floor with palms facing down. Keep your hands firmly on the ground and lift your body up. Slowly lower your body back down until your chest almost touches the floor. Because this exercise requires immense upper-body strength, start with push-ups on your knees first, then move on to regular push-ups when you’re comfortable. Put your knees on the floor and slowly raise your torso. Pause for a second, then lower back down until your chest is close to the floor (parallel to it). In this exercise, breathe in and out on the way down as you lift your body. Do 3 reps for 10 sets daily for best results.

5. Side plank with dumbbell raises

It’s well known that planks are a great way to work your core. A side plank does the same thing, but adding a pair of dumbbells can give you two benefits. You not only train your core but also your arms and can effectively say goodbye to arm fat. For this exercise you will need a yoga mat and a dumbbell of any weight that you are comfortable with. (Remember, a very heavy weight will only make you strain yourself, so choose wisely). Rest on your elbow in the side plank position. To keep the position correct, pay attention to your form or you could injure yourself. For this exercise, your elbow should be under your shoulder and your feet should be on top of each other. Grip the dumbbell in your other hand. Slowly lift your hips off the mat, creating a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Extend the arm holding the dumbbell over your shoulder. Next, lower your arm back down and place it in front of your body. Watch your breathing to avoid overexerting yourself with this exercise. Inhale as you raise your arm over your shoulder and exhale as you bring it back down. Repeat these moves at least 10 times and then switch sides and follow the steps again.

6. Scissors

This exercise is easy to perform and does not require weights. All you need is a yoga mat and enough space to move your hands. Spread the mat out and stand with your legs apart. Extend your arms to your sides and keep them straight. This is your starting position. Now bring your arms to the front of your body and cross them so that they overlap. (Think of your hands like the blades of a pair of scissors as you cross them). Return to the starting position. Repeat this movement and continue for about 20 minutes. Do this exercise every day for best results.

FAQs on arm fat

Q. How to lose arm fat without gaining muscle?

1. What causes arm fat? 2. What diet should you follow to lose arm fat? 3. Arm Fat Loss Exercises 4. Arm Fat FAQs Ah, arm fat. You know what it is. And let’s be honest. We all know that we shouldn’t make a big deal out of such things (after all, all body types are beautiful). But there’s still a moment of hesitation we all face when it comes to donning a cute spaghetti top or sleeveless dress. If there’s a word to describe arm fat, it’d have to be stubborn. And no matter how much you control your diet or cut down on desserts, arm fat still seems to linger. Irritating, isn’t it? But before you find a way to reduce sagging arm muscles, it’s important to understand what causes arm fat to accumulate. If you think you are the only one facing this problem, know that you are not alone. Arm fat is just one of the things caused by the onset of aging. As you get older, your body fat decreases, and if you don’t follow a physically active lifestyle, the excess fat can accumulate in your arms. Although there is no definite conclusion yet, some studies that have been conducted have found that low testosterone levels can trigger the storage of excess fat in the upper arm region. As women get older, testosterone levels in their bodies drop, making it harder for them to lose saggy arms. So that begs the million dollar question. How do you get rid of flabby arms? Is There a Safe Way to Reduce Arm Fat? In short, yes. Let’s start with what you can eat to reduce sagging arms. The first thing to keep in mind is that you need to start monitoring the amount of calories you are consuming. Studies say it takes about 3,500 calories to burn a pound of fat. While the crowds may seem daunting, there’s an easy way to achieve this goal. Try cutting about 500 calories from your daily diet, and over a week you could burn 3,500 calories. Write down everything you eat and the calorie content of it in a notebook to make it easier to keep track of your consumption. That’s obvious, isn’t it? Everyone knows that things high in sugar (yes, sodas, cakes and pastries, we’re looking at you) are bad for your health. Sugar itself isn’t bad at all, but to lose flabby arms you have to live with excessive sugar levels. To reduce arm fat, make changes to your daily diet to reduce added sugar. For example, reduce the amount of sugar you add to your cup of coffee or tea instead of buying canned or bottled juices, make your own fresh fruit juice instead of sugary breakfast cereals, try porridge, and add some fresh fruit for a pinch Sweet. This is the worst thing you can do to yourself if you want to lose flabby arms! This can cause you to overeat throughout the day. Instead, eat a proper, healthy breakfast to start your day on the right note. If you’re trying to lose flabby arms, adding more protein to your diet would help. It will help you build more muscle and boost your metabolism will help you burn more calories. Another reason to include more protein in your diet is that it will help you feel fuller for longer, making it easier to avoid cravings between meals. Remember, the goal is to increase your protein intake, not limit your entire diet to protein. Eat more lean meats, beans, nuts, seeds, seafood, and leafy greens to lose flabby arms. If only reducing arm fat were as easy as controlling your diet. While proper nutrition is half of the whole process, you need to give equal attention to training as well. Here are some to follow to get the results you want. Keep your arms as close to your ears as possible during this exercise. Do 3 sets of 20 reps each. Rest for one minute between each set.

A. While using weights is one of the most effective ways to lose arm fat, it comes with concerns about whether your muscles would gain. While this is a common concern, building muscle doesn’t happen overnight and requires hours of intense training at a gym. However, if you’re still concerned, you can lose flabby arms by opting for exercises that don’t involve weights. Exercises like push-ups can help in this case because you’re using your own body weight to tone your arms. Tricep dips will also help you shed flabby arms without adding bulk. Yoga is another great alternative.

Q. How do I get rid of the broad shoulder and thick upper arm?

A. It’s difficult to aim for just your shoulders. An overall decrease in body weight will help your shoulders look less broad. Exercising at least 3 times a week to lose weight and it might also help boost your metabolism which in turn aids in weight loss. However, there are some exercises you can do. Front raises will help you. – With a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your arms at your sides. – Bend your elbows slightly, straighten your arms and raise them to chest level – Hold for a few seconds, then lower your arms again.

Q. How long does it take to lose arm fat?

A. There is no definite answer to this question as it varies from person to person, the intensity of your exercise program, the amount of fat you have and your metabolism. If you stick to the right diet and exercise well, you may be able to see a difference within a few months.

Q. How can I lose fat without weight training?

A. Incorporate more cardio into your exercise routine to burn more calories. Walking or jogging can help. Yoga or jump ropes can also help with fat loss. Exercising is another great way to tone your arms. Aside from being fun, tennis or squash are great games as they also mostly focus on your arms. Push-ups, arm rotations, and tricep dips are examples of non-weight exercises.

Q. How many calories do I need to lose arm fat?

A. Studies say it takes about 3500 calories to burn a pound of fat. Cut about 500 calories from your daily diet and you could burn 3500 calories in a week.

You can also read how to reduce facial fat and your double chin for a perfect jaw line.

Next story: Here’s a talk show featuring women working to make change happen

Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator Weight kg lbs

Height cm inch feet Show BMI area and category chart X Classification BMI (kg/m2) Main limits Additional limits Underweight < 18.50 < 18.50 Severe thinness < 16.00 < 16.00 Moderate thinness 16.00 - 16.99 16 .00 - 16.99 Slight thinness 17.00 . Obesity Class II 35.00 - 39.99 35.00 - 37.49 37.50 - 39.99 Obesity Class III > 40.00 > 40.00 Recommended Stories for You Stop obsessing over this BMI be

5 effective steps to RESET your metabolism

As you’ll soon learn, impressing your 15-inch arms depends on your height, body fat percentage, training experience, and measuring condition (whether you’re measuring them cold/pumped).

This detailed 15 inch arm guide not only shows you what a well developed 15 inch bicep looks like but also explains how you can achieve and surpass 15 and 15.5 inch arms as a natural lifter.

Watch your arms stack up:

Are 15 inch arms big?

Are 15 inch arms big and muscular? Or are they a normal, average height for people who lift weights?

A 15-inch flexed bicep is pretty impressive if you’re of normal height and relatively low in body fat. However, unless you’re very small, your 15 biceps probably won’t look huge.

You see, if both a short weightlifter and a tall weightlifter have 15 inch arms, the shorter weightlifter will always have more impressive looking biceps because they have shorter bellies and better bicep development relative to their genetic potential.

