The other day I got together with my boys to work on our arms, and I wanna share what we did with y’all so that you go and try it out yourself. We did a bunch of exercises for our biceps and our triceps and then finished it off with some pull-ups.
As you know, these exercises, when strung together, will be more effective and efficient at making you strong if you’re mindful of the amount of time you’re resting. You can’t be going in there, feeling some pain in a set, and then stopping for a few minutes because your muscles will be comfortable again.
Let it burn. Embrace the pain. Whenever you’re feeling pain, that’s when you’re getting money! That’s when your muscles are being forced to adapt and adjust to become the challenge. There’s really no other secret to strong muscle building other than that.
Listen, y’all, we’re all creatures of habit. With that in mind, you should strive to make it a habit to push yourself in the gym. You’ve heard me say this before: what we do in the gym transcends the gym. How you push yourself in the gym will actually trickle down to whatever you do in life.
How To Get Big Arms
To get started, we took a different kind of bar. I don’t know who thought about this shit, but man, it makes things way harder, which is good! Y’all know me—I’m always here telling you to pick the toughest route because it will make you stronger.
Technically the bar we used is meant to be used for different variations of the bench press. But, you can also use it for different exercises like the shoulder press and things along those lines. Today, we used it for curls.
This bar doesn’t give you a huge range of motion because it’s really wide. But, listen, this shit was fucking hard, you know what I mean? Anyhow, let’s get into the details:
Bicep Curls: 7 Ups
We did them a little bit differently. We did 7 reps from the bottom to midpoint. Then, 7 reps from the top to midpoints. And then, instead of doing it three times in a row, we just burned out—all the way to failure—with a full range of motion.
And I can sense some of you will start talking shit already because, in the video, we only did 2 sets. Just shut up. Listen, you shouldn’t go to the gym thinking Imma do 3 sets of 10 or something like that. If you feel like you got to the money in 2 sets, then you got to the money, and you move on.
I’m about efficiency in the gym. I don’t have time to work out about 3 hours a day—not anymore. So I gotta go in, warm-up, then get so something heavy, and then I knock out as many reps as I can with that heavyweight. If I feel like I put the proper amount of stress in my muscles, then I’m good, and I move onto what’s next.
Skull Crushers
We used the same kind of bar here. It was really hard. You know the bar is 65 pounds by itself, so after you add the weight, it feels really heavy.
Closed-Grip Press
These were interesting because we were engaging our stabalizers a lot, which are really important muscles. Look, I rather be stronger than I look, and stabalizers are one of the most important things for overall strength.
Preacher Curls
This exercise was hurting my wrist. I got off it quickly. This is how you get injured. It starts with some minor pain, you keep going, and before you know it, you’re sitting outside an office waiting for your physical therapy appointment.
If you’re feeling pain—and I’m not talking about fatigue kind of pain—then you should stop. If something hurts, it’s your body literally telling you that something isn’t working properly or that something has already happened. Listen to your body, squad!
Dumbbell Overhead Tricep Extension
This is a C.T. Fletcher-favorite, and it was another movement that required major core muscles and stabilizers.
Single-Arm Preacher Curl
Your Stabalizers and Core, And The Importance Of Squatting
People often ask me what I do for my abs, and often my answer is “nothing.” Typically abs mean crunches, situps, planks, and stuff like that. I did lots of that while I was growing up because of boxing.
When I stopped boxing, I stopped doing regular abs, but I still worked my abs and my core from compound movements such as squats and deadlifts and movements such as standing overhead presses—one of the biggest core exercises.
Listen, y’all, this will just take a second: there are little machines that will get your legs looking jacked even more than squatting. But, squatting is not just for legs.
Squats are a total body movement that builds amazing overall strength. You should do incorporate it into your workout. Go check out my Squat Everyday Series.
Try this for your next arm workout, and let me know how it goes in the comments!