Grow Thicker Arms
To grow thicker arms or thicken the girth of your arms there really is only one effective way to do it. Using heavy weights is the fastest way to grow thicker arms. When training with heavy weights you take your body to a place where you force it to grow. However, you will only force your body to grow if you incorporate heavy weight training into your big arms routine properly and safely. The reason you just don’t see that many guys walking around with huge thick arms is because it takes not only a lot of hard work in the gym but adequate rest in between infrequent heavy weight arm blasting sessions and of course a high amount of good quality protein and enough carbohydrates.
In this article I am not going to go into the necessary dietary requirements to grow thicker arms nor will I talk about how much rest or sleep you need to get big arms. This article is going to focus solely on training to thicken the girth of your arms. Training with heavy weights takes concentration and a tremendous amount of physical stamina. Heavy weight training, especially for small body parts like the arms needs to be done with the absolute strictest of form otherwise you may end up with an injury. Sometimes injuries might be difficult to avoid but by training smart and using the proper form you will minimize the chance of injury and maximize the potential for big arm growth.
When looking to grow thicker arms you need to focus your efforts specifically on both the biceps and triceps muscles. Growing thick biceps requires you to concentrate on the hardcore mass building exercises like standing barbell curls, alternate dumbbell curls or preacher curls using heavy weights. You can incorporate other biceps exercises as well but using cables and machines are not ideal to grow thicker arms. Although fitness equipment technology has come a long way into the 21st century there really is no substitute for the old barbell and dumbbells for huge muscle growth. When it come down to building muscle it’s all about resistance and the more resistance your body has to fight against the bigger your muscles will grow.
When performing exercises like barbell or dumbbell curls with very heavy weights you need to keep the reps low and your back as straight as possible. I saw Brian Buchanan, the English champion bodybuilder and top ten in the Mr Olympia in the late 1980’s, in seminar quite a few years back and he had one of the biggest sets of arms I had ever seen. In seminar he said he grew his arms so enormously huge by doing super heavy barbell and dumbbell curls. Brian told everyone there that day that he would use heavy weights with his back straight for about 4-5 reps and then he would swing his body a little to force out a couple more reps before finishing his set. He said he would not incorporate his lower back by throwing the weight up from the first rep since if you needed to cheat from the very first rep you are using a weight that is obviously too heavy. However he did say it’s ok to cheat on the last 1-2 reps by swinging your body a little bit but not so much so that you will do yourself an injury. So what I’m saying is, use a heavy weight that you can do for at least 4 reps strictly then swing it a little if you need to for a couple more forced reps. If you have a training partner this is even better and then your training partner can help you with a couple of forced reps without the need to swing the bar up.
To grow thick biceps I would do 3 sets of one exercise like barbell curls followed by another 3 sets of dumbbell or preacher curls but not all three exercises. Do a total of 6 sets but stick to about 5-6 strict reps per set and another 2 forced reps with each of those sets. You only need 6 sets if you train with really heavy weights and keep the intensity high by having only short rest periods between each set.
Training the triceps to grow thicker arms requires more heavy weight and the use of exercises like lying tricep extensions, close grip bench press or weighted dips. Cable pushdowns will give you a great pump but are not the most effective exercise when it comes to growing really thick arms.
When performing the lying triceps extensions use the EZ curl bar and keep your elbows tucked in as much as possible to keep the tension on your triceps. The same thing goes for the close grip bench press, keep your elbows in by your sides. When performing the weighted dips you can either strap a dumbbell to your training belt with a chain or hold the dumbbell between your legs or feet. Once again only choose 2 exercises for 3 sets each exercise, so that’s a total of just 6 sets but keep the reps low around 5-6 per set with a couple of forced reps. If you can do more than 6 reps without any help you are using a weight that is too light and you need to go heavier. Remember it’s the really heavy weights that will force your arms to grow thick and dense.
If your intention is to grow thicker arms I would probably train triceps and biceps the way I just mentioned on separate days and only train your triceps and biceps this way once per week. Although it may seem like your triceps and biceps are fully recovered after 3-4 days of rest after training this way, they will not be if you hit them with 100% intensity. Deep in the fibers of your arm muscles they will not be fully recovered although they may feel recovered on the outside. It will take a full week to recover from a high intensity heavy weight arms session like this.
Don’t always perform the same exercises in the same order and don’t always use heavy weights. Mix up your exercises every workout and train using the heavy weights 2-3 out of every 4 triceps or biceps workouts and you will grow the type of thick and muscular arms you have only dreamed of if you are consistent, patient and dedicated. Growing thicker arms takes time but if you put in the time you will reap the reward so it’s all up to you. You can do it.
FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog
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