15 inch arms will always look bigger on a short lift than on a tall lift.

At the 15-inch mark, the little lifters (assuming they’re natural) may be approaching their genetic limitations, which is why their arms usually look fuller despite being the same size as the taller man’s biceps.

However, if you’re over 6 feet tall and have 15 inches of flexed arms, then you probably still have a lot of upper arm mass to gain.

If you’re high in body fat and can’t see much arm definition, then your biceps will look less impressive than someone with low body fat and stunning vascularity.

Are 15.5 inch arms impressive?

Are 15.5 inch arms big and impressive for a natural lifter?

Many gym-goers assume that going from 15-inch to 15.5-inch biceps (39 cm biceps) is a piece of cake. However, it’s actually quite a challenge for a natural lifter to add an extra half inch of lean bicep mass when your arms are already pretty well developed.

With that in mind, you can definitely consider yourself above average if you have a skinny 15 1 2 inch biceps, especially if you’re a slightly normal height (i.e. not well over 6 feet tall).

If you measure your arms naturally in an inflated state, your true measurement will be naturally inflated.

All of these instructions assume you’re measuring your biceps flexed and prior to any type of arm workout. And remember, you’ll need to get 15.25″ arms before you hit the 15.5″ mark, so it’s important to set small goals so you can track your progress.

15 inch arm case studies

These 15 inch bicep case studies will not only show you what real 15 inch arms look like at different heights, weights, body fat percentages and stature, but also show you what kind of work it takes to get 15 inches naturally – to get arms.

Case Study 1: Strength Over the Benches (SOB)

Jason Yamamoto runs the Strength Over Benches (SOB) YouTube channel. He made a video a while back showing what 15 inch arms look like.

Jason is about 5’10” tall and says he has a small build, which makes his arm size all the more impressive. When he shot the video, he had been training for about 2.5 years, and you could see that he had a solid foundation of mass.

Some people in the comments didn’t believe he actually had 15 in his arms. But having observed numerous lifters with the same bicep size, I can vouch for its authenticity; He definitely flexed a 15 inch bicep in his video.

Of course, he might have bigger arms these days if he’s still lifting weights. But the point is that his video is really helpful because it shows exactly what a 15 inch bicep looks like on a natural lifter without top muscle building genetics.

Case Study 2: Joe Fazer

Joe Fazer is approximately 6’3″ or 6’4″ tall and has 15″ non-pump arms at the time of writing.

As you can see in the video, his arms look lean and muscular, but they don’t look huge. Of course, given his size, he still has a lot of mass to gain, so it’s likely that his arms will grow significantly larger as he keeps lifting heavy.

How Did Joe Add 5 Inches to His Arms?

He ditched his arm day and did three mini arm sessions after his full body workout. This allowed him to take advantage of more frequent spikes in protein synthesis and avoid any junk volume.

However, what really made the difference for him was his dedication to progressively overloading his compound lifts. Although the isolation exercises certainly helped, Joe says that getting stronger on the bench press, pull-ups, and rows really massaged his arms.

That makes perfect sense. After all, someone really strong at their compound pulls and pushes is unlikely to have handguns.

Case Study 3: Misfit Monk

The man who runs the Misfit Monk YouTube channel has flexed and pumped 15-inch arms.

The first thing you’ll notice is that his arms have excellent definition and vascularity. Many lifters can train for years – decades even – and still don’t have the enviable upper arm aesthetics that this guy has.

When flexed, his arms look even larger than they actually are due to his leanness and muscle attachments.

So how did this guy get 15 inch biceps?

He focused on heavy compound movements and then did some isolation exercises.

This is an excellent arm-building approach to training. Far too many lifters are hooked on direct arm training and therefore never add weight to any of their lifts. This lack of progressive overload, in turn, leads to stagnant arm development, so make sure you’re prioritizing your compound movements and heavy arm lifts.

How to flex a 15 inch bicep as a natural lifter

Make sure you implement these training and nutrition tips if you want to reach a 15 inch arm circumference as a natural lifter.

Direct arm workout

While it’s technically possible to get a 15 biceps without working your arms directly, it’s definitely not the most efficient way to go about it.

You’re much better off doing a combination of compound exercises and isolation exercises if you want to get 15-inch biceps as quickly as possible.

Isolating your arms ensures that your biceps and triceps are the limiting factors in one or more exercises, which in turn ensures that you recruit a lot of upper arm muscle fibers.

In practice, you could train your arms 2-3 times a week after your heavy compound lifts, which is ideal if you’re following a full-body routine.

Alternatively, if you want to specialize more, you can have a dedicated arm day, followed by an extra session for your biceps after your back workout, and an extra session for your triceps after your chest or shoulder workout.

Composite elevators

As you gain strength on your compound pulls and presses, chances are your arms will also increase in size. This is mainly due to the fact that your triceps, which make up around two-thirds of your upper arm mass, are heavily used in any type of press.

The triceps is also a very fast-twitch muscle, which means it grows remarkably well through heavy pressing and explosive lifting, which is exactly what you get with bench presses and overhead presses. [1]

Of course, it’s important not to overlook the biceps either, because when your biceps are nice and pointed, they can really move the tape measure and get your arms down to that middle 15-inch mark.

Pull-ups and other underhand pulls are great for building biceps because they’re very conducive to progressive overload (especially if you have microplates).

While isolation exercises may make your muscles burn more, compound movements are often the best way to overload your biceps and triceps and make them grow.

bulking phases

While it’s certainly possible to build 15 and even 15.5 inch biceps without eating a calorie surplus, it’s also not the most efficient way to develop your arms.

As most people know, eating in a calorie surplus provokes weight gain and provides your body with extra energy that it can use to build new muscle tissue. [2]

What many lifters overlook, however, is the fact that training while in an energy surplus often helps you recover faster, lift heavier, and achieve more training volume.

Recovery, progressive overload, and training volume are critical factors in the muscle growth equation, and you can better optimize them by eating a calorie surplus.

15 inch biceps FAQ

If you want to know what a 15 inch bicep looks like and if it’s impressive for your height then be sure to read this FAQ section.

What do 15 inch arms look like? What do 15 inch arms look like on a natural lifter? The photo above shows you what a 15 inch bicep looks like on a natural weightlifter of fairly average height and build. As you can see, the lifter has decent bicep size, but not absolutely huge arms. In this particular case, the lifter has significantly better biceps than triceps, but it could be the other way around for you, depending on your genetics and training history. You can expect to achieve arms with this muscle strength in about 2 years with consistent and progressive training and an appropriate diet. Is 15 good in biceps if I’m 5’7? If you have 15″ arms or 15.5″ arms at 5ft 7″, that’s a very impressive bicep size. As previously mentioned, shorter people obviously have shorter limbs and muscle bellies than taller people, which means that for the same arm size, the shorter lifter will always have the more impressive-looking biceps because their arms are fuller. Although taller lifters have the genetics, larger ones overall To build arms (in terms of girth measurement),[3] shorter lifters tend to have thicker-looking arms, even if their actual measurements are lower. Are 15 inch arms good at 5’10? Are 15″ arms any good if you’re 5’10”? Yes, if you’re 5’10” and have a relatively low body fat percentage, then adding a pair of lean 15″ biceps is an impressive feat to have. While 15″ arms probably don’t look huge at 5’10”. , you can definitely look muscular (and noticeably so) if you also have good arm definition. Of course, if you’re over 20% body fat, then 15 in arms at 5’10” probably won’t look impressive because you’re winning. It’s not possible to see a large separation between biceps and triceps when you flex. How can you go from 15 to 15.5″ biceps? If you are very tall then going from 15 to 15.5″ arms is actually pretty easy as bigger lifters are able to get a bigger bicep size as they have more bone mass and longer muscle bellies. However, for the average lifter, it takes a lot more patience and consistency to get 15.5″ biceps. If you want to get 15.5 in your arms naturally, you need to do your compound exercises and isolation exercises add weight while ideally consuming a small to moderate calorie surplus. By doing this, it’s possible to gain half an inch of arm mass in 6-12 months. Avoid S Avoid pumping too much (and by no means use your pumped measurement as your actual arm size) as this will temporarily inflate your arm measurement while you do little to add actual muscle mass to your biceps and triceps.

Conclusion: Are 15 inch biceps good or bad?

Whether a 15 inch bicep is good or bad, big or small or not depends on your point of view.

Most people don’t have slender 15-inch arms, for example. So if you have 15 biceps with a relatively low body fat percentage, you’ve clearly achieved something that most gym goers haven’t.

Of course, many people want to surpass the 15 inch mark and reach 15.5 in their biceps or even a much larger measurement. However, you should not allow anyone’s opinion to discredit your arm-winning achievements; If you flex your biceps and they look muscular, that’s because they’re muscular.

references

It’s important to remember that research shows there is no such thing as fat loss during exercise. An effective arm toning workout plan therefore consists not only of strength training but also of cardio. I encourage my clients to do arm workouts at least 3 times a week to build muscle and cardio at least 2 times a week to help burn fat and calories.

To help you get the most bang for your buck at the gym (or at home), I created this arm routine made up of complex exercises. These exercises combine two movements into one to help you efficiently complete your workout in minimum time with maximum results.

The training structure

The monthly workout is a combination of an arm routine consisting of movements that are two exercises in one and 15 minutes of high-intensity cardio.

2-in-1 Arm Routine: Do these exercises to tone, tone, and chisel your arms and shoulders. I recommend starting with 5 pound weights. In the middle of the month, check your body to see if it feels light. If so, you can lift weights up to 7.5 or 8 pounds. If you find yourself building muscle too quickly or bulking up instead of toning, I recommend staying lighter with your weights. However, if you feel the routine is too easy, then increase your weights.

15 Minute HIIT Cardio: Choose whatever cardio you feel like doing, two days a week. You can do the cardio on the same day as your arm workout or on a different day. For the 15 minutes of cardio, focus on 60 seconds slow and then 60 seconds fast. Whether you’re on the elliptical or stationary bike, running, or walking the block, measure yourself in 1-minute intervals.

Download your printable calendar here. Hang the calendar on your fridge for easy reference, or keep it in your purse or car.

Day 1: 2-in-1

Day 2: Cardio

Day 3: REST

Day 4: 2-in-1

Day 5: REST

Day 6: Cardio

Day 7: 2-in-1

Day 8: Cardio

Day 9: 2-in-1

Day 10: REST

Day 11: Cardio

Day 12: 2-in-1

Day 13: REST

Day 14: 2-in-1

* Check in weight

Day 15: Heart

Day 16: 2-in-1

Day 17: REST

Day 18: Heart

Day 19: REST

Day 20: 2-in-1

Day 21: Heart

Day 22: 2-in-1

Day 23: REST

Day 24: 2-in-1

Day 25: REST

Day 26: 2-in-1

Day 27: Heart

Day 28: REST

Day 29: 2-in-1

Day 30: heart

Day 31: REST

exercise bench

2-in-1 Arm Workout: Perform 3 rounds of each of these exercises for a total of 30 repetitions per exercise.

Bicep curl in the front press

Hug your elbows at your sides, pull your shoulders down and back, and roll the weights toward your shoulders into a bicep curl. Rotate the weights at the top of the bicep curl so your palms are facing out. Then extend your arms straight out in front of you, parallel to the floor, palms facing the floor. Bring the weights back to your chest, rotate the weights so your palms are facing you, and lower them to the starting position. Repeat this 10 times.

Hug a tree in the shoulder press

Hold the weights sideways at shoulder height; relax your shoulders down. Pretend to hug a tree by wrapping the weights around the tree so they come forward and meet in front of your chest. Upper arms, shoulders and chest muscles are trained. Come back to the rigid position, and then bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle (as if you’re creating a goalpost with your arms). Press the weights straight up over your head in a shoulder press. This also affects the chest and deltoids. Open your arms again and drop them to the starting position. Repeat this 10 times.

External bicep curl in V overhead press

For this bicep curl, we’ll work a slightly different part of the bicep by opening the arms outward at a 45-degree angle in the starting position. Pull your elbows to your sides and curl into the bicep curl. From here, press the weights diagonally up into a “V” position overhead. This works the biceps and shoulders. Repeat this 10 times.

Triceps push up

Start on your knees and come into a modified plank position with your hands directly under your shoulders. For a more advanced option, get into a full push-up position on your toes. Position your index fingers and thumbs so they touch and form a diamond shape. Lower your chest toward the floor; Your elbows are flared slightly to the side; Make sure your abs stay tight. Then, press your hands into the mat as you slowly push yourself back to the starting position. Repeat 10 reps to really work the triceps, chest, and core.

Bent over row into tricep extension

Start with your feet hip-width apart. Bend forward at your waist and pull in your abs. Reach your torso diagonally so that you are slightly bent. Let the weights hang down your sides, and then pull your elbows to your sides and pull the weights up toward your chest. Tighten your upper back and the area between your shoulder blades. Then, keeping your elbows pressed to your sides, extend your forearms back into a triceps extension and return to the starting position. Repeat this 10 times.

TRY THESE FITNESS ROUTINES

Want more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding simpler, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

However, the exact time it takes to build muscle mass depends on the amount of muscle you are looking to build along with a whole host of individual factors mentioned below.

How long does muscle building take? And how can you tell if you’re on your way to Gainseville?

How long does muscle building take?

The amount of muscle you can actually build and how quickly is determined by many factors including genetics, diet, exercise and hormones. And your initial body composition can also be an important factor to consider.

In reality, there is only so much food your body can process and turn into muscle mass. And gaining several pounds of muscle mass per week isn’t realistic for many of us. Similar to losing weight, gaining weight also takes time and consistency – and patience.

The type of weight you’re looking to increase is also important to consider – you’re probably looking to gain muscle, not fat or excess fluid. And the faster you gain weight, the more likely you are to see the scales accumulating from water retention and fat, not just muscle mass. Not to mention that rapid weight gain also causes stretch marks.

For most, gaining 1/2 pound per week represents a fairly rapid rate of healthy weight gain. And for some, especially women, gaining muscle can be even slower (1).

At this rate, the average person can gain about 25 pounds of muscle mass in a year. Of course, this is not necessarily feasible in the long term. A more realistic pace is about 5 pounds of solid mass every six months.

Many need to take breaks from their bulk and cycle through cutting phases as needed. Also, the rate at which you can gain weight steadily decreases as your muscles increase in size.

Weight gain vs muscle building

Traditional muscle building is achieved through weight gain. Yes, you can gain some muscle while losing fat, but the process is fairly slow and not as efficient as gaining muscle during a real bulking event. If you are serious about building muscle mass, weight gain is required.

The thing about weight gain and weight loss is that it’s always a combination of lean tissue and fat tissue – never just one. That means you’ll always gain some extra body fat when you’re trying to build muscle and lose some muscle mass when you’re trying to lose body fat.

Depending on a number of factors, every pound you gain results in between one-third and two-thirds being fat, with the rest being lean tissue (3).

This means that when you look at how fast you’re building muscle, your weight gain isn’t necessarily the best answer. You need to check your body composition at the beginning of your mass and after about 8-12 weeks to see where you end up. A body composition analysis like a DEXA scan will show you exactly how much muscle mass you’ve gained and where on your body.

How to build more muscle than fat

Your weight gain rate, genetics, exercise regimen, and the types of foods you choose are all important factors in promoting healthy weight gain in the form of more muscle over body fat. But the biggest determining factor might be your initial body composition.

Studies suggest that naturally lean people are more likely to gain muscle rather than fat. And similarly, those with a higher starting body fat percentage were more likely to gain more body fat than muscle (4,5,6,7,8,9).

But this has really only been proven in people who are naturally lean, not necessarily in people who have trimmed down to lower body fat percentages.

Ideal Body Fat % before mass gain Description Male Athlete 6-13% 14-20% Fitness 14-17% 21-24% Average 18-24% 25-31% Above Average >25% >32%

And good news for newbies: research suggests that beginners tend to build muscle more efficiently than those who are well trained (10). Of course, this rate begins to drop as you get fitter over time, and some of this mass gain may be skewed due to increased water retention in newer lifters (11).

How long should you be on a bulk?

Bulking diets, just like weight loss diets, put a slight strain on your body. And a long-term weight gain diet isn’t usually recommended for most people. The longer you bulk up, the more muscle you may gain, but you also add a decent amount of fat in the process.

Many will aim to do a slower bulk lasting anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks during the winter months when they don’t mind putting on a little body fat, or during a time when they need adequate energy for their workouts.

You can certainly longer or until you reach your desired weight. However, you may find more success going through a series of bulks and cuts to achieve your ideal physique.

How to cycle through bulking and cutting stages

If you’re concerned about fat gain, going through cutting and bulking phases is another way to address it and get the results you want.

The body composition effect works the same way in reverse. In other words, those with higher body fat tend to lose fat more easily and maintain their gains better than naturally lean individuals.

Not to mention that increasing your muscle size leads to a potential increase in your metabolism – which means you can eat more calories. This is important because your higher calorie burn will make fat loss a little easier.

If you are at a satisfactory baseline lean body composition, start bulking for 12 weeks, then rest for 4 to 8 weeks, followed by a 6 to 12 week cut – depending on how much fat you have gained.

It’s important to schedule maintenance or reset periods of at least four weeks in between, to allow your body to adjust to a new normal before jumping to the next stage. This will help your metabolism settle down and allow you to maintain as much of your muscle growth as possible.

Dieting causes a temporary metabolic adjustment in which your metabolism and rate of fat oxidation slow – meaning you tend to store more fat when calories are increased again (12,13). So if you’ve recently undergone body fat reduction to achieve a lower body fat percentage, you might want to consider maintaining your lower weight for a few weeks to allow your metabolism to stabilize before attempting to gain mass.

And vice versa. Jumping into a cut too early after a bulk can result in unintended profit losses.

How do you know if you’re building muscle?

The worst thing about transforming your body is not seeing immediate gains or knowing if your hard work is even paying off. Before you start panicking that you’re gaining too much fat or not seeing any gains at all, here are five ways you can check your progress and help you keep track of your goals.

1. You gain weight

Tracking changes in your body weight is one of the easiest ways to see if your hard work is paying off. The scale may not always increase every day, but it should increase slowly and steadily week after week.

You will naturally experience many weight fluctuations due to changes in water weight, hormones and dietary changes – especially in the early stages. But after three to four weeks, many of these fluctuations should even out and you should see the scale moving in the right direction.

Track your weight at the same time every day and plot it on a graph to see your long-term progress.

2. Your clothes fit differently

Getting jacked often means your clothes fit differently – usually in a good way. If you notice that your shirts are a bit tighter around your shoulders, chest, and biceps, or your pants are tight in the thighs and hips, these are usually good signs that you’re gaining weight in a healthy way.

3. Your building strength

Building muscle and increasing strength usually go hand in hand. If you’re properly fueling your body and doing strength training several days a week, you should start to see some improvement in your fitness, too.

Feeling strong is one thing, but the best way to track it is to log your workouts each week. Make note of how many reps and what weight you’re using, and try to increase the amount each week. Training programs that use progressive overloads are perfect for this.

4. Your muscles look “swollen”.

Feeling bloated or fat is normal and probably a good sign that you are growing your muscle fibers. Lifting weights increases fluid in your muscles and gives you that post-strength pump, especially when you’re just starting out. Over time, some of the water retention may go away, but you should still feel bulkier.

One of the best ways to measure your visual progress is with daily or weekly progress photos. Stand in front of a mirror and take a full body photo. Regularly review and evaluate your visual transformation. You will be both surprised and motivated by the results you see.

5. Your body composition has changed

Ultimately, the most efficient way to measure your muscle building progress is by assessing your body composition at the beginning and end of your bulking session. You can opt for an affordable and convenient home scale or schedule a DXA/DEXA scan that estimates your body fat percentage within a 1.6% margin of error.

You should find your lean body mass increasing, more so than your increased body fat. If you find yourself gaining a lot more fat than you planned, slow down and reconsider your diet.

4 tips to build muscle fast

Ultimately, how long it takes to build muscle and how long you can stick with your muscle growth goals depends on the individual.

Muscle protein synthesis requires a balanced diet, strength training, and recovery. While the details may vary depending on your fitness level, the basic principles of building muscle remain the same.

Here are your quick tips for building muscle the right way:

1. Eat enough calories

You cannot gain weight without consuming enough calories. So figure out how many calories you need each day and try to hit that goal consistently. Master this first, then you can start playing around with your bulking macros to encourage more muscle growth and minimize potential body fat.

This is the most important thing you need to do right to build muscle.

2. Exercise for muscle growth

Aside from eating enough food, you also need to train for muscle growth by learning hypertrophy training. Just hitting the weights here and there can help, but if you really want to see those muscles grow, you need a solid, strategic plan when you hit the gym.

The right training strategy can depend on personal and several individual factors. Some beginners can only see muscle growth from bodyweight exercises, while more advanced lifters need a more specific training plan that includes the right weight and number of reps.

Typically, hypertrophy training emphasizes time under tension – which means more reps at a fairly high rate.

Reducing cardio exercise may also help. While running and HIIT can help you lose fat, they can also burn extra calories needed to build muscle. If you want to get the most out of your time in the gym and gain as many pounds as possible, skip the cardio and stick to the weights.

Many experts will also recommend that you try progressive overload by structuring your training plan in advance, repeating the same workout each week, and aiming to increase the reps and/or weight amount for a total of four to six weeks. Then switch things back up.

Download your free 90 day muscle building workout plan.

3. Take rest days

Muscle growth occurs during periods of rest. That means taking breaks from weightlifting and getting plenty of sleep are critical to the muscle-building process.

This concept can be really difficult for some to master as it is human nature to believe that more and more lifting will lead to more growth. But the opposite is actually the case.

When you lift weights every day, or multiple times a day, you’re constantly tearing down your lean tissue, not giving it a chance to heal and strengthen – or grow! Being in extreme pain all the time is usually a good indicator that you are doing too much. Take rest days as you need them, at least 1 to 2 days a week.

Rest also includes a lot of sleep. If you’re not getting enough sleep or not getting a good night’s sleep, your gains will suffer. Prioritize rest and let those muscles recover!

4. Be patient

Last but not least: give yourself time to be successful. Results take time and consistency, so be patient and stick to your regimen.

Building massive amounts of muscle mass takes years of hard work and training. So you need to find a plan that’s sustainable over the long term and find a maintenance program that motivates you to keep your gains.

Back to top

Want to see wins even faster?

Put your clean mass on autopilot with macro-perfect, muscle-building meals delivered right to your door each week. The same science-backed nutrition that top bodybuilders and athletes rely on.

Toning your arms isn’t as difficult as you think. In fact, you don’t even have to rely on weights like dumbbells to get you in shape and build muscle. All you need is your body weight and some killer moves.

So get ready to embrace these 10 moves because they will transform your arms in just a month:

1. Arm circles

Warming up is a must and arm circles will help you loosen up your muscles. Simply raise your arms sideways and do at least 40 to 50 arm circles to ensure your muscles are fully charged.

2. Shadow Punching

Shadow Punching or Kickboxing Punching is one of the best ways to tone your arms without touching weights. Just remember to maintain your speed for maximum impact.

To ensure your arms are perfectly trained, you need to perform at least 200 punches with each arm. You can also change direction while hitting for maximum impact. For example, you can face the first 50 punches towards the roof, the next 50 you can do with your arms forward, the next 50 can be towards the ground. This is the best way to engage all of your arm muscles while shadow hitting.

3. Classic push-ups

When it comes to toning your upper body, you simply can’t go wrong with push-ups. A classic push-up focuses on your shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms in addition to your chest.

If you are a beginner, you can do knee push-ups. Do at least four sets of ten reps. Otherwise, do at least five sets of 25 repetitions a day to solve your arm problems once and for all.

4. Tricep dips

A chair or stairs is all you need to perform tricep dips. The triceps muscle is located on the back of your upper arm and requires maximum effort to tighten. But if you dip triceps, you can easily tame this muscle group.

A few things to keep in mind: keep your grip tight so you don’t slip, go as low as you can, and come all the way up, locking your elbows for maximum stretch. Want to take that step one step further? Then lift one leg up and engage your core. Do 15 to 20 repetitions and five sets.

5. Plank up and down

This move is an extension of push-ups. Here’s how you can do it: Do a push-up and when you go down, hold the pose for three to four seconds. When you get back up, hold your pose again. You can change the hold time according to your capacity. Subtract 10 to 15 of these and you’re good to go.

6. Sidewalk

When you do planks, there’s a lot of contraction in your upper arms. For this reason, much of arm training with free weights is plank based.

Come into a plank position. Now move your hands and legs to the right. Next, move them to the left and keep alternating. The release and flex movement works the inside of your upper arms, keeping love handles at bay. It is enough to do 10 plank walkways in one set, and you can do four such sets.

7. Skip

Jumping is a great upper body workout because your arms come into action as you twist the jump rope. So the more you skip, the tighter your arms will be.

8. Downward Dog

Although these yoga moves work many muscle groups, they also work beautifully on the arms. It’s an easy pose, but make sure your shoulders and arms are in a straight line and your arms are parallel to each other or you could get sore. Follow this video if you still have doubts.

9. Burpees with tight push-ups

Well, this mashup is a must-try if you’re serious about trying to tone your arms. If you land on the floor while doing a burpee, simply do a push-up and then come up straight. That’s it. Ten repetitions and five sets every other day is enough.

So stop craving the barbells, dumbbells, and bulky pulleys your gym boasts about. Better train your arms at home with these killer moves.

today

plank up

This exercise also serves as a warm-up and vitality training for arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen. Get into the push-up position, only on your forearms. Tighten your abdominal muscles and raise your hips so that there is a straight line from your heels to your head. Push off and straighten your left arm so that you are supporting yourself on your right forearm and left palm. Extend your right arm so your body is in a full push-up position. Lower back down to right forearm, then left to return to start. Do four reps with your left arm, then four with your right arm. If the full plank is too much, use a modified plank position [shown in Photo B] by bending your knees.

today

Kneeling Backward Fly

Tone your upper back, arms, and abs with this multi-muscle move. Kneel on all fours and hold a dumbbell in your right hand [see Photo A]. Tighten your abs and raise your right arm to shoulder height (elbow should be only slightly bent), palm down [shown in Photo B]. Lower to start. Do 15 reps; repeat on the opposite side.

today

Inverted grip bicep curl and press

This dual combination move sculpts your shoulders and arms while strengthening the often overlooked muscles in your forearms and wrists. Stand with your feet together and hold the dumbbells, palms in front of your thighs. Tighten your abs, and without moving your torso, roll the dumbbells toward your shoulders, palms facing forward (see Photo A). Then stretch your arms overhead [shown in Photo B]. Return to the starting position and do 15 repetitions.

today

Triceps kicker

This is the perfect sculptor for the back of the arms. Stand with dumbbells in hand, feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent. Bend forward from your hips until your chest is almost parallel to the floor and bend your arms so your elbows are behind your body and the dumbbells are next to your chest (see Photo A). Extend your arms behind you and rotate your palms toward the ceiling (see Photo B). Keeping your arms straight, raise your arms a few inches higher. Bend elbows and return to start. Do 15 repetitions.

today

chest hug

Create a more defined cleavage and flatter stomach with this multitasking exercise. Lie face up on the floor, knees bent and closed, feet flat on the floor. Your arms should be straight out from your shoulders with a dumbbell in each hand. Keep your arms just off the ground, palms facing up [see Photo A]. Draw your knees to your chest, bring your arms together so they hug the outside of your knees, and lift your head and shoulders off the floor (see Photo B) – yes, all at the same time. Back to the start. Do 15 repetitions.

A version of this article originally appeared on iVillage.

Increase in muscular endurance, strength and tone

Reduce Your Risk of Injury The two main muscles in your upper arm are the biceps in the front and the triceps in the back. They’re opposite-functioning muscle groups, so they require different types of strength-training exercises. In this article, we’ll walk you through eight of the best exercises for your biceps and triceps, based on research.

Bicep Exercises Your biceps brachii, better known as the biceps, is a double-headed muscle that runs from your shoulder to your elbow. It’s the key muscle in lifting and pulling with your arms. Not surprisingly, according to a 2014 study by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), some of the best exercises for your biceps involve lifting or slouching weights toward your shoulder. For these exercises, choose a weight that allows you to perform 12 to 15 reps of each exercise with proper form. To start, perform one set of each exercise two to three times a week, leaving at least a day off between your bicep workouts. You can build up to doing two to three sets of each exercise as you build your strength.

1. Focus Curl Share on Pinterest In the ACE study, researchers compared the effectiveness of eight different types of bicep exercises. The one that achieved the greatest muscle activation was the concentration curl. The study authors suggest that this is the most effective bicep exercise because it isolates the biceps more than any other exercise. To do a concentration curl: Sit at the end of a flat bench with your legs apart in a V-shape. Grab a dumbbell with one hand and lean forward slightly. Place your elbow against the inner thigh with your palm toward the center. Place your other hand or elbow on the other thigh for stability. While keeping your torso still, slowly roll the weight toward your shoulder. Rotate your wrist slightly as you lift, so you end the curl with your palm facing your shoulder. Pause for a moment, allow yourself to feel the strain in your biceps, and then slowly lower the weight. However, don’t leave it on the floor until your last rep. Repeat 12 to 15 times, then switch arms.

2. Braids Share on Pinterest Braids can be done in a variety of ways. You can use a low pulley machine attached to a cable with a handle. Or you can use a resistance band if you can securely tie one end of the band to something sturdy. For a standing one-arm cable curl: Stand a few feet away from the pull machine and grasp the cable handle with your palm facing forward and your elbow close to your side. Place the foot opposite your curl hand slightly in front of your other foot to improve balance. Slowly bend your arm and bring your palm towards your shoulder. Hold the curl up for a moment and feel the strain in your biceps. Slowly lower the handle to the starting position. Do 12 to 15 reps, then switch arms.

3. Barbell Curl Share on Pinterest For this classic bicep exercise, it’s important to keep your back straight and avoid any movement other than your arms. You want the biceps to do all the work, so you may need to start with a lighter weight first. To do a barbell curl: Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Hold the barbell with your arms at your sides, palms facing out. As you exhale, slowly roll the barbell toward your chest. Keep your chest still and use only your arms to lift the barbell. Hold the position for a second, then slowly lower the barbell to its starting position. Repeat 12 to 15 times.

4. Chinup Share on Pinterest The chinup requires a sturdy pullup bar that is high enough off the floor so your feet don’t touch the floor when you extend your arms. Perform pull-ups: Stand under the pull-up bar and stretch both arms up, palms facing you. Grasp the bar with both hands. You may have to jump or climb to reach the pole. Hold your body with a tight grip and thumbs around the bar. Crossing your legs for more stability can help. As you slowly exhale, pull your body up by bending your elbows. Keep your elbows in front of you as you focus on your biceps pulling you up where your chin meets the bar. Pause for a moment, then slowly lower yourself to the starting position before repeating the movement again.

Exercises for Triceps Your triceps brachii, better known as the triceps, is a group of three muscles located on the back of your upper arm. These muscles run between the shoulder and elbow. They help strengthen your arm and stabilize your shoulder. According to a 2012 study by ACE, the following exercises are most effective for getting stronger and tighter triceps.

5. Tricep Push-Ups Share on Pinterest Of all the tricep exercises included in the ACE study, the tricep push-ups were found to be the most effective for training your triceps. The best part is that you only need your body weight for this exercise. Do a triangle push-up: Get into the traditional push-up position with only your toes and hands touching the floor. Place your hands under your face with index finger and thumb touching and form a triangle between your hands. While keeping your torso and legs straight, slowly lower your body so your nose is close to your hands. Push your body back to its starting position, being careful not to arch or sag your back. Repeat 12 to 15 times. If this is too difficult at first, try doing triangle push-ups with your knees on the floor but your upper body rigid.

6. Tricep Kickback Share on Pinterest The ACE study found that tricep kickbacks ranked close behind tricep push-ups when it came to giving your triceps a complete workout. This exercise can also be performed by using only one arm at a time, then switching arms once you’ve completed a set with the first arm. To perform a tricep kickback: Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing in. Bend your knees slightly. Bend forward at your waist, keeping your back straight and core engaged until your torso is almost parallel to the floor. With your arms close to your sides, bend your elbows so the dumbbells come up next to your chest. Slowly straighten your forearms and keep your upper arms steady. Hold for a second, then bend your elbows until the dumbbells are near your chest in the starting position. Repeat 12 to 15 times. Using only one arm at a time, rest for a minute, then switch arms and repeat.

7. Dips Share on Pinterest This exercise can be done at home without a dip stand. You can place your hands on a flat bench or chair behind you, palms down. You can then do dips in front of the bench or chair with your hands behind you. To do dips: Stand between the bars of a dip bar. Grasp each bar by your side with your arms straight down. You may have to bend your knees to avoid touching the floor. Slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself until your upper arms are almost parallel to the floor. Extend your arms until you are back in your starting position. Repeat 12 to 15 times.

8. Overhead Extension Share on Pinterest An overhead extension is usually performed with a single dumbbell. Use a lighter weight to begin with and move to a heavier weight once you get used to the exercise. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly in front of the other for balance. You can also do this exercise while sitting on a bench. Place both hands around the dumbbell handle. Raise the dumbbells overhead so your arms are straight. Slowly bend your elbows to a 90 degree angle so the dumbbell ends behind your head. Slowly straighten your arms so the weight is back over your head.

A Word About Diet While the right exercises are important to building bigger and stronger arms, you can’t ignore your nutritional needs. To promote muscle growth, you also need to focus on proper nutrition. If you’re not giving your body the energy it needs, you can limit the results of your arm building workouts. Here’s one thing to keep in mind as you work toward bigger arms: Increase your protein intake. Protein promotes muscle growth and accelerates recovery between workouts. Some high protein foods that you may want to include in your diet are eggs, salmon, chicken breast, tuna, lean beef, turkey breast, Greek yogurt, beans, and chickpeas. The recommended daily protein intake for muscle building is between 1.4 and 1.8 grams per pound of body weight.

Protein promotes muscle growth and accelerates recovery between workouts. Some high protein foods that you may want to include in your diet are eggs, salmon, chicken breast, tuna, lean beef, turkey breast, Greek yogurt, beans, and chickpeas. The recommended daily protein intake for muscle building is between 1.4 and 1.8 grams per pound of body weight. Eat more complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates, like proteins, are essential for building muscle. These carbohydrates provide your body with energy and nourishment. Focus on whole-wheat bread and pasta, oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, potatoes, corn, and green peas.

Complex carbohydrates, like proteins, are essential for building muscle. These carbohydrates provide your body with energy and nourishment. Focus on whole-wheat bread and pasta, oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, potatoes, corn, and green peas. Avoid simple carbohydrates. While most simple carbohydrates are high in calories, they offer no nutritional benefits. They are often thought of as “empty” carbohydrates. Limit your consumption of sugary drinks, baked goods, candy, cookies, and other sugary sweets.

While most simple carbohydrates are high in calories, they offer no nutritional benefits. They are often thought of as “empty” carbohydrates. Limit your consumption of sugary drinks, baked goods, candy, cookies, and other sugary sweets. Focus on healthy fats. If you don’t get enough fat in your diet, your body could start burning protein instead of fat for its energy needs. Good sources of healthy fats include olive oil, salmon, peanut butter, and avocado.

If you don’t get enough fat in your diet, your body could start burning protein instead of fat for its energy needs. Good sources of healthy fats include olive oil, salmon, peanut butter, and avocado. Don’t skimp on calories. Make sure you’re getting enough calories from the foods you eat. If your calorie intake is too low, you probably won’t see results from your arm building workouts. Try to get your calorie needs from healthy sources of carbohydrate, protein, and fat, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.

So is a dedicated arm day a waste of time? Because arm muscles grow and develop like any other muscle in your body, arm days can be just as valuable and beneficial as any other training split. An arm day can be effectively incorporated into a program based on your goals, exercise style, exercise frequency, and preferences.

Now, if you’re like me, you might be wondering how this even became a question worth discussing. And it all starts with bad information and plain old myths.

Arm day myths

Other writers on the internet have argued that arm days are just a waste of time.

I want to share some of these myths and debunk them for you once and for all.

Myth 1: “Big muscles should take precedence over small muscles”

This argument suggests that a lifter who spends too much time focusing on small muscles and neglecting their “big muscles” will look disproportionate.

The biggest flaw in this argument is that it treats training as if these options are mutually exclusive (I can train either large or small muscles), which makes zero sense. If you spend 1 hour a week just working your arms, it won’t affect your ability to work your back, legs or chest.

Second, this myth doesn’t take into account a lifter’s goals. We all lift for a variety of reasons – some to be competitively fit, some to be competitively tall, some to be competitively symmetrical, some to be competitively strong. Others lift to strengthen a bad joint, improve posture, improve overall health, or lose weight.

This one-size-fits-all approach to arm training ignores all reasons why one might lift and simply cannot be applied to the entire population of people who participate in resistance training.

Myth 2: “Arm-only workouts don’t build strength”

This argument suggests that we must choose between gains in strength and gains in hypertrophy.

By training your arms in a single workout, those who perpetuate this myth suggest that you can’t get stronger. One online author even went so far as to say, “You don’t want to be the guy who looks like a 250-pound bodybuilder who can only squat 135.”

I have to take a deep breath before I address this stupidity…

*takes a deep breath*

Being muscular and being strong are not mutually exclusive, which is the first flaw in this myth.

Doing a specific arm workout once or twice a week will not affect your ability to also squat, bench press, deadlift, or overhead press for maximum strength.

The best powerlifting programs I’ve seen (and I’ve reviewed many of them here) only require a lifter to squat or deadlift 1-3x a week, giving you at least 4 days a week to lift arms to train or upper body.

Second, just because the bicep curl or skull crusher isn’t used to demonstrate maximum strength with a 1 rep max doesn’t mean they won’t get stronger every time you do a set of 10-12.

Because of this, you need to keep adding weight or adding more reps and increasing the intensity, even if you’re doing a lot of reps, as the muscle adapts, grows, and gets stronger.

Arm days can absolutely build strength, even if you wouldn’t show that strength with a 1 rep max.

Myth 3: “Just training your arms won’t give you bigger arms”

It took me a deep breath before I could dispel this last myth, but this one might require a defibrillator to get my heart working again after reading what some people have already written about this myth on the internet.

I’m just going to quote from a blog I found very high up in google search results on the subject so you know I’m not making this up:

“If you’re doing curls or tricep extensions, you’re not lifting a lot of weight. This means you are not over-stressing the muscle.”

This argument is entirely relative – “don’t lift much weight” – relative to what? The author of this other article goes ahead and gives us his answer.

He suggests that a lifter who can curl 95 pounds on a barbell would be able to perform underhand barbell rows at 185 pounds, so the lifter should choose to do barbell rows and skip barbell curls because heavier is better .

What’s missing from this argument is that the weight of a dumbbell or barbell alone doesn’t determine the stress it places on a muscle.

Sure, your biceps are engaged during an underhand barbell row, but your lats do most of the work—it’s a multi-joint lift.

A bicep curl, when done correctly, is an isolated exercise that focuses solely on the biceps, which do all the work. Of course, your biceps can’t lift as much weight as your lats and biceps combined. But they don’t need that much weight to create the stress.

Your arm muscles grow and adapt just like any other muscle in your body. If 5 pounds on a dumbbell puts enough stress on your biceps, they will grow. If you’ve been training for a while and now need 45-pound dumbbells to introduce stress, they’ll keep growing. If the weight of your barbell row puts enough stress on your biceps, they will grow, too.

Is an arm day necessary for the fair?

You may be wondering if arm day is necessary to build mass in your arms. I’ll put together some research here to help you find the answer:

First, a muscle grows when it is stressed. This study states that “maximal gains in muscle hypertrophy are achieved by exercise programs that produce significant metabolic stress while maintaining moderate levels of muscle tension.”

Further research suggests that increased training frequency has a greater impact on muscle hypertrophy than achieving the same volume once a week. In other words, how often you train a muscle can result in greater mass gains (e.g. training biceps twice a week is better than once a week).

Based on this training frequency research, it appears that a bro split that hits the arms to exhaustion in a single workout is not optimal.

However, if your arm day is in addition to other upper body exercises (e.g. bench press day, upper body day, push/pull days, etc.) then you would support the above research by adding additional training frequencies for your arm muscles in the same week.

To answer the question, no, an arm day is not necessary for the fair. However, it can be a useful approach when complementing other arm exercises in the same week. This is especially the case if your goal is to increase the size of your arms.

What’s absolutely crucial for arm mass is that you train it more than once a week, and do it with intensity. It doesn’t matter if this is done alone or as part of other muscle groups or lifts.

Benefits on arm day

There are four main benefits to dedicated arm days.

Increased training frequency

Focus on weaknesses

Focus on muscle isolation

Increased volume

Increased exercise frequency

When we compare strength athletes who train their muscle groups once a week to strength athletes who do the same volume but train their muscle groups twice a week, research shows superior results in the second group, who trained their muscles more frequently.

By adding a dedicated arm day to your week, you can add that very important second workout for your shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms.

If you train your upper body any other day of the week, chances are you’ll be engaging each of your arm muscles in one way or another while performing all sorts of pushing and rowing movements, giving them the first stimulus of the week.

The special arm day can become that second stimulus and help you get maximum gains from your training each week.

focus on weaknesses

A dedicated arms day can also allow a lifter to focus on weak areas in their arms that they don’t have the time or energy to target in other workouts.

I personally had to work harder and harder to grow my triceps while gaining weight on the bench press.

As a competitive powerlifter, I have specific bench press workouts that give my triceps a lot of work, both as they are used in the compound movements of the bench press and its variations, and in specific tricep exercises.

However, sometimes I found that by adding an extra arm day, I was able to rest and recover my triceps from the bench press and return to the gym to give them dedicated work to get stronger, to work with my pecs, shoulders and muscles to keep up the ability of the back to bench press.

For many lifters, a dedicated arm day can give you the opportunity to focus on the specific arm muscles that need more volume and attention than they’ve been getting.

Focus on muscle isolation

In both of the above examples, I have cited instances where your arms are activated in some way in compound movements.

Think bench press, overhead press, pull-ups, cable rows, bent-over rows, dips. Each of these requires the use of your arms, but all involve many other non-arm muscles.

In most cases, we categorize compound exercises by the largest muscle involved, which means we sometimes ignore the arm muscles involved.

A dedicated arm day gives lifters a chance to train their arms in isolation, along with the compound movements you normally do.

Increased volume

There is a common wisdom out there, when you hit a plateau, you should reduce your volume to start seeing profits again. However, some research has shown that some lifters benefit from increased volume.

For strength athletes like this, an extra arm day could be just the extra volume you need to allow your muscles to adapt and grow from the stress you’re putting them through.

This is where a dedicated arm day has a huge benefit, as it helps lifters get the extra volume they need while also giving them a chance to recover from the previous arm work they did that week.

Disadvantages on the day of the arm

Despite the benefits listed above, there are three downsides to a dedicated arm day:

Take off from other work

May conflict with your goals

Maybe not the most effective

Take away from other work

There’s a lot to train in the human body, and arms are just one piece of the cake.

If you can’t work out at least 3 days a week, you may find that other parts of your body are being neglected simply because you don’t have enough time at the gym to train everything.

May conflict with your goals

Not only are there other things you could do at the gym, but your goals will dictate what you should be doing when you work out.

When you’re pressed for time each week and focused on other, more important goals like stronger squats/bench presses/deadlifts, better leg symmetry, better back development, rehabilitation from an injury, you name it – an arm day could be a distraction from what it’s for you should devote your time and energy to.

The only reason you are in the gym is to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. So let them be your mission statement and drop arm day if it doesn’t get you closer to those goals.

Possibly not the most effective

Meta-analysis of several studies has shown that more than 8 sets per workout is best broken down into 2 or 3 workouts per week, supporting the research cited previously.

If you approach your arm day as your only day of the week to blast your arms with everything you’ve got, you may not be getting the most effective workout.

Take a step back and look at where else you can train arms in the week and try to break it down. You’ll spend less time in the gym overall and you’ll increase the frequency of your arm muscles, all of which is a plus for efficiency.

When should you and shouldn’t you have a full arm day?

When I stop and think about it, three groups of people who should implement arm day and three groups of people who should not implement arm day come to mind.

Do an arm day if:

You need extra volume in one or more of your arm muscles

If you’re already training your arms hard but not seeing enough improvement, you may be in the group of people who need more volume, so throw in that extra arm day for 8-12 weeks and track your results.

Your arms don’t get worked in other workouts

If you’re not getting enough arm work in your other workouts and still want to give your arms some love and attention, get an arm day! Carry on with the other things you do, but add arm day to round things out for yourself.

you enjoy it

Conclusion: You have to do what you really enjoy. None of us would go to the gym much if we hated it, and the most important factor of all is consistency. If you’re enjoying an engaged arm day, flip yourself up. Follow the guidelines I’ve presented here, keep your workouts intense, and use good form, and you’ll see great results.

Don’t do arm day if:

You have more important goals

Your time in the gym should be driven by your goals. What you want to achieve should shape what you train in the gym each day/week. If you’re focusing on goals other than big/strong biceps or shoulders, make sure you prioritize those goals first.

If an arm tag distracts you from those goals, swipe it and find a way to get back to it once you’ve conquered the priorities in front of you.

Your arms will otherwise be trained a lot

There’s no magic in training the arms alone. If you can get enough volume in your arms from your chest and back days or other upper body exercises, you don’t need to stress. Trained muscles are trained muscles, regardless of the split.

If you’re stimulating your biceps enough with pull-ups and rows, great. Don’t worry about adding more work when you’re already there (especially if your goal isn’t to grow your arms).

You don’t enjoy it

If you hate it, don’t do it! There are many, many ways to effectively work out your arms every week and if a full workout of arm exercises makes you hesitant to hit the gym and work out then I wouldn’t recommend it at all.

You gotta do what you enjoy, so follow what you enjoy!

Alternatives to an arm day?

If a dedicated arm day isn’t for you, how can you train your arms? Here are two of my favorite solutions:

train upper body

Arms are just a focused subset of your torso. There’s no reason to train them alone.

You can follow a push/pull split, which splits your upper body into movements that pull weight and push movements and weight. While many of these exercises primarily target your back or chest as the main muscle, they involve your arms and work the muscles within them.

You could follow a full upper body split, which doesn’t differentiate between the function of the muscles but instead aims to train your entire upper body in a single workout. Any upper body workout requires using your arms in the same way as the push/pull split.

As long as you train these muscle groups more than 2 times a week, you’ll be doing good arm work each week and you can see size and strength gains.

Related article: Can you train chest and biceps in the same day?

Train elevators, no muscles

Instead of thinking of your workout as pounding muscles, think of training an exercise itself, like squats, bench presses, or deadlifts.

This is how powerlifters structure their training in the first place, since their goal isn’t a specific size of their quads or pecs, but how well they can perform those exercises on race day.

By training these three exercises, all the muscles involved are taken into account.

A full bench press trains the lifter’s chest, triceps, shoulders, back, and abs.

By training the squat, the lifter works their quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, upper back, and abs.

By training deadlifts, the lifter trains their hamstrings, lower back, glutes, upper back, hamstrings, forearms, and abs.

In the example of a bench press workout, the powerlifter performs the standard bench press exercise but also continues with isolated exercises on the involved muscles, such as the triceps and pecs.

If you trained this way, your arms would get a lot of attention throughout the week while you focus on improving each exercise.

Even if you’re not interested in competing in powerlifting, you can still structure your training around compound movements to tick off all the muscle areas you need to train each week.

Other Arm Training Resources

About the author

Adam Gardner

Adam Gardner is a proud resident of Utah, where he lives with his wife and two children. He has competed in powerlifting in both the USPA and APF since 2016. For the past three years, he and his wife, Merrili, have coached beginning lifters to learn the basics of powerlifting and compete in their first powerlifting competitions.

However, despite all the attention being heaped on the guns, so many guys struggle to develop theirs. You just need to train more, don’t you? Unlikely. You can train your arms all you want, but if you keep making a few critical mistakes, you’ll never get great results.

Escape the black hole of ineffective arm training by learning the 8 reasons why your arms are still not growing and what exactly you can do about it.

Subscribe to YouTube for access to exclusive gear videos, celebrity interviews and more!

Consistency and variety are key, said Geoff Wintonyk, an instructor at Toronto-based Fit Factory Fitness, but sometimes trying to tone your arms (especially) gets frustrating.

“There’s a common misconception about arm training that if you want to have toned arms, you need to work your arms the most,” he told Global News. “As long as you’re consistent with your workout and alternating exercises, toned arms can be achieved in no time.”

READ MORE: Eight exercises personal trainers do every day

And if you focus too much on the arms, the muscles don’t get a chance to rest.

“Rest and muscle cooperation is essential for muscle development, toning, growth and strength,” he added. “You have to remember that it’s your body, so your muscles respond differently to certain exercises…many get too impatient when they don’t see immediate results.”

The story continues below the ad

Common mistakes

Women’s Health Magazine noted that form and posture are also important when it comes to arm training. “People often squat in planks, push-ups, and lat pulldowns instead of having a neutral spine,” personal trainer Lauren Williams told the website.

For arm workouts, make sure your shoulders and chest are open, and roll your shoulders back through sets as needed.

LISTEN: Listen to Curiouscast’s new podcast Nighttime. Subscribe to Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

“In other cases, people may not know what works best for them due to a lack of knowledge and lack the confidence to ask. However, a major reason is the inability to switch exercises. It’s not a bug and is easily fixed and avoided,” Wintonyk said.

lift weights

We usually see bodybuilders doing bicep curls or presses with heavy weights, and that doesn’t mean you’re getting too big.

“Weightlifting has a positive impact on overall health and strength. Any type of pressing exercise, for example chest press and shoulder press, actually activates your triceps as they help through the press,” he said.

READ MORE: Three things you need to do if you want to build muscle

“Conversely for the biceps. Any type of pulling exercise, like a seated row or a lat pulldown, engages your biceps and helps pull. So you can see that when you train large muscle groups, which is usually done a lot, your arms get trained as well.

The story continues below the ad

Make the most of your time

Your workout should include working all of your muscles, through classes, strength training, or going to the gym.

“The best way to tone your arms is to complement large muscle exercises with smaller exercises for your biceps and triceps. Focus on what works best for your body [and] your arms,” ​​he said. He added boxing can also help.

“Mixing boxing into your exercise routine will definitely help improve your ability to tone your arms. The speed and power associated with these punches comes from the legs, shoulders and arms.”

READ MORE: Eight no-equipment exercises you’re probably doing wrong

Focus on high reps and don’t forget about proper form.

“It’s all about that mind-muscle connection.”

[email protected]

advertisement

today

plank up

This exercise also serves as a warm-up and vitality training for arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen. Get into the push-up position, only on your forearms. Tighten your abdominal muscles and raise your hips so that there is a straight line from your heels to your head. Push off and straighten your left arm so that you are supporting yourself on your right forearm and left palm. Extend your right arm so your body is in a full push-up position. Lower back down to right forearm, then left to return to start. Do four reps with your left arm, then four with your right arm. If the full plank is too much, use a modified plank position [shown in Photo B] by bending your knees.

today

Kneeling Backward Fly

Tone your upper back, arms, and abs with this multi-muscle move. Kneel on all fours and hold a dumbbell in your right hand [see Photo A]. Tighten your abs and raise your right arm to shoulder height (elbow should be only slightly bent), palm down [shown in Photo B]. Lower to start. Do 15 reps; repeat on the opposite side.

today

Inverted grip bicep curl and press

This dual combination move sculpts your shoulders and arms while strengthening the often overlooked muscles in your forearms and wrists. Stand with your feet together and hold the dumbbells, palms in front of your thighs. Tighten your abs, and without moving your torso, roll the dumbbells toward your shoulders, palms facing forward (see Photo A). Then stretch your arms overhead [shown in Photo B]. Return to the starting position and do 15 repetitions.

today

Triceps kicker

This is the perfect sculptor for the back of the arms. Stand with dumbbells in hand, feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent. Bend forward from your hips until your chest is almost parallel to the floor and bend your arms so your elbows are behind your body and the dumbbells are next to your chest (see Photo A). Extend your arms behind you and rotate your palms toward the ceiling (see Photo B). Keeping your arms straight, raise your arms a few inches higher. Bend elbows and return to start. Do 15 repetitions.

today

chest hug

Create a more defined cleavage and flatter stomach with this multitasking exercise. Lie face up on the floor, knees bent and closed, feet flat on the floor. Your arms should be straight out from your shoulders with a dumbbell in each hand. Keep your arms just off the ground, palms facing up [see Photo A]. Draw your knees to your chest, bring your arms together so they hug the outside of your knees, and lift your head and shoulders off the floor (see Photo B) – yes, all at the same time. Back to the start. Do 15 repetitions.

A version of this article originally appeared on iVillage.

Toning your arms isn’t as difficult as you think. In fact, you don’t even have to rely on weights like dumbbells to get you in shape and build muscle. All you need is your body weight and some killer moves.

So get ready to embrace these 10 moves because they will transform your arms in just a month:

1. Arm circles

Warming up is a must and arm circles will help you loosen up your muscles. Simply raise your arms sideways and do at least 40 to 50 arm circles to ensure your muscles are fully charged.

2. Shadow Punching

Shadow Punching or Kickboxing Punching is one of the best ways to tone your arms without touching weights. Just remember to maintain your speed for maximum impact.

To ensure your arms are perfectly trained, you need to perform at least 200 punches with each arm. You can also change direction while hitting for maximum impact. For example, you can face the first 50 punches towards the roof, the next 50 you can do with your arms forward, the next 50 can be towards the ground. This is the best way to engage all of your arm muscles while shadow hitting.

3. Classic push-ups

When it comes to toning your upper body, you simply can’t go wrong with push-ups. A classic push-up focuses on your shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms in addition to your chest.

If you are a beginner, you can do knee push-ups. Do at least four sets of ten reps. Otherwise, do at least five sets of 25 repetitions a day to solve your arm problems once and for all.

4. Tricep dips

A chair or stairs is all you need to perform tricep dips. The triceps muscle is located on the back of your upper arm and requires maximum effort to tighten. But if you dip triceps, you can easily tame this muscle group.

A few things to keep in mind: keep your grip tight so you don’t slip, go as low as you can, and come all the way up, locking your elbows for maximum stretch. Want to take that step one step further? Then lift one leg up and engage your core. Do 15 to 20 repetitions and five sets.

5. Plank up and down

This move is an extension of push-ups. Here’s how you can do it: Do a push-up and when you go down, hold the pose for three to four seconds. When you get back up, hold your pose again. You can change the hold time according to your capacity. Subtract 10 to 15 of these and you’re good to go.

6. Sidewalk

When you do planks, there’s a lot of contraction in your upper arms. For this reason, much of arm training with free weights is plank based.

Come into a plank position. Now move your hands and legs to the right. Next, move them to the left and keep alternating. The release and flex movement works the inside of your upper arms, keeping love handles at bay. It is enough to do 10 plank walkways in one set, and you can do four such sets.

7. Skip

Jumping is a great upper body workout because your arms come into action as you twist the jump rope. So the more you skip, the tighter your arms will be.

8. Downward Dog

Although these yoga moves work many muscle groups, they also work beautifully on the arms. It’s an easy pose, but make sure your shoulders and arms are in a straight line and your arms are parallel to each other or you could get sore. Follow this video if you still have doubts.

9. Burpees with tight push-ups

Well, this mashup is a must-try if you’re serious about trying to tone your arms. If you land on the floor while doing a burpee, simply do a push-up and then come up straight. That’s it. Ten repetitions and five sets every other day is enough.

So stop craving the barbells, dumbbells, and bulky pulleys your gym boasts about. Better train your arms at home with these killer moves.